HOLLYWOOD PARK : Bayakoa Entered in Vanity, but McAnally Will Not Decide Until Sunday if She’ll Run

When Ron McAnally saw Neil Drysdale in the paddock the other day at Hollywood Park, he joshed with his fellow trainer about the weight assignments for Sunday’s $200,000 Vanity Handicap. McAnally asked Drysdale whether he and Eual Wyatt, Hollywood’s racing secretary, might be related.

Drysdale, of course, will laugh all the way to the winner’s circle if his Gorgeous, carrying 124 pounds, beats McAnally’s Bayakoa, at 128 pounds, in the 1 1/8-mile stake.

McAnally and Bayakoa’s owner, Frank Whitham, still aren’t sure that they will run the 6-year-old mare, and even if they won the Vanity, McAnally wouldn’t come away thinking they had the last laugh. “The more she keeps winning, the more the weights will be,” McAnally said.

Bayakoa’s impost concerns McAnally some, but his main complaint about Wyatt’s weights is that his horse will have to carry four pounds more than Gorgeous. There was also a four-pound difference when the horses last met, the day Gorgeous won by 2 3/4 lengths in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 19.

Drysdale can be smug about all this, a demeanor not uncommon for the Englishman. “Weights are subjective, aren’t they?” Drysdale said. “They’re in the eyes of the beholder. Bayakoa’s run a couple of bang-up races since we beat her, and Gorgeous is coming off both a long layoff and a bad race. The idea in weighting horses is to have them theoretically cross the finish line together. I think we’re at a disadvantage going into this race.”

Since the Apple Blossom, Bayakoa returned to California and won the Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood by four lengths, then the Milady Handicap by 2 1/4. She carried 125 pounds in the Hawthorne and 127 in the Milady.

Gorgeous’ most recent start was an eighth-place finish against males in the Pimlico Special on May 12. Otherwise, she has a record of seven wins, three seconds and one third in 11 races. Bayakoa beat Gorgeous twice, giving her four pounds in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last November at Gulfstream Park, then spotting her two pounds in February in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

“It’s as simple as this,” Wyatt said, when asked about the Vanity weights. “I couldn’t justify giving Gorgeous any more weight, and I couldn’t justify giving Bayakoa any less. Since that Arkansas race, Bayakoa has come back to win twice, and forget about whether she beat anybody. She still won both of those races quite impressively.”

Whitham, the West Kansas banker-rancher who bought Bayakoa for $300,000 when she was a 3-year-old running in Argentina, has established himself as a sportsman, but the weights for the Vanity might be pushing him too far. He paid $200,000 to supplement Bayakoa into the Breeders’ Cup, the race that clinched her Eclipse Award. He also gave McAnally the green light to race her against males in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap, an outing that was as disastrous as Gorgeous’ trip to Pimlico. Bayakoa finished last, one of the worst races of her 32-race career.

After a couple of phone coversations with Whitham Friday, McAnally entered Bayakoa in Sunday’s race. Since the Vanity is an invitational, no entry fee is required. McAnally said a decision won’t be made until Sunday on whether Bayakoa will start.

McAnally and Whitham would like to have Bayakoa ready for another run at the Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 27, but if they skip the Vanity, immediate options are limited.

“I fell asleep the other night looking at the (national) stakes book, trying to find another spot for her,” McAnally said. He might even consider the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 4, when the opposition would again be males.

“At least in a race like that, she’ll get five pounds off (because of the sex allowance),” McAnally said.

Drysdale is not concerned about Gorgeous’ layoff, although clockers were surprised to see her work slowly one morning this week.

“This filly runs well fresh,” Drysdale said. “It was outrageous what we did, running at Pimlico, but no matter what she did there, the Vanity was the race we were pointing to, and there’s been plenty of time for her to recover.”

Horse Racing Notes

The field, in post-position order, with jockeys and weights, for the Vanity: Bayakoa, Laffit Pincay, 128 pounds; Kelly, Corey Nakatani, 108; T.V. of Crystal, Pat Valenzuela, 111; Beautiful Melody, Jose Santos, 116; Fantastic Look, Kent Desormeaux, 112; and Gorgeous, Eddie Delahoussaye, 124. . . . Beautiful Melody and Fantastic Look, both owned by John Mabee, will be coupled in the betting, but Beautiful Melody could be scratched if both Bayakoa and Gorgeous run.

Bayakoa can become the fourth horse to score consecutive victories in the Vanity. The others were It’s in the Air, Convenience and Annie-Lu-San. . . . Grand Canyon and Red Ransom, colts with physical problems who had been expected to beef up the 3-year-old division by the end of the year, are out of action. Grand Canyon suffered a ruptured blood vessel on his right leg and won’t return to racing until next year. Red Ransom’s brief career is over, the result of a broken bone in his leg.

Joe Harper, general manager at Del Mar, has been named president of the track, replacing Mabee, who had held the position since 1978. Mabee will remain on the board of directors. . . . Tom Knust has been named racing secretary at Santa Anita. The job opened up when Tommy Robbins moved up to vice president after the retirement of Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe.