THOROUGHBRED RACING : Hollendorfer Loses One, Gains One

A visitor to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s barn office at Golden Gate Fields couldn’t help noticing a pile of M.C. Hammer T-shirts on the desk.

“I got the shirts, but (Wayne) Lukas got the horse,” Hollendorfer said.

Hollendorfer was referring to Media Plan, the stakes-winning 3-year-old gelding that his breeder and owner, Leonard Lavin, was trying to sell. Hollendorfer, acting on behalf of Hammer and the rap-music star’s family, had made an offer of $200,000 that grew to $350,000.

Finally, the Hammer people bought the horse for $450,000, then turned him over to Lukas, who had been helping them pick out some 2-year-olds at a sale in Pomona last week.

But when the other shoe dropped for Hollendorfer this week, it turned out to be a silver slipper. Hammer, his father and brother have bought Lite Light, a talented 3-year-old filly who is running Saturday in the Santa Anita Oaks, and she is being turned over to Hollendorfer, who got them into the business with a couple of cheap claimers at the Bay Area tracks.

Media Plan, who ran second to Olympio in the Sausalito Stakes at Golden Gate last Saturday, the day after he was sold, might have come along for Lukas at the right time.

Lukas should be known as D. Wayne Derby because he has been at Churchill Downs with at least one starter every year since 1981, having run 18 horses, among them the winning filly Winning Colors in 1988. But right now his prospects are bleak for continuing his extraordinary streak.

Bleak, that is, in the eyes of most other observers. The optimistic Lukas says, “Don’t count us out until April 27,” which is the Saturday before the Derby.

Lukas has nominated 27 3-year-olds for the Triple Crown races, more than any three other trainers combined, but most of them have failed to catch anybody’s fancy. He does not have a horse running in Saturday’s Florida Derby, the first of three major preps for the Kentucky Derby, and the horses that will be running in the two others--the Santa Anita Derby on April 6 and the Wood Memorial on April 20--have a head start on the Lukas contingent.

“I think we’ll still end up with a horse or two at the Kentucky Derby,” Lukas said. “What we’ll have is something that comes out of the woodwork late. This could be a Sunny’s Halo or a Spend A Buck kind of year, where you sit back and then--bang, bang--you’re there.”

Sunny’s Halo won the 1983 Derby after racing only twice as a 3-year-old, his first race not coming until March 26. Spend A Buck, in 1985, had just three pre-Derby starts as a 3-year-old, the first on March 23.

At the 1989 sales, when many of this year’s 3-year-olds were auctioned, Lukas bought 13 top-of-the-line offerings for more than $8.6 million. At the top of the list was King’s Canyon, a son of Alydar and grandson of Nijinsky II, who cost $1.75 million. King’s Canyon, who didn’t start running until this winter at Santa Anita, finished eighth and fourth in his first two races, then beat maidens going 1 1/16 miles in the mud on March 2.

“King’s Canyon is coming fast,” Lukas said. “We’re considering running him in the Blue Grass (at Keeneland on April 13).”

Corporate Account, a $350,000 Private Account yearling, is another 3-year-old Lukas mentions. The day after King’s Canyon’s victory, Corporate Account won convincingly at six furlongs in his first start, and he’s running in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Saturday.

“If we get to Louisville again, there’ll be two things you’ll be able to say about our horses,” Lukas said. “One, they’ll be fresh, and two, we’ll have played catch-up because they won’t have much seasoning.”

Some Lukas horses, promising 2-year-olds last year, are on the shelf. Deposit Ticket, winner of stakes at Hollywood Park, Monmouth Park and Saratoga, chipped a knee; Vermont, a colt Jose Santos once rode while passing up a call on Fly So Free, chipped an ankle; and Iroquois Park fractured his leg.

“These are horses we’ll have for the second season,” Lukas said.

The second season?

“Yeah, starting in July,” Lukas said.

Horse Racing Notes

Fly So Free, with Jose Santos riding, is the 3-5 favorite in Saturday’s $500,000 Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park. The field, in post-position order, includes Sir Bordeaux, Strike the Gold, Fly So Free, Man Alright, Shoot To Kill, Link, Hansel and Jackie Wackie. The 5-2 second choice is the intriguing Jackie Wackie, who has finished first in nine consecutive races against lesser competition, losing one of the victories on a stewards’ disqualification.

Some of the other Florida 3-year-olds, including Kyle’s Our Man, To Freedom and Greek Costume, are running in the seven-furlong Swale, another race on the Gulfstream card. . . . The best battle of the day at Gulfstream Saturday may be between Unbridled, last year’s Kentucky Derby winner and champion 3-year-old colt, and Housebuster, who was voted champion sprinter. Making their first starts as 4-year-olds, they’re racing in the seven-furlong Deputy Minister Handicap, with Housebuster carrying 122 pounds and Unbridled 119.

Chris Antley, granted a stay of a five-day stewards’ suspension at Santa Anita, will be able to ride Meadow Star when the leading filly candidate for the Kentucky Derby runs against five opponents Saturday in the Queen of the Stage Stakes at Aqueduct. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that Antley can ride until he has a hearing before the full California Horse Racing Board.

Santos will be back at Santa Anita Sunday, riding Split Run in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe Stakes, the final tuneup for the Santa Anita Derby. Other probable starters are Sea Cadet, Scan, Compelling Sound, Conveyor and Green Alligator. . . . The rivalry between Lite Light and Garden Gal resumes Saturday in the $200,000 Santa Anita Oaks. Lite Light has drawn the rail in the six-horse race at 1 1/16 miles, with Corey Nakatani aboard. Outside them are Ms. Aerosmith, with Chris McCarron riding; Assombrie, Alex Solis; Furtan’s Friend, Eddie Delahoussaye; Ifyoucouldseemenow, Martin Pedroza; and Garden Gal, Gary Stevens. All of the starters will carry 117 pounds, and Ifyoucouldseemenow and Garden Gal will be coupled in the betting.

Stephanie Young, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a riding spill at the Birmingham (Ala.) Turf Club in 1989, will throw out the first ball in a jockey-celebrity softball game at 6:15 Sunday night at Arcadia County Park. Proceeds will go to the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, which helps injured riders. . . . Roman Brother, the gelding who was voted horse of the year by the Daily Racing Form in 1965, died recently in Florida at 30. The owners and trainer of Nice Assay, the winner of Wednesday’s La Habra Stakes at Santa Anita, returned to the winner’s circle Thursday after their Mane Minister won the $57,600 Pirate Cove Handicap at Santa Anita. Mane Minister, who is owned by Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan of Vancouver, British Columbia, and trained by Paco Gonzalez, beat Magnificent Red by two lengths, with River Traffic, the 9-5 favorite, running eighth. The mile grass race for 3-year-olds was shifted to the dirt because of recent rain, leading to River Traffic’s first outing on the main track, which was listed as good. Mane Minister, who paid $8 to win, had never run on grass. He won the Santa Catalina with David Flores on Jan. 30, but Alex Solis was aboard Thursday.