The Californian at Hollywood Park : Sabona, Known as Whinner, Is Now a Winner

For most of his career, Sabona’s bark has been a lot worse than his bite. But in Sunday’s $320,800 Californian Stakes at Hollywood Park, the 7-year-old veteran finally came through with his race of a lifetime.

Old Bones, as he is known around trainer Neil Drysdale’s barn, has a habit of announcing himself wherever he goes with an anxious, high-decibel whinny that could shatter crystal and scare the tail off an innocent filly.

Drysdale indulges the old boy’s foibles, explaining that “strange ponies” make him squeal, and saddling him off in a corner of the paddock.

By special permission of the stewards, Sabona is even led onto the track last, no matter what his proper post position number. He’s an 1,100-pound pet around the barn, and all that pampering has finally paid off.

Sabona uncorked a track record 1:46 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles to beat eastern invader Blushing John by 1 1/4 lengths in the Californian. At odds of 15-1, Sabona was the second longest price in the field of six older horses.

Almost as surprising was the performance of heavily favored Ruhlmann, who finished fifth, more than six lengths behind the winner. Just two weeks earlier Ruhlmann dusted off Sabona in the 1 1/16-mile Mervyn LeRoy Handicap without drawing a deep breath.

“I don’t know what happened to him,” said Laffit Pincay, who was as confused over Ruhlmann’s race as the 37,448 on and off-track fans that made him 1-2. “I hope he just threw in a bad race.”

For the first six furlongs of the Californian it appeared to be business as usual for Ruhlmann. The black colt was cruising along on a tight rein, keeping Blushing John and jockey Pat Day safely at bay.

Entering the far turn, Chris McCarron had Sabona comfortably behind the leaders.

“I didn’t really ask him to run until we straightened out for home,” said McCarron, who has won the Californian three of the last four years. “That’s when he really picked it up.”

As Sabona made his move, Ruhlmann began to retreat, leaving Blushing John as the horse to beat. With a nine-pound break in the weights, 124 to 115, Old Bones galloped past his younger rival to win his first Grade I race.

“He’s such a neat old horse, I’m truly happy for him to finally win a big one,” said Drysdale, who took over Sabona’s training from John Gosden last October.

“He had a quarter crack this winter at Santa Anita, so we had to lose a bit of time with him,” Drysdale added. “But he’s going well now. And he knows it.”

In his youth back in England, Sabona was once considered Epsom Derby material by his owner, Sir Ernest Harrison, and trainer Guy Harwood.

That bubble soon burst, however, and Sabona was sent to Gosden in California in an attempt to take advantage of his American bloodlines and a definite preference for firm footing.

In fact, Sabona always has preferred Hollywood Park. In 1986, at age four, the son of Exclusive Native won the Triple Bend Handicap and ran second to Skywalker in a memorable edition of the LeRoy.

But the Sabona story appeared to be over when he finished dead last in the 1988 Triple Bend and disappeared from view. He didn’t run again until Drysdale brought him out on Jan. 1, 1989.

Horse Racing Notes

Pat Valenzuela, who won two races on Sunday, heads for New York today for what he describes as “a little golf, and then the Triple Crown.” He’ll be aboard Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes next Saturday. . . . Apprentice jockey Luis Jauregui of Chino shows up before dawn everyday at the Charlie Whittingham barn to exercise horses. It finally paid off Sunday, as Jauregui won his first Hollywood Park race aboard the Whittingham-trained filly Ann’s Motel.