THOROUGHBRED RACING : Best Pal Brings Jory Limelight, Pressure

The latest young Briton to take a bite out of California racing is Ian Philip Dunstan Jory, a lanky lad from Hertfordshire with a disarming wit and a plain bay gelding who might be the best 2-year-old thoroughbred in America.

Jory trains Best Pal, who swept through the recent Del Mar meeting with three stakes victories, climaxed by a runaway in the $344,100 Futurity. In barely five years on his own as a public trainer, Jory had won nothing approaching the prestige of the Del Mar race.

Now, less than three weeks later, Jory is beginning to feel the pressure of Best Pal’s accomplishments. Hard choices must be made, and everyone is watching. A championship could be at stake, not to mention the money involved in such races as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Hollywood Futurity, both million-dollar events.

Jory is confident of his ability to keep Best Pal fit and fresh without a race before the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park. But owner and breeder John C. Mabee prefers to run first in the $200,000 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting Oct. 7. If Best Pal can win both races, an Eclipse Award should be his.

In the meantime, Jory counts his blessings whenever he peeks into the number one stall at his Santa Anita stable, where a very mellow Best Pal usually can be found dozing on his feet. It wasn’t long ago that Jory stood on the bottom rung of the local training ladder.

“I went on my own in 1985,” said Jory, who had been an assistant to fellow Englishman John Gosden. “Just kind of struggled along for a couple of years, doing most of the work myself. At that point, things could only get better.”

Jory, who comes from a family of doctors, worked for two of England’s better-known horsemen before his American adventure. One was Sir Mark Prescott, who trained a colt named Spindrifter to win 13 races as a 2-year-old. The other was Jeremy Hindley, who had the classy filly Star Pastures for Robert Sangster.

Jory was Hindley’s “head lad,” and in that capacity he accompanied Star Pastures to California in the fall of 1981 for the prestigious Yellow Ribbon Invitational. Star Pastures finished second to Queen to Conquer.

“The filly stayed with Gosden at Santa Anita, and I went home,” Jory said. “But I liked what I saw, and I decided to return when I could.

“Without family connections or a lot of money, there’s not much chance for a young trainer starting out in England. There’s way more of a chance here, because you can be training just one or two horses, and if you’re lucky enough to have a good one, off you go.”

That “good one” took some time to find. After his stint with Gosden, Jory and his wife, Timi, an accomplished rider and a college professor, found themselves at a training center in Lancaster. Their stable included outcasts and rehabs from the L.A. Basin’s race tracks. Back home in England, Jory’s postmarks raised eyebrows: “Lancaster. How quaint. Sounds so cool and green and, well, British.”

In 1987, Jory mustered enough of a clientele to escape the high desert. His logo, “IPDJ” in gold on green, began turning up on more and more saddlepads. In 1988, he won with 14 of 95 starters and caught the attention of Mabee, then president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, who sent him a few horses. In 1989, the Jory stable earned more than $400,000. Then, earlier this year, he got his first taste of the spotlight with Video Ranger on the Triple Crown trail.

Video Ranger, at odds of 65-1, surprised nearly everyone by finishing fourth to Unbridled in the Kentucky Derby. He went on to finish a close second in the Jersey Derby, then ran poorly in the Belmont Stakes and has not raced since. Jory and owner Myung Kwon Cho have since parted, but there are no regrets.

“None at all,” Jory said. “It was clear that the owner wanted to be very involved in the training of his horses, and that was not an arrangement I preferred. But going to the Derby was a great experience. If nothing else, now I know all the right phone numbers to call in Louisville if we make it there again.”

Jory thinks Best Pal has the right stuff for a Triple Crown campaign next year. Physically, he is a compact specimen with no serious flaws. A minor backache held Jory’s attention through the Del Mar meeting, but it appears to be under control. And a small knot on Best Pal’s left shin is merely an unsightly reminder of a romp into a fence as a yearling.

“The best thing about him is his mind,” Jory said. “He can switch on and switch off just like an older horse. In his stall, he’s quiet as can be. If you want him to gallop easy, he’ll drop his head and crawl along.

“But as you get closer to a race and require a bit more, he knows it. He starts to get tough. As much as he’s shown so far, I can only think he’ll get better with a bit more age.”

Best Pal worked five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 at Santa Anita Wednesday with Pat Valenzuela in the saddle. Jory plans a six-furlong work Monday, and again Valenzuela will be aboard.

Best Pal represents California’s best chance for a homegrown champion since the days of Snow Chief, who won more money than any 2-year-old in the United States in 1985 but was beaten in Eclipse Award balloting by Tasso. The difference? Tasso won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile while Snow Chief stayed home.

Like Snow Chief, Best Pal was not made eligible for the Breeders’ Cup program as a foal. As a result, Mabee must pony up $120,000 if he wants to run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Despite his position as an original director of Breeders’ Cup, Ltd., Mabee has yet to commit himself on paying the huge penalty fee. He has until Oct. 15 to decide.

“The only reason to go back there is to win the championship,” Mabee said this week. “If Best Pal wins the Norfolk as easily as he won the Del Mar Futurity, I’d certainly think he’d have a shot, unless some monster comes to life. But if he’s life and death to win it, we might just stay here for the California Cup Juvenile (on Nov. 3).”

Horse Racing Notes

Jockeys Laffit Pincay, Pat Valenzuela, Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux will be in Chicago this weekend for a special all-star competition at Arlington International Racecourse.

Jorge Velasquez, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, will take another stab at riding in Southern California, beginning with the Oak Tree meeting, which starts Wednesday at Santa Anita. Vince DeGregory will be his agent.

While driving home from Fairplex Park in Pomona last week, trainer Laurie Anderson was a victim of a “Rolex mugging.” He managed to fight off the thief and hold onto his watch, which wasn’t even that brand. . . . Anderson is putting together a small stable of horses for comedian Richard Pryor. A 2-year-old named Bartalomew could be Pryor’s first runner at the Oak Tree meeting.