Mister Frisky to Face Those Who Remain

Perhaps today’s Santa Anita Derby is good enough without them. But the horses that left town, or are leaving town--Land Rush, Pleasant Tap, Silver Ending, Tsu’s Dawning, Nuits St. Georges and Heaven Again--could have made the $500,000 Santa Anita race the class of the Kentucky Derby preps this year.

The Santa Anita Derby has Mister Frisky--Mister Perfecto--but for Kentucky Derby preps, the best top-to-bottom field may be in the Blue Grass at Keeneland a week from today, when Summer Squall, Unbridled, Land Rush, Shot Gun Scott and Pleasant Tap are expected to run.

Another opinion comes from trainer Wayne Lukas.

“I’m not so sure the Blue Grass will be tougher than the race here,” Lukas said. “Those horses back there might not be as good.”

Lukas has heard that Unbridled, the winner of the Florida Derby, might run in the Arkansas Derby, which would dim the luster of the Blue Grass. Lukas is running horses in the Santa Anita Derby, the Blue Grass and nearly every other prep race, as usual.

He will run Real Cash at Santa Anita, Richard R. and Kentucky Jazz in today’s Gotham at Aqueduct, Land Rush in the Blue Grass and probably the filly, Hail Atlantis, in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 21. He even has Power Lunch, the fourth-place finisher in the Jim Beam, back in Kentucky, eligible for races written for non-winners of two races.

There is little doubt that Lukas will add to his record of having run at least one horse--and sometimes as many as three--in every Kentucky Derby since 1981. Fifteen starters at Churchill Downs have produced one winner for the Lukas organization--the filly Winning Colors in 1988.

This Santa Anita Derby could be another race for revisionist historians. Unlike handicappers, they have a chance to look back, and looking back at the Kentucky Derby since 1982, six of the eight winners have been horses that either raced or trained in California during the previous winter.

The list starts with Gato Del Sol--who had finished fourth in the Santa Anita Derby--and is completed by Sunny’s Halo, Ferdinand, Alysheba, Winning Colors and Sunday Silence. Sunny’s Halo only trained--and swam--at Hollywood Park, running his prep races in Arkansas before winning the Kentucky Derby.

Ferdinand was third in the Santa Anita Derby, not liking a slick track, and Winning Colors and Sunday Silence won the race. Tank’s Prospect finished last in the race the year he won the Preakness.

On Thursday, Lukas drew for Santa Anita Derby post positions. Real Cash, a front-runner, wound up with the inside post position.

“The only two numbers left for my horse were the inside and the outside,” Lukas said. “The inside was better than the outside. I wanted to be in the No. 3 or the No. 4 hole. Where we are is not an advantage, but I don’t think it’s a big disadvantage, either.”

Real Cash, a son of Tank’s Prospect, had won only two of six starts and was soundly beaten in three stakes before he won the San Felipe Handicap at 1 1/16 miles March 18. Real Cash benefited from slow early fractions in that race and carried 113 pounds, nine fewer than all of the starters will carry today. Warcraft and Music Prospector, who were second and third in the San Felipe, are back for the 1 1/8 miles today.

“I think Real Cash can run all day,” said Alex Solis, who rode him for the first time in the San Felipe.

Solis was a one-shot rider aboard Real Cash, since Lukas’ front-line jockeys for the Kentucky Derby are Angel Cordero, who will ride Real Cash today, and Laffit Pincay.

Lukas has had better luck in the Santa Anita Derby than in Kentucky, winning the Arcadia race with Codex, who then won the Preakness; Muttering, Marfa and Winning Colors.

Most of the trainers who have defected from Santa Anita didn’t want their horses to face Mister Frisky, a front-runner on a track that has favored that running style and the winner of all 15 of his races. Lukas has another reason for going East with Land Rush, who was fifth in the San Felipe and third, 4 1/2 lengths behind Mister Frisky, in the mile San Rafael on March 3.

“The timing of the Blue Grass is better,” said Lukas, who after the injury to his Grand Canyon called Land Rush his best Kentucky Derby candidate. “The Blue Grass is about a month after his previous race and it’s three weeks before the Derby. Not only that, we’ll have a better chance to evaluate him against the Eastern horses.”

Horse Racing Notes

Burnt Hills, who beat Real Cash in the Bolsa Chica, is the 2-1 favorite, with Pat Valenzuela riding, in the Gotham. The entry of Richard R. and Kentucky Jazz is 5-2 and Rhythm is 7-2. Burnt Hills will run a mile for the first time. . . . Slavic and Roanoke, two beaten horses in the Florida Derby, are out of the Kentucky Derby. Slavic, second at Gulfstream Park, suffered a strained ligament at Keeneland, and Roanoke, seventh in Florida, has been sent to a farm because of a liver infection. . . . Shot Gun Scott has been coughing at Keeneland and worked poorly there.

Post time for the first race today at Santa Anita is 12:20. The Santa Anita Derby, because it is being nationally televised, is the fifth race. . . . Sunday Silence, the 1989 horse of the year, had his first workout since undergoing knee surgery in November and went three furlongs in :39 4/5. . . . Steinlen will carry high weight of 125 pounds Sunday in the $100,000 El Rincon Handicap, a mile grass race. Others in the field are Miswaki Turn, Shining Steel, Music Merci, Wonder Dancer, Santangelo and Bruho.

Retired trainer Jimmy Jones, who won the Santa Anita Derby with Hill Gail in 1952 and Chanlea in 1953, is visiting Santa Anita for the first time since 1955. Jones, a member of the racing Hall of Fame, also trained Citation, who won his last 15 starts in 1948, was injured in 1949 and won his first start in 1950. Mister Frisky could match that winning streak with a victory today. Citation’s streak ended at Santa Anita when, under 130 pounds, he lost by a neck to Miche.

William Milner, 83, a veteran Northern California racing official, died in Monrovia. Services will be Monday. . . . Dick Allen, the former baseball slugger, is a jockey agent for Johnny Velasquez, a New York apprentice.