TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: David Cross saddled Sunny’s Halo to win the Kentucky Derby in 1983, but after that he disappeared from the mainstream of racing. He lost almost two years--and most of his Derby winnings--while fighting a lengthy suspension in Illinois. Sunny’s Halo tested positive for two illegal medications after running fourth in the 1983 Arlington Classic, about a month after the Derby.

Cross, who gave up all of his horses in 1983 to concentrate on winning the Derby with Sunny’s Halo, has bitterly denied any guilt. “The Illinois racing board was under a lot of pressure to clean up the game, and they were looking for a guy to hang,” Cross said. “I was that guy.”

Sunny’s Halo won four races in 1983, earning $1,011,962. The rest of Cross’ barn won one race and earned $10,000. Since then, Cross has lost his wife to cancer and unsuccessfully tried to reassemble a profitable stable. In the last five years, his horses have won only a handful of races and earned well under $1 million.

Cross has remarried and on Valentine’s Day he and his wife, Pat, sat at a restaurant near Santa Anita, discussing the future. There was talk of escaping to a small farm in Oregon, but Cross also alluded to Quintana, a horse he had claimed from trainer Wayne Lukas two weeks before for $50,000.

On Saturday, Quintana beat two Lukas 3-year-olds--Corporate Report and Battle Creek--to win the $100,000 Rebel Handicap at Oaklawn Park. It was Cross’ first stakes victory since Sunny’s Halo won the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs Sept. 17, 1983. Quintana will try to beat Corporate Report again in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn April 20, and if that happens Cross will return to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby May 4.

Quintana is owned by Gary Garber, a plastics manufacturer from Tarzana. “Gary is a man who’s stuck with me through thick and thin,” Cross said. “He’s the guy who’s helped me through the bad years.”

Cross claimed Quintana after the colt had already run twice for $50,000, finishing fourth and ninth during the early weeks of the Santa Anita meet.

“The colt’s second race, the time he ran in the mud, there was something I liked about him,” Cross said. “I guess it was the way he carried himself. I told Gary that the next time the horse runs, we ought to put a hat on (claim) him.”

Quintana won the day Cross claimed him. The next race, he bled while finishing fourth, and then he ran with Lasix, the bleeder medication, while finishing second to Excavate, who at the time was considered one of the best Derby prospects in California.

“I don’t have much money anymore, but I was looking for a 3-year-old,” Cross said. “This horse is by Affirmed (the 1978 Triple Crown champion), and I thought to myself, ‘Where am I going to find an Affirmed for $50,000?’ ”

If Quintana gets to Louisville, it will be the second consecutive year that a horse claimed from Lukas ran in the Derby. Last year, Video Ranger, claimed for $40,000 by trainer Ian Jory, ran fourth, beating the three horses Lukas saddled in the race.

“I don’t get horses claimed off me too often,” Lukas said. “If I had to guess, I’d say about three in the last five years. Quintana was a sound horse, but he was by Affirmed (who hasn’t been a top sire) and we just ran him where we thought he belonged.”

Corporate Report, who was undefeated in two Santa Anita races, ran around two turns for the first time in the Rebel, and Lukas thinks he will be tougher in the Arkansas Derby. So does Cross.

Meantime, Lukas will try to win the Santa Anita Derby Saturday with Media Plan, a horse he acquired from another trainer. Media Plan, bought for $450,000 March 8 by rap star M.C. Hammer and his family, was then sent to Lukas, who helped close the deal.

The Santa Anita Derby shapes up as a seven-horse race, with Media Plan being joined by Best Pal, Dinard, Sea Cadet, Scan, Compelling Sound and Mane Minister.

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Lenny Hale, vice president for racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga; Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe, director of racing emeritus at Santa Anita; and Tommy Trotter, director of international racing at Arlington International Racecourse.

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Fly So Free 9 7 0 1 $1,301,844 2. Best Pal 9 6 1 1 1,048,695 3. Dinard 4 3 1 0 177,750 4. Meadow Star 9 9 0 0 1,086,850 5. Hansel 8 4 1 2 724,593 6. Sea Cadet 10 5 2 1 382,050 7. Scan 7 3 3 1 260,200 8. Strike The Gold 6 1 2 1 118,290 9. Cahill Road 4 3 1 0 43,580 10. Richman 13 8 2 1 545,377