HORSE RACING : This Mare Just May Be a Fluke

Suzanne Pashayan hates to fly. She’s not big on automobiles, either.

The flying in the Pashayan family is left to Brown Bess, a lightweight 7-year-old mare who has been producing heavyweight results up and down the coast of California this year.

But despite her success, Brown Bess will be one of those horses that the bettors can’t quite figure what to do with when the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes is run Sunday at Santa Anita.

Brown Bess has won 10 of 17 races in the last two years, ballooning her overall earnings to more than $800,000. She has won four of her last five starts, the only defeat being a very decent third when she ran against males and finished behind Frankly Perfect and Pleasant Value in the Golden Gate Handicap in June. Frankly Perfect is the high weight for Monday’s Burke Handicap, the closing-day stake at the Oak Tree meeting, and Present Value finished fourth last Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park.

Brown Bess scored her biggest victory at Del Mar in August in the Ramona Handicap, but she still seems to be a fluke, one of those marvelous exceptions in racing genetics where the best available is bred to the best available and the result is a knockout.

Brown Bess’ dam, Chickadee, won only five times in 30 tries and earned less in her career than her first foal earned in just one race. Brown Bess’ sire, Petrone, is far down on California’s lifetime stallion list, even though he’s the sire of Silveyville, who earned more than $1.2 million. Petrone, who will turn 26 the first of the year, stands at Peppertree Stock Farm in Hemet for a $3,000 stud fee.

Early this year, Brown Bess came to Santa Anita and finished a miserable fifth in the San Gorgonio Handicap. But that was on dirt, and the Yellow Ribbon is on grass, 1 1/4 miles of it, and that’s the surface Brown Bess clearly prefers. All of her recent starts have been on turf, and lifetime on grass she has won 11 of 18.

Sometimes when Brown Bess wins, her owner-breeder doesn’t linger. That’s because Pashayan, who lives in Fresno, travels to and from San Francisco by train, and there are those weekend timetables to consider. Brown Bess usually runs in one of the last races on the program, and Pashayan has to worry about making the last train.

Once this year, at Golden Gate Fields, Brown Bess won a stake and Pashayan didn’t even have time to wait for the trophy presentation.

“I’ll pick it up next time,” she said, hurrying for the train.

Horse Racing Notes

Uncannily, four horses this decade have run third in the Yellow Ribbon and then won the race the following year. They are Queen To Conquer, Sangue, Estrapade and Carotene. If the pattern continues, Sunday’s winner will be No Review, who was third last year. . . . Three of the starters--Colorado Dancer, Be Exclusive and Sherarda--are European imports who were released from quarantine Friday. Colorado Dancer and Be Exclusive, both trained by Andre Fabre, will remain in the United States, with Colorado Dancer going to Neil Drysdale’s barn.

Charlie Whittingham has won the Burke Handicap 11 times in 20 years, including the last three with Louis le Grand, Rivlia and Nasr el Arab. In Monday’s running he’ll start Frankly Perfect and have to beat Mill Native and Delegant, two horses saddled by his son, Michael. . . . On the Line, who suffered a serious leg injury in the free-for-all start to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream, reportedly is out of danger and will be saved for breeding. He will be sold privately by Gene Klein, who sold all the rest of his horses at an auction last Monday.

If Bill Shoemaker wins Sunday’s Charles H. Russell with Wind Shear at Bay Meadows, he will be joined by another Shoemaker in the winner’s circle, trainer Leonard (no relation).