HORSE RACING / NORFOLK STAKES : Grand Canyon Wins in Grand Style; Next Is the Breeders’ Cup

The Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita has been as good a barometer as any for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Since the Juvenile began run five years ago, three of its winners came out of the Norfolk--Chief’s Crown and Capote, who won the Santa Anita stake, and Success Express, who finished fourth.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who has won the Juvenile three times, with Is It True besides Capote and Success Express, is now in a position to enhance the Norfolk’s reputation.

Lukas saddled Grand Canyon Sunday for a 1 1/2-length victory, and the next race for the $825,000 yearling is the Breeders’ Cup competition for 2-year-old colts, which will be run Nov. 4 at Gulfstream Park.

“Capote went into the Breeders’ Cup more seasoned than this colt, but this horse is a lot stronger than Capote was,” Lukas said. “The thing is, though, it’s been tough to evaluate the 2-year-olds this year.

“We won’t be able to tell until we get them all on the same track. You’ll have to take a hard look at the past performances before you can sort them out.”

Grand Canyon, who is by Fappiano out of Champagne Ginny, a L’Enjoleur mare, may be joined by two horses from Lukas’ New York division--Richard R. and Sir Richard Lewis--in the Juvenile. Chris McCarron, who rode Grand Canyon in the Norfolk, was aboard Richard R. for his fourth-place finish in the Champagne at Belmont Park Saturday.

Single Dawn, trying to give trainer Ron McAnally his third major victory in two days, finished second to Grand Canyon, 3 1/2 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher, 62-1 shot Due to the King.

The crowd of 31,319 had to wait several minutes before the stewards disallowed a foul claim by Corey Nakatani, the rider of Due to the King, who said his mount lost momentum when Grand Canyon came over in front of them in mid-stretch.

Grand Canyon collected $166,440 of the $277,440 purse for Lukas and his partner, William T. Young of Lexington, Ky. Grand Canyon ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 1/5, and 30 minutes later a 4-year-old gelding running for a $32,000 claiming price covered the distance a fifth of a second faster. Silver Ending, a maiden 2-year-old trained by McAnally, won the sixth race in 1:43 3/5.

Grand Canyon, the third betting choice, paid $8.40, $3 and $2.20. Single Dawn, coupled with another Jack Kent Cooke-McAnally colt, Hero Worker, went off the favorite and paid $2.20 and $2.10. Due to the King paid $3.

Drag Race, winner of the Del Mar Futurity and the second choice Sunday, was seven lengths back after a half-mile and finished fifth in the seven-horse field. Hero Worker was fifth.

Grand Canyon was fourth and second at Hollywood Park before he broke his maiden at Del Mar five weeks ago. He lost to Pleasant Tap by three-fourths of a length in the Sunny Slope at Santa Anita on Oct. 4, perhaps having an excuse because the reins on Express It snapped near the head of the stretch and McCarron and some other riders had to worry about staying out of his way.

In the Norfolk, Express It and Gary Stevens took the lead, with Due to the King and Grand Canyon not far off the slow pace. Due to the King inched ahead at the top of the stretch as Express It tried to keep up on the inside.

Grand Canyon, outside both of those horses, took over inside the eighth pole, coming into Due to the King’s path.

“He just ducked,” McCarron said. “I don’t know if he shied from something or what.”

Lukas thought that Grand Canyon might have been spooked by the tracks from the starting gate. “He would have won by a lot if he had continued straight on through,” Lukas said.

Due to the King began his career in a $50,000 claiming race and was fourth in the Sunny Slope, about 10 lengths behind Pleasant Tap and Grand Canyon.

“When the winner came by us and got about three-quarters of a length in front, he ducked in,” Nakatani said after the Norfolk. “My horse lost his momentum. He’s a big horse and you can’t get him going again fast enough.”

Frank Olivares, who rode Drag Race in the Del Mar Futurity, was a spectator on crutches Sunday, having suffered a broken ankle in a spill at Fairplex Park. Martin Pedroza was his replacement.

“My horse didn’t do much running today,” Pedroza said. “He never got hold of the track. He was blowing hard after the race, for a horse that did so little running. He acted like he had run two miles.”

Dirt in the face frequently discourages young horses, and McAnally noted that both Single Dawn and Hero Worker came back caked with clods. McAnally said he would likely try Grand Canyon again in the Breeders’ Cup. It’s not always the Norfolk winner that does well in the Juvenile.

Horse Racing Notes

Pat Valenzuela, who called in sick Saturday, missing the mount on Hawkster, the winner of the $500,000 Oak Tree Invitational, called the stewards early Sunday, asking to be excused again because of stomach cramps and nausea. Valenzuela is not named on any horses for Wednesday, the next racing day, and will need a new agent after Jerry Ingordo, discouraged by the jockey’s frequent absences, said that they were splitting up. The stewards said that Valenzuela, who has undergone drug and alcohol rehabilitation in the past, must be tested by the stewards when he returns.

Valenzuela, who will be 27 Tuesday, rode Sunday Silence to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and still has the mount in the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 4. “I’ll have to see how he is,” said Sunday Silence’s trainer, Charlie Whittingham, when asked about Valenzuela’s status. “If he doesn’t ride him, there are a lot of good riders around who can. Getting a jockey is never a problem, and this colt isn’t that hard of a horse to ride.”

Wayne Lukas said that Open Mind, despite her second consecutive loss, a fifth- place finish in Sunday’s Beldame at Belmont Park, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. . . . Tactile won the Beldame, finishing about seven lengths in front of Open Mind. . . . McAnally, who won Saturday stakes with Hawkster and Bayakoa in the Spinster at Keeneland, saddled the winners of the two races before the Norfolk. . . . Lukas scored his first of three Norfolk victories with Stalwart in 1981. . . . Trainer Bobby Frankel, talking about Hawkster’s world-record 2:22 4/5 time for 1 1/2 miles on grass Saturday: “Turning for home, I thought he might stop, but he didn’t stop fast enough.” Frankel’s horses, Pay the Butler and Saratoga Passage, ran second and third.