Alabama Stakes at Saratoga : Open Mind to Seek Her 10th Consecutive Victory

New Jersey might be first in tomatoes, gangland burials and beauty pageants, but the state has never been known for the horses it has bred.

Regret, a bona fide Jersey-bred, became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, but that was in 1915 and not many New Jersey-breds have distinguished themselves since then.

Now, however, there’s Open Mind, another 3-year-old filly who, after not getting the chance to run in the Derby, has forged a record quite similar to Regret’s. Elected to the Hall of Fame here in 1957, Regret had a career that included nine wins and one second-place finish in 11 starts. Open Mind takes a 13-race record of 11 wins and two seconds, including nine straight victories, into today’s 109th running of the Alabama Stakes.

Surprisingly, seven other fillies have entered the 1 1/4-mile Alabama, including Lea Lucinda, a stablemate of Open Mind’s. It was another stablemate, Some Romance, who was the last horse to beat Open Mind, by a nose in the Frizette at Belmont Park 10 months ago. Open Mind’s other loss, by 4 1/2 lengths, came a month before the Frizette when she finished second to Ms. Gold Pole in the Lassie at Laurel.

Today, Open Mind will be coupled in the betting with Lea Lucinda, because they both race for trainer Wayne Lukas. The ownership is different, Open Mind belonging to Gene Klein and Lea Lucinda being the property of Calumet Farm.

The Alabama draw gave the rail to Dearly Loved, with Jean Cruguet in the saddle. Outside them, in order, come Rose Park with Raul Rojas; Naskra’s Return, Jose Santos; Open Mind, Angel Cordero; Lea Lucinda, Randy Romero; Silent Classic, Eddie Maple; Nite of Fun, Chris Antley, and Dream Deal, Craig Perret. As though Open Mind needs another advantage, she will carry 121 pounds, the same as the others.

Open Mind was bred in New Jersey by Robert Brennan, through the mating of Deputy Minister and Stage Luck, a Stage Door Johnny mare who was a minor stakes winner and who produced one previous stakes winner. Deputy Minister, a grandson of Northern Dancer, won the Eclipse Award as best 2-year-old colt in 1981, then had his career ended by injury before he could run in the Kentucky Derby.

On behalf of Klein, Lukas bought Open Mind as a yearling for $150,000. A victory today would increase the filly’s earnings to almost $1.7 million.

“I had no idea she was a Jersey-bred when I bid on her,” Lukas said. “The important thing was that she looked like a race horse. Her name came from the fact that I went into the sale with an open mind.”

Klein, who became the third man to win the Derby with a filly, with Winning Colors in 1988, also had an open mind about this year’s Derby. But Lukas dissuaded him from running Open Mind, and instead she was an easy winner of the Kentucky Oaks, which is run for 3-year-old fillies the day before the Derby. Partly because of her small size, Lukas didn’t feel that Open Mind had a good chance against Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, who ran 1-2 in the Derby.

Open Mind’s career actually began against colts, and in New Jersey, where she won a couple of races at Monmouth Park. After the two defeats, she began the current winning streak with a 1 3/4-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs and then, in case the voters had doubts, she clinched the 2-year-old filly title with a victory two weeks later in the Demoiselle at Aqueduct.

Open Mind won the Demoiselle by a neck. She usually wins more comfortably than that, although in her last start, the Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont, she needed intervention from the stewards to beat Nite of Fun, who finished first by a nose after clobbering Lukas’ filly in the stretch.

That victory made Open Mind the seventh filly to sweep the Acorn, the Mother Goose and the Coaching Club. Open Mind’s people make no apologies and don’t feel that she backed into the honor.

“We lost three lengths on the interference and only got beat six inches,” says Jeff Lukas, who handles the Saratoga operation for his father. “She was going to win if she didn’t have to alter course.”

Nite of Fun was soundly beaten by Open Mind in the Mother Goose and the Acorn, finishing 28 1/2 lengths behind Lukas’ filly, but trainer Jimmy Toner is back for more.

“I think my filly would have finished first in the Oaks if there had been no bumping in the stretch,” Toner said.

Besides winning, Open Mind has handled all kinds of courses. She has won three times at Belmont, twice each at Monmouth, Gulfstream Park and Churchill Downs and once at Aqueduct and Laurel. She has won over mud and before large crowds--more than 65,000 saw both the Kentucky Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup.

And now she has a chance to add Saratoga to the list. It’s the same track where that other classy Jersey-bred, Regret, suffered one of her two career defeats.

Horse Racing Notes

Angel Cordero is shooting for his second straight victory in the Alabama. He won with Maplejinsky last year. . . . Calumet won the Alabama with Our Mims in 1977 and she was later voted best 3-year-old filly. . . . Wayne Lukas won the 1984 Alabama with Life’s Magic. . . . Dream Deal comes into the Alabama after winning the Monmouth Oaks, the stake in which Naskra’s Return ran fourth and Lea Lucinda was seventh. . . . Shy Tom probably will join Clever Trevor and Le Voyageur in facing Easy Goer next Saturday in the $1-million Travers. . . . Shuvee and Mom’s Command are the only horses to win both the New York triple for fillies and the Alabama. . . . Adjudicating, a 2-year-old son of Danzig who is undefeated in two New York races, makes his stakes debut for trainer Shug McGaughey in the $200,000 Sapling at Monmouth Park today. With Cordero riding Open Mind, Randy Romero takes over the mount. Julie Krone, the leading jockey at Monmouth, will be riding Carson City for Lukas. On Thursday, Krone won her first stake at Saratoga, the Yaddo with Sweet Blow Pop.