Code of the West: Time Waits for No Horse

In other parts of the country, a race like the Bing Crosby Handicap at Del Mar wouldn’t merit special attention. After all, its purse was only $100,000. And the three principal combatants -- Olympic Prospect, Sam Who and On The Line -- were merely specialists at the six-furlong distance. But to California racing fans, this was a compelling attraction, because it was a test of the quality they love and admire: pure speed.

Indeed, when a visitor from the East spends time at the tracks here, and compares the nature of racing on each side of the country, he can sum up the major differences in one word: speed.

When the gate opens for a typical race in the East, a jockey will look to see the way the race is going to develop and try to get his horse in a good tactical position. If the pace appears slow, he may make a move for the lead; fast, he may try to settle behind the leaders. Rarely will a rider put his horse in high gear immediately. On The Line’s trainer, Wayne Lukas, who campaigns on both coasts, thinks the Eastern style is based as much on tradition as logic: “Trainers and jockeys all say ‘Don’t rush them’ and like to see their horses settle into the race. It comes from 50 years of doing it that way.”

Here there is no such patience and caution. When the gate opens, most of the jockeys will be pushing and shoving furiously, asking their horses to run as fast as they can for the first quarter of a mile. In mid-race they may look around to examine the tactical situation, but if they have hesitated before that, they are already out of contention.

The style is dictated by the nature of the California tracks. Sun-baked and very fast, they are conducive to speed. Horses don’t tire quickly on them for the same reasons that human runners can go farther and faster on an asphalt track than they can on a sandy beach. Trainers understand that horses need speed to win, and they work to develop that speed. Horses are trained hard and fast from the start of their careers. In a maiden race for 2-year-old fillies here Saturday, one of the horses had drilled five furlongs in :57 3-5; another had sizzled a half mile in :46 1-5.

Judicious Eastern trainers would rarely drill a young horse so hard; they want to teach horses to relax, not to make them speed crazy. Even a great horse like Easy Goer would typically work five-eighths in 1:00, a half mile in :48, as he was developing.

Californians think their emphasis on early speed is an absolute virtue. “I think it’s what’s made our racing so good,” said John Sadler, trainer of the brilliantly fast Olympic Prospect. “To be a good horse in California you’ve got to be able to run all the way.”

“East Coast speed,” said Lukas, “is not the same thing as West Coast speed.” Never has this truth been better demonstrated than in the 1987 Breeders’ Cup.

Groovy had swept through an unbeaten season in New York so impressively he was being touted as a horse-of-the-year candidate. Nobody could get close to him. Speed handicappers said he was a Secretariat of sprinters. But then he came west for the Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park, where the filly Very Subtle had no difficulty outrunning him for the lead and then beat him decisively. Groovy had been cruising to the lead at a relatively slow pace in the East, but now he had learned what West Coast speed is all about.

Racing fans in California have a special fondness for those horses that emerge from the tough competition as the fastest of the fastest. Just as Easterners might ardently debate the merits of classic runners like Affirmed and Alydar, Westerners may argue who was the quickest of the great speedsters they have seen here -- horses like Chinook Pass, Phone Trick, Zany Tactics and Cherry River, for whom a half mile in :44 would be like a canter in the park.

The latest in this great tradition of California speedballs is Olympic Prospect. He is modestly bred and started out in $50,000 claiming company, where Sadler bought him. He has had an assortment of knee problems. He has little stamina and no versatility. But he has more raw speed than any other thoroughbred in America.

“Since I claimed him and put the blinkers on him,” Sadler said, “nobody’s ever been in front of him in the first quarter mile. The most amazing race he’s ever run was his first race at Santa Anita last year, when he went the first half mile in :43 flat. I’ve never seen that before. But he’s run as fast as he has without catching a really fast, fast track.”

Olympic Prospect was going to need all his speed in the Crosby, which on Sunday brought together the strongest field of sprinters in the country this year. On The Line had equaled Santa Anita’s six-furlong record of 1:07 3-5 during the winter and had subsequently won the Carter Handicap in New York. Sam Who had won five sprint races in a row, twice running six furlongs in 1:08.

When the gate opened, it was an aptly named long shot, Speedratic, who exploded out first. His jockey, Pat Valenzuela, is widely regarded as the best gate rider in America, one who habitually gets the jump. But after a couple of strides, Olympic Prospect was in high gear and he quickly opened a three-length lead. His time for the first quarter mile was 21 2-5 seconds.

On The Line was chasing the leader, Gary Stevens urging him steadily so Olympic Prospect wouldn’t get too far away. On the turn, he accelerated sharply. The Teletimer flashed a number Eastern racing fans will rarely see: 43 4-5 seconds for the half mile.

Olympic Prospect was finished. As he weakened, On The Line opened a commanding lead in mid-stretch, and scored a five-length victory over Speedratic. The final time for six furlongs was 1:08 flat. On The Line had established himself as the best sprinter in the West, in America, the horse to beat in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the fall.

California has plenty of memorable attractions for a tourist -- vistas on the Pacific, Peking-duck pizzas -- but what could be more breathtaking than to see a half mile in :43 4-5 and six furlongs in 1:08?