Higher Note Expected From Quiet American : Horse racing: Despite limited success, colt is expected to be second favorite behind Bayakoa in Big ‘Cap today.

Quiet American, a 4-year-old colt who has run only six times and never won a stake, is still the 4-1 second choice--behind the filly Bayakoa at 3-1--in the morning line for today’s $1-million Santa Anita Handicap.

Trainer Wayne Lukas finds this incongruous, especially since Criminal Type, his Big ‘Cap starter, has won two stakes at Santa Anita this season and is listed at 5-1.

“Maybe this is one of those media horses,” Lukas said, referring to Quiet American. “But it looks to me like they’re really trying to take some giant steps with that horse in this race.”

Gary Jones, who trains Quiet American for Sheik Mohammad Ibn Rashid al-Maktoum, the minister of defense for Dubai, is just happy to have the Fappiano colt, a $300,000 yearling purchase who could give Jones his first Big ‘Cap win. The 45-year-old trainer has started four horses in the race, two of them last year, and his best finish was a third with Lightning Mandate in 1976, only months after he had saddled his first winner.

Jones began training a few horses for Sheik Mohammad four years ago.

“Guys like Charlie (Whittingham) and Neil (Drysdale) would get the cream,” Jones said. “But I still considered it a break and a half to get some of these horses. They’re all well-bred horses.”

The trouble was, most of the horses Sheik Mohammad sent Jones were culls, animals that were being showcased for sale or, more obvious, being run for claiming prices.

“The man has 650 horses, so he has to do something with them,” Jones said. “But I knew that if I stayed with him long enough, they might make a mistake.”

What Jones meant was that eventually he might get a horse worth keeping. Quiet American, despite his spare record, looks that part.

In England, Quiet American had some well-spaced races, running three times on grass and getting progressively worse. He went from a second-place finish, beaten by two lengths, to an eighth-place finish, more than nine lengths behind.

Anthony Stroud, who manages Sheik Mohammad’s racing affairs, decided it was time to send the Kentucky-bred back to the United States and see if dirt races would be the cure.

Jones first saw the colt at Del Mar.

“He looked like any horse I might have already had,” Jones said. “The only reason I knew he was European was that his tail was cut off (short).”

Jones couldn’t do much with Quiet American right away, except find a veterinarian who could feed him antibiotics. The colt got sick, probably because the germs at Del Mar were something he hadn’t been exposed to in England.

“Once we got him in training, he acted like he had been here his entire life,” Jones said. “He didn’t act like it was difficult to run on dirt. When he’s gotten dirt in his face, it hasn’t bothered him. I think he’s got an American foot--it’s not very wide and should help him when he runs on dirt. The way they shod some of their horses to run on grass over there, some of them look like they have club feet.”

Quiet American got to the races at Hollywood Park and immediately scored a narrow victory at 1 1/8 miles. Six weeks later, he ran around two turns at Santa Anita and won by 6 1/2 lengths.

Moving into stakes company on Feb. 4, Quiet American was exposed to mud for the first time and finished a strong second, half a length behind Flying Continental, in the Strub, which was the same distance as the 1 1/4-mile Big ‘Cap. Flying Continental is 6-1 on the Big ‘Cap’s morning line.

Chris McCarron, who will ride Quiet American for the fourth consecutive time, didn’t have the best of trips in the Strub. Quiet American was squeezed at the start and bumped on the backstretch, and Jones thought he might have won otherwise.

“The horse was out of position all the way,” he said. “The second time he got hit, Chris was just going to pull his goggles down. He was six wide at the three-eighths pole. We wouldn’t have been in that spot if we hadn’t gotten wiped out leaving the gate.”

Quiet American has drawn the No. 5 post in today’s 10-horse field. That’s the same spot he had in the Strub.

“I’d just as soon drawn No. 11,” Jones said. “Way outside, we’d know we wouldn’t have any trouble at the start.”

Horse Racing Notes

The first race today will be at 12:30. . . . Another $1-million race is being proposed this summer at Arlington International, providing Sunday Silence and Easy Goer show up. Last year, Louisiana Downs would have boosted the purse of its $1-million Louisiana Derby to $2 million if Sunday Silence and Easy Goer had run, but neither horse did. . . . Stylish Winner, at 81-1, was third behind Martial Law and Triteamtri in last year’s Big ‘Cap. Even though he has won only one race since then, Stylish Winner won’t be that long a price today, but Santangelo may. All Santangelo has in common with Bayakoa is that they’re both Argentine-breds. . . . Martin Pedroza, who will ride Stylish Winner, won with Martial Law at 50-1. . . . Laffit Pincay, who will ride Bayakoa, has won 10 races worth $1 million or more. Chris McCarron ranks second with nine. . . . Among trainers, Wayne Lukas has won 12 $1-million races and Charlie Whittingham is next with seven.