Latest Turf Mishap Draws Complaints About Wet Course

Owner Allen Paulson and his trainer, Dick Lundy, were highly critical of Santa Anita’s grass course Sunday after their expensive 5-year-old, Noble Minstrel, broke his right shoulder in the fifth race and had to be destroyed.

Noble Minstrel was just one of a number of horses that have broken down recently at Santa Anita.

Feraud, who probably would have finished second in Saturday’s seventh race, broke a leg and, according to a track veterinarian, was destroyed after efforts to save him for breeding failed.

The Santa Anita turf course has not been usable most of the season, which opened Dec. 26. Only one grass race was run through the first 12 days of the meeting and there have been six turf races in the last 5 days.

Horses were destroyed after running in two of those six races and in another grass race Sunday, Miracle Horse, after finishing off the board in the seventh, had to be taken off the track in a van.

Last week, trainers Charlie Whittingham and Eddie Gregson were also critical of Santa Anita’s grass course.

Paulson said Sunday that Wayne Lukas, Miracle Horse’s trainer, told him that there had been seven breakdowns on the grass course in the last 48 hours, counting morning workouts.

“I’m not sure what kind of shape Miracle Horse is in,” Lukas said. “This course is an absolute joke. The horses I mentioned breaking down, those are only the ones we know about. How many others are there?”

Santa Anita officials have blamed the condition of the turf course on heavy rain and cool temperatures, which have prevented the grass from drying.

“What they’re doing is only patchwork repairs,” said one of Paulson’s aides. “What they ought to consider doing is calling off all grass racing for a year and fixing it right.”

Santa Anita officials have visited Hong Kong, where a track is using a plastic-mesh soil stabilizer that is supposed to reduce divots. Installation of such a feature would not be possible until after the meeting ends.

Paulson was seen discussing the condition of the turf course with Bob Strub, Santa Anita’s president, late Sunday afternoon.

“This course has never been much good,” Paulson said. “Now it’s the worst course in the country.”

Paulson couldn’t remember what he paid for Noble Minstrel, a well-bred son of The Minstrel and Noble Nastisha, a Noble Commander mare, but he thought it was close to $1 million. He said the horse wasn’t insured.

After Lundy told Paulson that Noble Minstrel couldn’t be saved for stud purposes, the trainer said: “This was the best horse that I had for you.”

Lundy recently became the head trainer for the American division of Paulson’s international stable.

“This was a horse that we thought a lot of,” Paulson said. “In a Group 1 race in France last year, he ran second to Soviet Star, one of the best milers over there.”

Paulson, an aerospace executive from Encino and Savannah, Ga., has been the biggest American buyer of bloodstock in recent years. He said that his horses don’t run when they’re unsound.

“Why does it happen at this track and none of the others?” he said. “Besides my investment, it’s unfair to the bettors. This horse got hurt so early in the race that they should have declared him a non-starter and given the bettors their money back.

“Because the premiums are so high, I only insure the very best horses, like a Theatrical. This course is so bad that Santa Anita ought to be insuring the horses.”

Noble Minstrel was making his second American start and his first since running third in a division of the Hollywood Derby Nov. 22.

“This horse has never had anything wrong with him but a quarter crack (in a hoof) and we had healed that,” Lundy said.

Running Sunday in a 6 1/2-furlong race, which is run down a hill, Noble Minstrel was injured at the elbow where the horses are required to make a right-hand turn.

“I don’t know if he took a bad step or what happened,” Lundy said. “If it was one incident, you could say that such a thing could always happen. But there have been so many horses getting hurt that it’s clear that a dangerous pattern has been established.”

Paulson also feels that Santa Anita’s dirt track is dangerous. There were two breakdowns on the main track in races Saturday.

“You’ve got cheap horses running awfully fast on the dirt,” Paulson said. “That shouldn’t be.”