SANTA ANITA : Safety of Track Is Questioned After Many Breakdowns

Sunday morning, before the Yellow Ribbon Invitational at Santa Anita, Neil Papiano, one of the owners of Baldomero, was advised by a high-profile California breeder not to run the 5-year-old mare.

“He thought there were problems with the track,” said Papiano, who declined to identify the breeder.

Trainer Bill Shoemaker ran Baldomero in the $400,000 stake, and it was the last race of her life. On the clubhouse turn, the Irish-bred’s left foreleg snapped. Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye pulled her up, and minutes later, with the leg hopelessly shattered, a veterinarian gave Baldomero a lethal injection.

Baldomero, who at Del Mar had given Shoemaker his first stakes victory as a trainer, was insured for $300,000, but her owners would gladly give up the money if they could have her back to run again.

“I couldn’t go out there (when Baldomero was injured),” said Ted Goldberg, one of Papiano’s partners in ownership of the horse. “Both sesamoids were gone, and the cannon bone was showing through the skin. It must have been horrible.”

There were so many breakdowns during the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita that about halfway through the 27-day season, which ended Monday, several owners asked their trainers to use caution in running their horses.

Reluctant Guest, an Eclipse Award candidate, also suffered a leg injury in the Yellow Ribbon and probably won’t race again until next spring. In Monday’s Burke Handicap, Great Communicator, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes in 1988, was destroyed after breaking down.

Trainer Charlie Whittingham twice scratched horses from grass races during the final Oak Tree weekend, not running She’s a V.P. in the California Cup Distaff and keeping Live The Dream out of the Burke. Live The Dream is being saved for the fall season at Hollywood Park, where he has shown a preference for the turf.

Whittingham, who was at the Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park Oct. 27 when Go For Wand and two other stakes horses had to be destroyed, said racing has had enough negative publicity lately and preferred not to comment about the problems at Santa Anita.

Exact figures on the number of breakdowns during morning training hours and afternoon racing at the meeting were not available Tuesday. On one Sunday, however, three horses broke down in races on the main track and had to be destroyed, and in the Volante Handicap on grass the same day, Mehmetori suffered a tendon injury that might end his career.

“That was a day, “ said Ray Baran, who was the track veterinarian for the Oak Tree meeting. “Besides those four, we wound up putting more horses on the vets’ list (making them ineligible to run because of soreness) than on any day I can ever remember.”

Cliff Goodrich, president of Santa Anita, was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

“We’ve run a lot of races over this track, but I think it’s in fine condition,” said Ray Rogers, executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. “We’ve taken every possible precaution to make the track safe. We tested both surfaces for resilience every day of the meeting.”

A year ago, Santa Anita spent about $3 million to rebuild its oft-maligned grass course. Included was the installation of a mesh material called Netlon, which was designed to reduce the number of divots. Before this year’s Oak Tree season, Santa Anita spent another $1.8 million to rebuild the hillside section of the grass course.

Track and world records immediately started falling. Even lesser horses seem capable of running exceptional times. On Oct. 13, in an allowance race, Shirkee, a 5-year-old Shoemaker-trained gelding, ran the approximately 6 1/2 furlongs down the hill in 1:11 4/5, equaling a record that was set 20 years ago.

Is the course so fast that it imperils safety?

“What Santa Anita has done with its turf course was very creative, but it was not the thing to do,” said one owner who declined to be identified. “The grass is in horrible condition. It’s harder than the main track. It’s like concrete.”

Trainer Doug Peterson was surprised by the appearance of the Santa Anita grass course. “It’s showing wear and tear,” he said. “And this is after a meeting that hasn’t been that long.”

Race tracks have always been easy targets for criticism. Belmont Park is under fire, not necessarily because of Go For Wand’s breakdown in the Breeders’ Cup, but because of all the other injuries there this season.

When the Breeders’ Cup was held at Gulfstream Park in 1989, some trainers, dissatisfied with the inconsistency of the main track’s surface, shipped their horses to nearby Hialeah for prerace workouts.

The deaths of Go For Wand, Great Communicator and others have provided a sorry climax to a year in which Sunday Silence, the horse of the year; Easy Goer, and Criminal Type were retired because of leg problems.

“I don’t think it’s the tracks, I think it’s year-round racing,” said Charlie Rose, assistant trainer of Plenty of Grace, the 56-1 upset winner of the Yellow Ribbon. “It used to be that a trainer had the time to turn out horses for two or three months before bringing them back. Horses might not run as many races as they used to, but they’re sure in training a lot longer. Now a rest for a horse amounts to what we call ‘light training,’ which still isn’t as beneficial as turning a horse out.”