McCarron, Bayakoa Shortchanged

Those who viewed the Breeders’ Cup on television last Saturday could have been left with two very misleading impressions:

--First, that Sunday Silence was all out in defeating Easy Goer by a neck in the Classic.

--And secondly, that Bayakoa’s victory in the Distaff was tainted because she was allowed to jog along on a slow early pace.

Anyone with a tape of the telecast should take another close look at Chris McCarron’s ride on Sunday Silence. It was a conservative, highly-calculated piece of precision work. At every key point in the race--the start, first turn, far turn and deep stretch--McCarron used just enough of Sunday Silence to get the desired result.

In fact, McCarron actually had stopped riding hard in the final few strides, while Pat Day was in a frenzied, whipping drive on Easy Goer. McCarron had Day’s colt measured more than 30 yards before the finish, and yet, in the heat of the moment, announcer Tom Durkin bellowed, “Sunday Silence holds on, and he wins by a desperate neck.” The desperation belonged to Easy Goer.

The pressure on McCarron can not be minimized. Riding a headline horse for the first time in a $3-million race with Horse of the Year on the line is tantamount to coming off the bench to start at quarterback in the Super Bowl after missing half the season.

McCarron’s only job was to win the race, and he did it. Had he known Sunday Silence better, he would have ridden with more abandon. Then margin undoubtedly would have been greater than that “desperate” neck.

In the case of Bayakoa’s Distaff win, Durkin and his NBC colleagues were victims of misinformation and a malfunctioning teletimer. As a result, Bayakoa may not have received the immediate credit she deserved.

All week, the early pace was considered the key to the 1 1/8-mile race. If Bayakoa were pressured up front, she would wilt, or so went the logic. If allowed to stroll early, she would have plenty left to roll home once again.

Durkin was right to emphasize the first quarter fraction and half-mile split during the running of the Distaff. Anything faster than 46 seconds for the half, and Bayakoa would have been cooked. Anything slower than 47 seconds, she was home free.

Unfortunately, both Durkin and the on-screen graphics were cued by the infield clock, which erroneously reported fractions of :24 2/5 and :48 4/5. Durkin correctly emphasized the slow pace in his call.

It was not until the Daily Racing Form chart was passed out in the press box that the real fractions were discovered: a quarter in :23 2/5, the half in a realistic :46 2/5, fully 11 lengths faster than the pace reported. Had the commentators known the real circumstances, they could have lent the proper drama and interpretation to Bayakoa’s remarkable effort.

The Bayakoa connections are back in action today at Santa Anita in the $81,975 Linda Vista Handicap for 3-year-old fillies. Trainer Ron McAnally will saddle Paper Princess, who is owned by Frank and Jan Whitham in partnership with Vern Winchell Jr. and Dion Recachina.

Paper Princess has won two in a row and hasn’t been out of the money since May. But she could be taking a back seat in the 1 1/16-mile event to her own stablemate, Affirmed Classic, who comes into the race off an impressive win in the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar.

Challenging the McAnally fillies are Darby’s Daughter, Tapping Tudor, Beware of the Cat, Flower Ridge, Seaside and Approved to Fly.

Brian Mayberry’s accomplishment of four stakes wins at Gulfstream Park last weekend on the Breeders’ Cup undercard was by no means the biggest splash he’d ever made at the Hallandale track.

Seven years ago, Mayberry charged out of the grandstand to rescue a filly he trained named A Positive Maybe after she had bolted through the inner hedge lining the turf course and dove into the vast infield lake.

“My first thought was keeping her from drowning,” recalled Mayberry, whose grandfather trained 1903 Kentucky Derby winner Judge Himes. “But it was deep where she went in, and the edge of the water was lined with razor sharp oyster beds.

“She cut herself to ribbons, but somehow we got her out,” Mayberry added. “The track vet, an old friend of mine, took one look at me after it was over and told me to get to first aid. He said he was more concerned about an overweight trainer having a heart attack than he was about the filly.”

The story has a happy ending. A Positive Maybe needed 300 stitches to close her wounds, but she was back to the races for Mayberry and owner Jan Siegel later that same year and ended up winning more than $100,000.

A dramatic photo of her mad bolt through the hedge hangs in a grandstand display case of memorable Gulfstream Park moments. Too bad nobody got a shot of Mayberry after his swim.

If morning clockers and backstretch sharpies are right, fans at Santa Anita will be in for a treat this weekend when a 2-year-old colt named Stylish King makes his racing debut for Jack Kent Cooke and trainer Jay Robbins.

The son of Epsom Derby winner Roberto has been dazzling in his recent morning moves. In a five-furlong workout under jockey Eddie Delahoussaye on Tuesday, Stylish King got some unscheduled company from the stakes-winning filly Dramatic Joy. They barreled around the turn and through the stretch, with the massive colt dwarfing the game filly. The final clocking was a jaw-dropping :57 2/5.

Stylish King is out of the Exclusive Native mare Stylish Queen, who was trained in California by McAnally.

“She was a very talented filly who never really had a chance to get the credit she deserved,” McAnally said of Stylish Queen. “As I recall, she had to be retired because of a bleeding problem.”

Good to see that John Gosden has not lost his touch. The repatriated Englishman, a California favorite for more than 10 years, brought the 2-year-old colt Something Different to Gulfstream Park for last Sunday’s $141,600 Manila Stakes and went home with a 3 1/2-length victory.

Chris McCarron rode the colt for Gosden, who indicated earlier that Something Different might remain in America to race as a 3-year-old next year. Something Different gave Gosden his first graded stakes win in Europe last summer, in a German race sponsored by a champagne maker.