HOLLYWOOD PARK : Jinx Follows Winners of Futurity

With few exceptions, losers in the Hollywood Futurity have gone on to greater things than have the winners of the 2-year-old race, but there’s not a trainer with a horse in Sunday’s 10th edition of the stake who wants to chance falling into that mold.

In fact, several of the trainers have that ultimate extra reason to win--as a result of their counsel, some owners are paying $50,000 for a place in the field.

After nine horses were entered Friday for the Futurity, Russell Hudak, Hollywood Park’s linemaker, made the entry of Best Pal and General Meeting the 6-5 favorite. Olympio, winner of the Hollywood Prevue in a three-horse photo finish with Barrage and General Meeting on Nov. 23, is listed at 5-2, and the other entry, Cien Fuegos and Formal Dinner, is 7-2.

The field, from the rail: Barrage and jockey David Flores; Desert Royalty, Corey Nakatani; Cien Fuegos, Gary Stevens; Olympio, Eddie Delahoussaye; Deputy Meister, Kent Desormeaux; Reign Road, Julio Garcia; Best Pal, Jose Santos; Formal Dinner, Alex Solis, and General Meeting, Chris McCarron.

The rest of the morning-line odds are 5-1 on Barrage, 12-1 on Deputy Meister, 20-1 on Reign Road and 30-1 on Desert Royalty. The $50,000 supplementary starters are Barrage, Cien Fuegos, Olympio, Best Pal and Formal Dinner.

Since the Futurity was changed from a 1 1/16-mile race to a one-turn mile in 1985, horses from post position Nos. 8 or 9 have won four of the five runnings. The only inside horse to win was Temperate Sil, who broke from the No. 3 post in 1986.

Of the Futurity winners, Roving Boy was voted champion 2-year-old colt and Snow Chief was a champion as a 3-year-old, but the future has been far less kind for many of them, including Roving Boy, who collapsed and died after he passed the finish line in a winning performance at Santa Anita in 1983.

Roving Boy started a trend that is prevalent enough to be called a jinx: At least three other horses that won the race have died prematurely:

--Fali Time, first at Hollywood in 1983, was knocked around by Gate Dancer in the Kentucky Derby and died two years later of stomach disorders.

--Stephan’s Odyssey, the 1984 Futurity winner, was destroyed in 1986 after complications from a training injury at Hialeah.

--Grand Canyon, last year’s winner who ran the race in 1:33, fastest time ever for a 2-year-old, was destroyed last July because of an incurable hoof infection.

Joe Manzi, Roving Boy’s trainer, died of a heart attack in 1989, and Carl Grinstead, the managing partner of Snow Chief, died in 1987.

Some Futurity winners were never in the spotlight again. Stalwart, who won the first Futurity, has become a moderately successful stallion, but he never ran as a 3-year-old because of a tendon injury. The 1987 Futurity was Tejano’s last victory; as a 3-year-old, he ran 11 times without winning.

By and large, horses finishing behind the Futurity winners have enjoyed bigger reputations. Alysheba, a neck short of catching Temperate Sil, and Ferdinand, a distant third to Snow Chief in 1985, both won the Kentucky Derby and were voted horse-of-the-year honors. Gato Del Sol, who needed 1 1/16 miles just to get warmed up, was a seventh-place bust in Stalwart’s Futurity, but he also won the Derby. Tank’s Prospect, fourth at Hollywood Park, won the 1985 Preakness.

Precisionist, 10th as the favorite in the 1983 Futurity, went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and earn $3.4 million. Alysheba, Brave Raj, Ferdinand, Life’s Magic, Outstandingly, Skywalker and Success Express are other down-the-track Futurity runners who won Breeders’ Cup races. Family Style might have been sixth in the 1985 Futurity, but she was voted champion 2-year-old filly. Another filly, Althea, won an Eclipse Award as a 2-year-old and beat colts the following year in the Arkansas Derby.

While not winning the Hollywood Futurity has been a curious, frequent harbinger of fame, finishing last in the race is not recommended. The names of the trailers since 1981 have been B. Rich George, Grenoble, Just the Facts, Country Manor, Majestic Island, Prince Sassafras, Texas Typhoon, Queen Mary’s Boy and Phantom X. Not exactly a club that would easily find other members.

Horse Racing Notes

Five supplemental horses won the Hollywood Futurity: Roving Boy, Fali Time, Snow Chief, Tejano and King Glorious. . . . In 1983, the first three finishers--Fali Time, Bold T. Jay and Life’s Magic--were all supplementals. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas, who has started nine horses in the Futurity and won with Stalwart, Tejano and Grand Canyon, will saddle Cien Fuegos and Formal Dinner Sunday. . . . All of the starters will carry 121 pounds. . . . Chris McCarron is the only jockey with two Futurity victories, aboard Stalwart and King Glorious.

Santa Anita, under fire from horsemen because of the rash of injuries during the recently completed Oak Tree season, has hired Steve Wood as track superintendent. Wood, 40, also holds the same title at Del Mar and Fairplex Park. “My philosophy about racing surfaces is, the only thing that matters is safety,” Wood said. . . . Roy Nelson remains as track foreman at Santa Anita.