OAK TREE : Best Pal Wins, Earns Ticket East

The Breeders’ Cup, which lost some of its best attractions when Criminal Type, Eastern Echo and Housebuster were recently injured, got an entry on the other side of the ledger Sunday after Best Pal cruised to a 4 1/2-length victory in the $297,700 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita.

Minutes after Best Pal earned $178,620 for his victory, John Mabee, who bred and owns the 2-year-old gelding, indicated that he would spend $120,000 to make his horse eligible to win $450,000 in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park Oct. 27.

“We’ve got to go (to New York),” Mabee said. “This horse is the best in the West, and we’ll see how he does against the best in the East. Best Pal ran very well today. If he comes out of this race all right, we’ll be there.”

The winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile has won the Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old colt or gelding four of the six times the race has been run, and the divisional championship appears to be on the line this year as well. With Eastern Echo breaking down and being retired, Fly So Free won the Champagne for 2-year-olds at Belmont Saturday and, running on his home track, will be the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup.

Best Pal, ridden by Pat Valenzuela and trained by Ian Jory, was the third California-bred to win a major stake this weekend. The others ran at Belmont Park, where Flying Continental won Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup and Cacoethes won Sunday’s Turf Classic.

A crowd of 28,093 saw Best Pal win his fifth race in six starts and increase his purse total to $521,195. Best Pal won his first start at Hollywood Park in May, ran second in a minor stake at Golden Gate Fields in June and then won three stakes at Del Mar, including the Del Mar Futurity Sept. 12.

“He had an excuse at Golden Gate,” Mabee said. “He bled slightly that day. We’ll have to figure out a way to get around that in New York.”

Since that Golden Gate race, Best Pal has been racing after being given Lasix, a diuretic commonly given to bleeders but a medication that’s not permitted in New York. Unbridled, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner and also a bleeder, was able to run in the Belmont Stakes without bleeding after he was dehydrated several hours before the race.

Best Pal, who paid $3 to win, ran the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk in 1:42 4/5 and finished strongly, increasing his lead through the stretch with only mild urging from Valenzuela. Pillaring, also a California-bred, finished second, as he had in the Del Mar Futurity. Another 1 1/4 lengths back in third was Formal Dinner.

Sunday Silence, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the horse of the year in 1989, is the best horse Valenzuela ever has ridden, and after the Norfolk, the jockey said that Best Pal has the potential to be as good.

“Best Pal is a push-button horse,” Valenzuela said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him. As a 2-year-old, Sunday Silence didn’t get started until later, but if this horse progresses the same way, I can’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do some of the same things as Sunday Silence.”

Best Pal broke sharply from near the middle of the 12-horse field and settled into second place, behind Formal Dinner, for the run down the backstretch. At the quarter pole, Best Pal pulled away.

“I thought Pillaring would come to me, but my horse opened up,” Valenzuela said. “I expected Pillaring to be there, but every time I looked back my horse just had more left. He had his ears pricked and he just kept accelerating.”

Horse Racing Notes

Notorious Pleasure , a 4-year-old colt who wasn’t introduced to grass racing until last May at Hollywood Park, won his fourth turf race in six starts, by scoring a 1 1/4-length victory over Kanatiyr in the $113,700 Koester Handicap. Ridden by Laffit Pincay and trained by Hector Palma, Notorious Pleasure is not eligible for the Breeders’ Cup and will continue to race in California. Kanatiyr and his stablemate, Colway Rally, who ran fourth, are possibilities for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. . . . Pat Valenzuela missed riding Saturday after being kicked above the right knee after dismounting Friday.