Horse Racing : History of Failure by Travers Favorites Shouldn’t Stop Easy Goer

The sure things in the Kentucky Derby and its August sequel, the Travers, are not the sure things. The betting favorite hasn’t won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979, and only one Travers horse, Chief’s Crown in 1985, has won as the favorite in the last 11 years.

Since Chief’s Crown was the beaten favorite in all three Triple Crown races, he was overdue by the time Saratoga ran the Travers. Really overdue was Willow Hour in the 1981 Travers. He hadn’t run in the Triple Crown and hadn’t won a stake until his victory in the Jim Dandy here, two weeks before the Travers.

Nevertheless, Willow Hour went off at 24-1 and then held off Pleasant Colony, the Derby and Preakness champion, to win by a head.

There was another memorable Travers upset the next year. The race was billed as a showdown for the three Triple Crown winners--Gato Del Sol in the Derby, Aloma’s Ruler in the Preakness and Conquistador Cielo in the Belmont--but the winner was Runaway Groom, at 12-1 in a five-horse field. Runaway Groom was still a maiden four months before the Travers, and in his next two appearances in New York, that fall, the gray Canadian-bred was beaten by 64 lengths.

Willow Hour had his finest hour on a sloppy track, which is often the running condition for the Travers and has accounted for some of the upsets. In 1986, Alysheba had won the Derby and Preakness. But it rained at Saratoga, Alysheba had trouble standing up and Wise Times was the surprise winner.

Rain, the only thing that might jeopardize Easy Goer’s chances of winning the 120th Travers Saturday, apparently will stay away. The forecast is for hot, humid temperatures, with the next storm not expected until Sunday.

But because the Travers is a $1-million race and the owners of the second- and third-place horses can earn $200,000 and $100,000, five other 3-year-olds are expected to run against Easy Goer, who beat older horses in the Whitney Handicap three weeks ago and nearly broke the track record for 1 1/8 miles.

The other Travers starters will be Clever Trevor, Le Voyageur, Shy Tom, Roi Danzig and Doc’s Leader. Since the only bad race of his life, a 13th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Clever Trevor deserves a chance because of overpowering victories in the St. Paul Derby and the Arlington Classic.

Not as much can be said about the others. Doc’s Leader, whose record looks a lot like Willow Hour’s, skipped the Triple Crown and won the West Virginia Derby on Aug. 6. The West Virginia Derby is run at Mountaineer Park, which used to be called Waterford Park. By any name, it is in the minor leagues of racing.

Steinlen is a two-way Wayne Lukas rarity, an older horse able to win on the grass. His victory on Sunday in the Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga was the 14th of the 6-year-old English-bred’s career, but his first in a major race.

With Miesque retired, Steinlen’s chances are much better of winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 4. Last November at Churchill Downs, Steinlen finished second, four lengths behind Miesque, who won the Breeders’ Cup turf race for the second straight year.

Steinlen was ridden Sunday by Jose Santos, after Angel Cordero had won a prep race with the horse on Aug. 2. Cordero was committed to Dancing Spree in the Baruch and he finished next to last in the soft going, the seventh straight time he has failed to win on grass.

Cordero and Santos are running away with the jockeys’ race at Saratoga. They began Wednesday’s action with 16 winners apiece. Cordero was blanked, but Santos picked up No. 17 by riding Bite the Bullet to a 3 3/4-length victory over favored Graf in the $91,200 Sanford Stakes for 2-year-olds.

Cordero has won the title for the monthlong meet 12 of the last 13 years, with Santos breaking the streak in 1987.

Bite the Bullet, a son of Spectacular Bid out of the Alydar mare, Lassie’s Lady, was the ninth winner here for the Lukas barn, giving it a two-victory edge over Shug McGaughey in the trainers’ standings. Bite the Bullet paid $6.20 for running six furlongs in 1:09 4/5. In his first two starts, at Belmont Park against maidens, Bite the Bullet had a second and a victory by 7 3/4 lengths.

The Hopeful, at Saratoga Aug. 26, is the next logical start for Bite the Bullet. After the Sanford, Santos had flattering things to say about the colt. “He really finished,” the jockey said. “He’s going to be a champion.”

Open Mind, another of Lukas’ horses and the best 3-year-old filly in the country, is still not being considered for races against colts, mainly because of her small size. Between now and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November, Open Mind will probably run twice at Belmont Park, with the Maskette, the Ruffian and the Beldame being the possibilities. Open Mind’s victory in the Alabama last Saturday was her 10th straight.

It takes a lot to insult a horseplayer, and despite a tote foul-up that made a shambles of the betting at Saratoga on opening day, the attendance is running ahead of last year’s.

Operators of the track are trying to atone for the computer breakdowns. They didn’t charge for admission the next day and have announced that there will be no charge next year on opening day, providing fans pick up buttons that say, “Saratoga Opening Day Survivor.” The track has 100,000 of the buttons.

There may be a nationwide shortage of horses, but what the trainer of a 4-year-old filly did earlier this month was ridiculous. Carladora ran twice in one day, finishing ninth at 95-1 at Philadelphia Park in the afternoon and running seventh at 16-1 that night at Penn National, 100 miles away.

In 1976, Molly McCarty won two races in the same day at Sacramento. It’s a record no honorable trainer should try to match.

Horse Racing Notes

When the Hall of Fame ceremonies were held at the racing museum in Saratoga Springs last week, Alydar was inducted, but his trainer, John Veitch, was not asked to participate. Veitch was fired by Calumet Farm, which raced Alydar, and was involved in a dispute over a trainer’s customary lifetime breeding right. Patrick-Louis Biancone, the European trainer who will saddle Le Voyageur for Calumet in the Travers on Saturday, made Alydar’s acceptance speech. Biancone never saw Alydar run.

Half of Awe Inspiring, Easy Goer’s less illustrious stablemate, is being sold by Dinny Phipps to Englishman David Thompson, and the horse will eventually stand at stud in England. Thompson also owns 50% of Dancing Spree, who races for Ogden Phipps, Dinny’s father. . . . If Queen Elizabeth II’s Unknown Quantity II is to run in the Arlington Million on Sept. 3, he will have to be supplemented into the race at a cost of $50,000. Unknown Quantity won the Arlington Handicap last Saturday, giving him a record of three straight victories since he was gelded.

With Approval can earn the Bank of Montreal’s $1-million bonus by winning the Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine Sunday. With Approval is one victory away from becoming Canada’s third Triple Crown champion. Other horses to sweep the Queen’s Plate, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders’ were New Providence in 1959 and Canebora in 1963. The series started in 1959. . . . Red Ramsom, who broke the track record for five furlongs at Saratoga on opening day, had a cough, got over it and is now coughing again. Trainer Mack Miller said that Red Ransom won’t run the rest of the meeting.