SANTA ANITA : Trainers Blast Condition of Track

Two hours before post time for the Santa Anita Handicap on Sunday, Charlie Whittingham stood in the saddling barn and employed a few choice Marine Corps epithets to describe the surface over which the big race was to be run.

“Miserable” was one of the tamer terms the trainer used. “Too loose,” “cuppy” and finally “hopeless” were some of the others.

“And I don’t think they can fix it, either,” said the dean of California’s horsemen. “I think they’re going to have to start all over.”

Two hours later, Whittingham was standing in the winner’s circle after the Big ‘Cap, alongside Jerry Moss’ Ruhlmann, who had just scored a 22-1 upset. The trainer did not find the result the least bit ironic, nor was he about to change his mind about the condition of the track.

“We got a little rain the morning of the race,” Whittingham said two days later. “That tightened it up a little bit. But it’s still way too loose. Horses just don’t get a hold of it.”

Whittingham’s reaction was typical. During this winter of rampant discontent, the Santa Anita main track has taken more heat than Manuel Noriega and gone through more makeovers than Ivana Trump. Management had been responsive to many of the complaints, but to no avail.

Track condition always has been a favorite whipping boy of trainers. But what sets the Santa Anita situation apart this season is the dramatic evolution of the surface from a track that surrendered a local record 1:07 1/5 for six furlongs during the first week of the meeting to one that required nothing less than Secretariat to approach 1:09 for the same distance during most of February.

“It seems like feast or famine,” track President Cliff Goodrich said. “Handicappers loved the fast track at the beginning of the meet. The speed kept going, and horses were running in nine and change. But the trainers were concerned that the track was too fast.”

In his attempts to placate trainers, Goodrich and his track crew have taken renovating steps since mid-January, creating several distinct racing surfaces by modifications in harrowing depth, equipment and water application. This week, after what can best be described as a series of noble failures, they are on their way toward yet another variation on a never-ending theme.

In late January, according to Goodrich, the harrow tines were dropped an eighth of an inch. Then, a few days later, they were dropped another eighth, cutting a 3 1/4-inch cushion into the sandy soil. Times were slower, and the track was softer, but soon it also became apparent to most trainers that the extra quarter-inch of depth over a one-mile circumference was taking its toll on their horses.

“It had become Belmont Park West,” said trainer Eddie Gregson, referring to the New York track. “The track had gone from traditional Santa Anita glib to deep and tiring. Horses that were handling the track early began floundering around.”

In an attempt to tighten the loose, sandy surface, more and more water was added. Still, trainers were calling it too deep.

Jockeys have had their problems with the track, as well. They were especially distressed when the water was increased--to as much as 100,000 gallons a day, contrasted with about 70,000 earlier in the meet.

“For the last week and a half, we’ve been racing in mud, and it hasn’t rained,” said Gary Stevens not long after his victory aboard Ruhlmann in the Big ‘Cap. “I’ve been pulling down two pairs of goggles going six furlongs.”

Stevens said that such conditions create a “speed-favoring” track, which has nothing to do with the way a horse makes contact with the ground.

“The horses getting that mud splattered in their faces are refusing to run into it,” Stevens said. “It stands to reason that a horse on the lead is going to have all the advantage.

‘It’s like getting hit with cement. I mean, it hurts. Beats the hell out of you. And horses are coming back with their eyes swollen shut. What really tells you something is that you can work any horse in the morning by himself and he’ll give you an excellent work because he’s not getting anything in the face. Run that same horse over the same track in the afternoon--nothing. He won’t extend.”

Trainer Richard Mandella has taken on the thankless task of chief liaison between the backstretch and the executive suite on matters of track maintenance. He collects comments and complaints from his colleagues, attempts to filter out the self-serving baloney, then takes the recommendations directly to Goodrich.

“So far, I can’t say I’ve succeeded,” Mandella said. “The trainers have influenced a change in the racing surface, but the change went too far.

“Earlier in the meet, it was clear that the majority of the trainers wanted to get away from the harder race track. What we ended up with was like running on dry, deep sand at the beach, and no amount of conditioning will make any difference. What you get is a horse who has lost his rhythm, making him more prone to soft-tissue damage as well as broken bones.”

Last week, Mandella told Goodrich that another stab at a “normal” track was imperative. Management decided to aim for a halfway point between the speedway of early January and the bottomless swamps of recent weeks.

“We’ve moved the harrows up an eighth of an inch, starting last Monday,” Goodrich said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a happy medium. It’s been a frustrating experience for us, and it makes things tough on the bettors, too. We can tell them what we’re doing, but we can’t really tell them what it means.

“Unfortunately, there is nowhere we can go to find the perfect main track. And believe me, we’re looking. What we’re faced with is reflected in something (trainer) Wayne Lukas told me earlier in the meeting: ‘I can’t tell you what’s wrong with the race track,’ he said. ‘But when you do something to it, one way or the other, I can tell you if it’s not right.’ ”

Horse Racing Notes

Gary Jones is not using the race track as an excuse for Quiet American’s eighth-place finish in the Santa Anita Handicap, as second choice to Bayakoa. “He bled,” the trainer said. “I hate to say it, because it always sounds like the typical California excuse. But he was doing too good going into the race to run so bad. I’ll wait a few days to make sure he’s OK, then we’ll think about maybe running in the Oaklawn Handicap (on April 14).”

Owner Jerry Moss cleared about $440,000 from Ruhlmann’s Santa Anita Handicap purse, then turned around and spent $450,000 on a 2-year-old son of Seattle Slew at the Tuesday night session of the inaugural Barretts sale at Pomona. . . . The sale was topped by a $700,000 son of Roberto bought by Cubby Broccoli, the man behind the many James Bond films.