Equalize Reduces the Equity of Turf Handicap

Two years ago, a liver infection nearly killed Equalize, but his death would have caused barely a ripple in the racing world.

Sure, he won a few stakes for James and Virginia Binger’s Tartan Stable, and he was bred well enough. But the Bingers were happy to unload the 5-year-old Equalize to Argentine breeder Alejandro Menditeguy. His next stop figured to be a stud farm in the Pampas. End of story.

The illness postponed his exportation, however, and gave Equalize a second chance as a racehorse under his new trainer, Angel Penna. The result was an about face that rivals such classic transformations as John Henry and Cutlass Reality.

Penna, a trainer of champions on three continents, took a fussy, inconsistent never-was and turned Equalize into a powerful turf presence. The salt-and-pepper gray horse equaled the course record of champion Manila while winning the 1988 United Nations Handicap at Atlantic City. He came within three-quarters of a length of beating Mill Native in the ’88 Arlington Million. And this year, at the unlikely age of 7, Equalize has won every grass race worth winning in the East.

So, with a purse of $548,600 on the line for about two minutes of work, it’s no surprise that Equalize has come to town for today’s Turf Handicap at Hollywood Park and looms as the horse to beat in a field that includes Nasr el Arab, Great Communicator, Pranke and Pay the Butler.

When at rest around the barn, Equalize hardly acts the part of the star. He’s more like one of the guys. Nothing ever bothers him.

“The vets, the blacksmiths, they love him,” Penna said recently as he and his horse relaxed at Hollywood Park.

“They spend all day getting bitten and kicked and chased around the stalls by other horses. But he just stands there, doing nothing while they work.”

Equalize, though not a big horse, is a little too sluggish for his own good.

“He needs a lot of work,” said Penna, who became a member of racing’s Hall of Fame last summer. “Most horses move around to burn up calories when they’re not training. Not him. He eats everything, stands still all day and sleeps all night.”

Whatever works. Before joining Penna’s New York-Florida stable, Equalize won five of 28 starts and $414,816. Penna ran him for the first time in January, 1988, and the horse has eight victories and four seconds in 13 starts for earnings of $956,164. All of the victories were in stakes races.

In his most recent race, Equalize won the May 5 Early Times Classic by a nose over an old rival, Yankee Affair. Penna insists that the race was even better than it looked.

“The turf at Churchill Downs was very soft, not the way he likes it,” Penna said. “He was swimming around, and still he had the heart to win the race.”

Penna, who won his first North American race at Hollywood Park in 1955, predicts Equalize will enjoy the billiard table grass course, even though the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Turf Handicap may be pushing his range.

Equalize will carry co-highweight of 124 pounds, the same as Nasr el Arab, who comes into the race off a thriller in the April 23 San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita Park. The last horse to win the grueling San Juan and the Turf Handicap back-to-back was Erins Isle, in 1983, when the Hollywood race was run at 1 1/2 miles.

“If any horse can do it, I think this one can,” said Charlie Whittingham’s assistant, Rodney Rash, who has brought Nasr el Arab into the race with a series of sparkling workouts. “I’ll be very disappointed if he doesn’t win.”

Sounding less confident is Thad Ackel, part owner and trainer of Great Communicator. The popular gelding ran sixth in the San Juan, his first poor effort since the Million last August.

Ackel suggested that Great Communicator rebeled when asked for a third consecutive race over the choppy Santa Anita turf course this winter. He said a minor hoof problem that surfaced shortly after the San Juan may have bothered him in the race. However, he is not ready to concede that the durable 6-year-old may need a rest after more than two consecutive years of solid campaigning.

“I know my horse,” Ackel said recently. “He is definitely not acting tired. Actually, I like not being in the spotlight for a change. Let the jockeys worry about those other big horses for a change instead of keying on him.”

The Turf Handicap field:

Pranke, with Fernando Toro; Nasr el Arab, Pat Valenzuela; Pleasant Variety, Laffit Pincay; Skip Out Front, Eddie Delahoussaye; Great Communicator, Ray Sibille; Pay the Butler, Chris McCarron; Delegant, Corey Black; Equalize, Jose Santos, and Academic, Eddie Delahoussaye.

Horse Racing Notes

Defending Turf Handicap champion Political Ambition will miss the race because of a bruised foot. He set a course record of 1:58 3/5 winning the race last year. . . . Great Communicator, who has earnings of $2.5 million, was second in the 1987 Turf Handicap and finished in a dead-heat for third in 1988.