BREEDERS’ CUP NOTEBOOK : A Grim Start Leads to Success for Santos

Jose Santos walked away from a disaster and won two million-dollar races Saturday at Belmont Park.

Santos was aboard Shaker Knit in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint when the horse fell entering the first turn--the same race and same turn where Mr. Nickerson fell and died of an apparent heart attack.

The jockey was unhurt in the accident and won the next race, the $1-million Juvenile Fillies aboard 1-5 favorite Meadow Star.

Santos also won aboard Fly So Free in the $1-million Juvenile three races later. Santos was second aboard Colonial Waters in the Distaff, fourth aboard Alwuhush in the Turf and Steinlen in the Mile and ninth aboard Mi Selecto in the Classic.

For the day, his mounts earned $1.335 million, increasing his Breeders’ Cup total to $3.967 million.

Santos, a New York-based jockey who now heads for rides in California, was asked to compare Meadow Star and Fly So Free.

“I know who’s better in my mind, but I can’t tell you,” Santos said. “I thought I had a chance to win both 2-year-old races, and I’m happy I did.”

For the first time since the first Breeders’ Cup in 1984, trainer Wayne Lukas was shut out.

His best chance, Criminal Type, didn’t make the Classic because of injury.

Lukas, whose $7,888,000 in Breeders’ Cup earnings still tops all trainers, sent six horses out Saturday (another, Deposit Ticket, was scratched). His best finish was fourth with Steinlen in the Mile, earning the trainer $70,000. He also won $50,000 with a fifth-place finish in the Distaff.

His other horses were Carson City (10th) and Senor Speedy (ninth) in the Sprint, Luthier’s Launch (fifth in the Distaff), Fire In Ice (10th in the Juvenile) and Shy Tom (10th in the Turf).

Unbridled became the fourth consecutive Kentucky Derby winner to win the $3-million Classic.

In 1987, Ferdinand (’86 Derby winner) won the Classic; in ’88 Alysheba ( ’87 Derby winner) won; and in ’89 Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer.

Pat Day, with his victory aboard Unbridled in the Classic, moved into first place for purses won among jockeys, ahead of Chris McCarron.

Day, who started Saturday with $5.953 million, won $1,350,060 to increase his total to $7,303,060.

The on-track handle of $10,557,736 set a New York record, passing the mark of $9,266,120 set June 6, 1987, the day Alysheba beat Bet Twice in the Belmont Stakes.

The total New York state mark of $20,259,251 also set a record.

The Children’s Rescue Fund of Mount Kisco, N.Y., will receive the $450,000 earned by Meadow Star in winning the $1-million Juvenile Fillies. Owner Carl Icahn said before the race he would donate all the horse’s earnings in the race to the charity.

“The idea just hit me at the Frizette Stakes,” said Icahn, chairman of the board at TWA. “We are all lucky enough to enjoy the races and it struck me as a way to do some good. Having a champion compete as a champion for the underprivileged may be poetic, if that’s the right word.”

WINNERS

Race Purse Horse Jockey Sprint $1 million Safely Kept Craig Perret Juvenile Fillies $1 million Meadow Star Jose Santos Distaff $1 million Bayakoa Laffit Pincay Mile (turf) $1 million Royal Academy Lester Piggott Juvenile Colts $1 million Fly So Free Jose Santos Turf $2 million In The Wings Gary Stevens Classic $3 million Unbridled Pat Day