Ruhlmann Wins Big ‘Cap at 22-1

Trainer Charlie Whittingham had won a record seven Santa Anita Handicaps before Sunday, but none was as improbable as No. 8--a wire-to-wire, 1 3/4-length victory by Ruhlmann, a 5-year-old who had never run 1 1/4 miles.

After Ruhlmann’s victory at 22-1 in the $1-million race, Whittingham, 76, said the horse’s front-running style reminded him of Ack Ack, who in 1971 had given him his third Big ‘Cap victory.

“Ack Ack could steal ‘em, too,” Whittingham said.

But Ack Ack went off at 4-5, typical of Whittingham’s previous Big ‘Cap winners, none of whom paid more than $9.60. Ruhlmann paid $47.80, the fourth-highest price in the 53-year history of the race. On a topsy-turvy day for the tote board, he was the seventh choice in a field of 10. Bayakoa, the 6-year-old mare who was trying to become the first female to win the stake, went off the 19-10 favorite. But she was unable to use her early speed and wound up last, beaten by almost 30 lengths.

Jerry Moss, the record executive who bought Ruhlmann for $40,000 as a yearling and has seen him earn $1.3 million with a $550,000 purse Sunday, thought his horse’s 22-1 price was out of line, but didn’t feel that he had the favorite in the race, either.

“I thought 12-1 (the morning-line price) was a fair call because the horse had never run this distance,” Moss said. “But he’s a wonderful horse, and the last race (a third-place finish in the San Antonio Handicap) should have counted for more than it did. It got him used to the track, for one thing. But wire-to-wire, it takes an extraordinary horse to do that.”

The plan for Criminal Type was to stay close to Ruhlmann early, but that never happened. Trainer Wayne Lukas’ horse put on a late run to finish second, a head better than Flying Continental. It was another half-length back to Lively One, another horse trained by Whittingham. Quiet American, second betting choice in a crowd of 50,023 on a threatening, overcast day, loomed in third place for three-quarters of a mile before fading to eighth.

Gary Stevens, winning his first Big ‘Cap, had orders from Whittingham to break Ruhlmann on top from the outside post position. When the gates opened, Stevens angled Ruhlmann over to the rail, foiling Lukas’ strategy for Criminal Type and also preventing Bayakoa from springing to the lead, which she’s been able to do in most of her races.

“We wound up with a lot of ground to make up,” Lukas said. “The other horse (Ruhlmann) went from the 10 hole to the two hole just like that. When that happened, we were left on the outside, and then we had to improvise all the way to the (first) turn.”

Ruhlmann, carrying 121 pounds--two less than top-weighted Hawkster, who ran ninth--led Present Value by three lengths after a half-mile, and, even though Criminal Type tried to move into position, Whittingham’s horse was six lengths ahead at the quarter pole. After swift early fractions, Ruhlmann wound up with a time of 2:01 1/5, slowest for a winner of the Big ‘Cap since 1978.

Stevens finished second in last year’s Big ‘Cap with Triteamtri, a 40-1 shot who was overtaken in the stretch by Martial Law at 50-1.

“I had a little more horse than last year,” Stevens said. “I got a good breather from the five-eighths to the three-eighths pole and then set him down. I said they’d have to come and catch me, and he really accelerated.

“It was about an identical type of race to the 1988 Kentucky Derby (when Stevens and the Lukas filly Winning Colors held off Forty Niner at the wire). He ran strong all the way down the stretch. He was getting a little late the last 10 jumps, but he was really digging. Charlie said to take it away from there the first jump out of the gate.”

Criminal Type, ridden by Alex Solis, started the day with a four-race winning streak.

“The other horse got too far in front,” Solis said. “It was too bad nobody went with him. My horse still ran a big race.”

Criminal Type won the San Antonio, beating Ruhlmann by 7 1/2 lengths. Ruhlmann had won only one of his last five starts; Bayakoa had won five consecutive races and 10 of her last 11, and Flying Continental had won the San Fernando and the Strub on off tracks in his last two starts.

But the rain never came for Flying Continental and Bayakoa, who also would have preferred slop.

“My horse ran his tail off,” said Jay Robbins, Flying Continental’s trainer. “He wasn’t handling the track today as well as he did before, but he tried hard and still ran a good race.”

Laffit Pincay, who rode Bayakoa, had hoped to be close behind Ruhlmann early.

“I couldn’t get past the horses inside me,” Pincay said. “They were all under a good hold. I asked her to pick it up on the back side, and she just didn’t. I knew I was in trouble then.”

Bobby Frankel trained Ruhlmann through 1988, with Moss turning the horse over to Whittingham after a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs.

“He’s not an easy horse to train,” Whittingham said. “He’s very tense, and he’s very strong when he gallops. And he’s also a bleeder, so you always have to worry about that.

“But when they turned for home, I could see that no one else was running. My other horse (Lively One) was on the rail, and he got trapped.”

Ruhlmann, who raced briefly in France at the start of his career, has nine victories in 22 starts, only four of them at distances beyond a mile. A year ago, he was a supporting character on Big ‘Cap day, winning another race on the card and setting the track record for a mile with a time of 1:33 2/5. On Sunday, his time was nothing special. But the race was.