Santa Anita Derby Draw : Lukas Ready to Ride Again With Houston

Early Thursday morning, trainer Wayne Lukas stood outside his Better Homes & Gardens barn at Santa Anita, holding the shank of a $2.9-million horse who was grazing in the grass.

Lukas has had a sore back for almost two weeks, and despite treatment by three doctors and a chiropractor, he still has trouble standing for long periods of time. But the discomfort hasn’t kept him from staying close to Houston, the undefeated 3-year-old colt who has been installed as the 7-5 favorite in Saturday’s $500,000 Santa Anita Derby.

Ever since Lukas put up his own money to buy Houston at a Keeneland auction in 1987--only one other yearling was sold for a higher price that year--the son of Seattle Slew, 1977 Triple Crown champion, and Smart Angle, champion 2-year-old filly in 1979, has been the zealous trainer’s personal project.

When Houston, who won his only two starts last year, was flown to New York for his successful 3-year-old debut last month, he and his trainer were inseparable. Lukas even thinks that his sore back might have been aggravated when he accompanied Houston back to California on a cargo plane after a 10 1/2-length blowout in the Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct.

“I’ve traveled with other horses before,” Lukas said. “I remember going with Codex (who won the Santa Anita Derby and the Preakness in 1980). And I went with Tank’s Prospect (winner of the Arkansas Derby and the Preakness in 1985).”

Interrupting his trainer, Houston moved toward the center of the grazing area and Lukas followed. “But I’ve never traveled with a horse this good before,” Lukas shouted back over a shoulder.

Despite his highfalutin breeding, his dear sales price, Lukas’ projection that this could be the best horse he’s ever trained and his three-for-three record, Houston is not the proverbial lead pipe in the Santa Anita Derby. The colt was 4-5 when he won against maidens by 12 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park last July, 4-5 when he beat Sunday Silence by a head at 6 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park in December and 1-2 in the Bay Shore, but he probably won’t be odds-on Saturday.

The race is 1 1/8 miles, which means Houston will be running around two turns for the first time, and cases can be made for four of the five remaining horses in the field. Sunday Silence, Hawkster and Flying Continental all have scored two-turn wins over the Santa Anita track and Music Merci’s trainer, Craig Lewis, would like one more chance to prove that his gelding is more than just a good miler.

Mr. Bolg, the longest price on the morning line at 30-1, drew the inside post position, with Fernando Toro riding him for the first time. Outside them, in order, come Flying Continental, 4-1, Eddie Delahoussaye; Music Merci, 5-1, Gary Stevens; Sunday Silence, 2-1, Pat Valenzuela; Houston, 7-5, Laffit Pincay; and Hawkster, Chris McCarron, 8-1. They will all carry 122 pounds.

Since 1980, Lukas has won the Santa Anita Derby four times--with Muttering, Marfa and Winning Colors, besides Codex--and he hopes that Houston will give him a repeat of the double last year, when Winning Colors, the filly, gave the trainer his first Kentucky Derby victory.

None of those 3-year-olds have stirred Lukas the way Houston has. The first time Lukas saw him, before the Keeneland sale, he graded the yearling as a 9 on his 1-to-10 scale. Lukas says that he’s never seen a 10--Bo Derek doesn’t count--and he’s seen only two 9s besides Houston--Landaluce and Saratoga Six.

Neither of those horses ever lost a race, Landaluce being voted best 2-year-old filly of 1982 after she caught a virus and died late that year, and Saratoga Six breaking down at Santa Anita after he won all four of his races as a 2-year-old in 1984.

When Lukas began gushing to his Texas partners, Bob French and Barry Beal, about Houston, he also told them that the colt would not go cheap. French and Beal owned Landaluce and French also was in the partnership that raced Saratoga Six. They routinely spend millions at the sales, but in 1987 they didn’t want to go to seven figures for just one horse.

“I told myself that you couldn’t be in this business and not own this horse,” Lukas said. “But of course I had lost my sanity over him by then. But when they brought him into the ring, it was just me, my financial statement and my banker, and I bought him.”

Later, French became a major investor in Houston with Lukas and Beal bought a lesser share. He was named by French, who has named other horses--Terlingua, Marfa--after Texas towns.

Houston’s first start gave Lukas no reason to doubt his judgment, but the colt came out of the race with sore shins and he didn’t run again for four months. After the second win, Lukas skipped the $1-million Hollywood Futurity a couple of weeks later, prompting rumors that there was something wrong with Houston. “I’ve won the Futurity twice (with Stalwart in 1981 and Tejano in 1987) and it didn’t help either horse later on,” Lukas said. “You crank a horse up at that time and then you pay the penalty down the road.”

Unable to find a race at Santa Anita that would fit Houston, Lukas shipped him back to New York for the Bay Shore and was fortunate that the track still came up fast despite heavy rain late in the week.

Against mediocre horses, Houston ran the seven furlongs in 1:22 4/5 and Lukas says that clockers caught him galloping out a mile in an excellent 1:34 4/5.

There is always the chance that Houston will run once more before the Kentucky Derby, at Keeneland or in the Derby Trial at Churchill Downs, but Lukas hopes that Saturday’s race will be enough to have him ready to face Easy Goer, the New York horse who is the Derby favorite.

“Houston is a very genuine horse,” Lukas says. “I can’t picture him not trying in a race, and if he’s fit enough, the first time around two turns shouldn’t be a problem. He should be full of run when they turn for home Saturday.”

SANTA ANITA DERBY FIELD IN POST POSITION ORDER

HORSE JOCKEY TRAINER Mr. Bolg Fernando Toro Yves Seguin Flying Continental E. Delahoussaye Jay Robbins Music Merci Gary Stevens Craig Lewis Sunday Silence Pat Valenzuela C. Whittingham Houston Laffit Pincay Wayne Lukas Hawkster Chris McCarron Ron McAnally

HORSE OWNER ODDS Mr. Bolg Rael Brothers 30-1 Flying Continental Jack Kent Cooke 4-1 Music Merci Pendleton & Royal T Stable 5-1 Sunday Silence Gaillard, Hancock III, Whittingham 2-1 Houston Beal, French, Lukas 7-5 Hawkster J. Shelton Meredith 8-1

WEIGHT: 122 pounds. DISTANCE: 1 1/8 miles. TIME OF RACE: Saturday, approximately 2:45 p.m.