Great Communicator, 7, Is Destroyed After Spill

In a tragic scene that was far too common during the 27-day Oak Tree meeting, 1988 Breeders’ Cup turf champion Great Communicator had to be destroyed Monday at Santa Anita.

The 7-year-old gelding, with Russell Baze aboard, was second and closing the gap on Ultrasonido with about four furlongs to run in the $219,400 Carleton F. Burke Handicap.

Then, in an instant, his right hind leg gave way.

Great Communicator was destroyed after suffering a compound fracture of the cannon bone in his right hind leg and a possible fracture of the lower leg.

In the previous day’s feature, Baldomero had to be destroyed after suffering a broken left foreleg at Santa Anita.

And there were several other horses without the credentials of Baldomero and Great Communicator who went down during the meeting, raising questions about the track’s safety.

“If it’s coincidental, then there’s been an awful lot of coincidence here,” said one jockey, who declined to be identified. “I don’t think it’s so much the turf course as it is training on this main track.”

Great Communicator was seemingly past his prime after failing to come close in eight consecutive races before the Henry P. Russell Handicap. But, in that Oct. 17 race, Great Communicator had looked like his old self while holding off Polar Boy to win.

Monday, trainer Thad Ackel’s pride and joy appeared to be back on his game.

“He felt 100% in the warmup and in the way he was running until that point,” Baze said of Great Communicator, who finished with more than $2.9 million in earnings and whose biggest victory came in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“He was sitting comfortably, and he was just getting himself gathered up and starting to close the gap a bit on the leader. The first bad step he took was when it broke. The old guy didn’t want to pull up. It just makes you sick. I feel really bad for Thad because that horse means so much to him.”

Said Ackel: “I had a lump in my throat since I watched Go For Wand go down on television in the Breeders’ Cup. When I saw her go down, I prayed that it wouldn’t happen to me.”

Ackel had given Great Communicator six months off after he suffered a wrenched ankle. He returned to racing in July, and more recently the horse had undergone minor surgery for a displaced palate.

“This was a perfectly sound horse going into today’s race, and that’s what bothers me,” Ackel said.

Neither Ackel nor Charlie Whittingham, a trainer with numerous grass horses, would blame the Santa Anita turf course for the recent injuries.

“You can’t knock Santa Anita,” Ackel said. “They responded to complaints about the turf course by spending millions of dollars, so they put the money where it belonged. I’m not sure they accomplished what they set out to do, but they’ve spent a lot of money trying and given it an all-out effort.

“They ran a couple of other turf races before my horse ran, and when that happens a course is bound to have a few holes in it. My horse took a couple of funny strides just when he was moving up toward the lead. He had been moving so fluidly in the mornings, and I thought he had come up to the race perfectly.”

Said Whittingham: “How many races had that horse run? He’s been in 56 races? Well, there you are. Not only that, he runs hard, he hits the ground hard. He runs hard, he hit the ground hard, he’s not young, and he broke his leg. That’s your answer.”

Looking for a sweep of Oak Tree’s two biggest turf races, Rial won the Burke, rallying from last to beat favored Ultrasonido by a head.

However, after a lengthy stewards’ inquiry, Rial was disqualified and placed second, making Ultrasonido the winner in his first start for owners Frank and Jan Whitham. Bayakoa’s owners had purchased the 5-year-old Argentine-bred from Alberto Hansen Sunday.

Lugging in badly through the stretch despite Rafael Meza’s left-handed urging, Rial came in and bumped Ultrasonido nearing the wire. The stewards ruled this caused Ultrasonido to break stride and awarded him the victory, although Rial would have been an easy winner if he had maintained a straight course.

The Oak Tree Board of Stewards ordered jockey Pat Valenzuela to appear at Hollywood Park by Monday.

The 28-year-old rider, who has had problems with drugs and alcohol, called in sick Saturday, then later refused to take a drug test and told Dr. Neal Fisher he was going to take “three months off to straighten out my life.”

Valenzuela was suspended for 60 days Oct. 27, 1989, after testing positive for cocaine. The suspension cost him the mount on Sunday Silence in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Horse Racing Notes

Kent Desormeaux won his first riding title since making the Southland his home. He finished with 23 winners, one more than Gary Stevens, Alex Solis and Eddie Delahoussaye. . . . Richard Mandella, who turned 40 Monday, won the training title with 12 victories. . . . The daily on-track attendance for Oak Tree was 21,879, compared to 21,903 in 1989 when the meeting lasted 32 days. On-track handle was down 1.3% from the previous year, but the daily average handle of $6,619,645, factoring in off-track and out-of-state sites, was up 5.6%. . . . Reluctant Guest, who finished 10th in Sunday’s Yellow Ribbon Stakes, was injured and will be out for several months.

Times staff writer Bill Christine contributed to this story.