THOROUGHBRED RACING : In Excess May Skip Cup Classic

Trainer Bruce Jackson said Wednesday that In Excess, the favorite for horse-of-the-year honors, might run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile instead of the Classic, a switch that could leave Eclipse Awards voters in a quandary even if the 4-year-old Irish-bred colt won the shorter race.

In Excess had been expected to run in the 1 1/4-mile Classic, which with a $3-million purse is the richest race in the world. The $1-million Mile is a grass race. The first 12 races of In Excess’ career were on grass, six of them in England, but since winning the San Fernando Stakes at Santa Anita in his dirt debut last January, Jackson’s horse has become the country’s premier thoroughbred on the main track. He has earned $1.3 million this year, all on dirt, while winning five of seven starts.

After winning the Woodward at Belmont Park on Sept. 15 for his fourth victory in a row, In Excess was shipped to Churchill Downs, where the seven Breeders’ Cup races will be run a week from Saturday. A California-based trainer, Jackson was not familiar with the Louisville, Ky., track, but after two dirt workouts there, he has learned what more traveled conditioners already had known: The Kentucky Derby track can be deep and tiring and can penalize speed in a route race.

“I’m not sure which race we’ll run in,” Jackson said. “I’m going to be watching things. I know my horse would be very tough if he ran in the Mile.”

Before the Woodward, In Excess won three major races--the Metropolitan, Suburban and Whitney Handicaps--in New York, but he spent the summer skipping the races in the American Championship Racing Series, which drew most of the country’s top horses. Wayne Lukas and other trainers questioned In Excess’ toughness because of what was said to be an easier schedule, but Jackson’s colt proved himself in the Woodward, beating Farma Way--Lukas’ horse--and Festin, who finished 1-2 in the championship series’ point standings.

This year’s Classic is one of the strongest in the eight-year history of the Breeders’ Cup, with Farma Way and Festin being joined by Kentucky Derby winners Strike The Gold and Unbridled, along with major winners Twilight Agenda, Black Tie Affair, Fly So Free, Marquetry and Summer Squall. If In Excess skips the Classic and wins the Mile, he would be proving his versatility on grass as well as dirt, but some Eclipse voters might question again his handlers’ reluctance to meet the best horses in the big races.

On Wednesday, when a record 116 horses were pre-entered in the seven Breeders’ Cup races, In Excess was made eligible for three races--the Classic, the Mile and the six-furlong Sprint. Jackson and In Excess’ owner, Jack Munari of Paso Robles, have until entry time next Wednesday morning to make up their minds.

Jackson worked In Excess five furlongs on the Churchill Downs turf Wednesday morning, with Corey Black aboard, and the colt’s time was a slow 1:01 2/5. Gary Stevens is expected to ride In Excess in the Breeders’ Cup.

“At the present time,” Jackson said, “this is a tiring (dirt) track, and if it stays that way, horses like mine and a few other horses--near-the-lead-type horses--will have a little trouble getting the (Classic) distance. I didn’t want a tiring-type work. The work last Tuesday was a good work, but it was very tiring.”

If In Excess ran in the Mile, he would have no cakewalk. That stake includes Tight Spot, who has never been beaten on grass; Star Of Cozzene, a peaking colt whose sire, Cozzene, won the Mile in 1985; and several foreign horses, including Priolo, who finished third, beaten by less than a length, in last year’s race. Shippers from Europe have won the Mile in four of the seven runnings.

Before Wednesday, Jim Day, like Bruce Jackson, was a trainer considering more than one Breeders’ Cup race for one of his horses. Day opted to bypass the Classic and pre-enter Dance Smartly, the filly who swept Canada’s Triple Crown, in the Distaff.

“What do they say?” Day said. “ ‘Run the best horse in the easiest race?’ I’d rather have this filly win the Distaff than maybe finish second or third in the Classic.”

Dance Smartly has won 10 times, with one second and one third, in 12 overall starts, and this year she has won seven of seven, including her fourth victory of 1991 against males in the Molson Million at Woodbine last month.

Dance Smartly has a remote chance to be voted horse of the year. At least three things would need to happen: She would have to win the Distaff, In Excess would have to lose and an unheralded horse would have to win the Classic.

These are the horses pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs. The fields are limited to 14 horses, with alternates listed in order of preference.

$1-million Sprint (six furlongs): In Excess, Housebuster, Senor Speedy, Safely Kept, Gervazy, Pleasant Tap, Robyn Dancer, Take Me Out, Key Spirit, Clever Trevor, Deposit Ticket, Media Plan, Polish Numbers, Sheikh Albadou.

$1-million Juvenile Fillies (11/16 miles): Soviet Sojourn, Miss Iron Smoke, Anh Duong, Preach, La Spia, Speed Dialer, Vivano, Pleasant Stage, Cadillac Women, Culture Vulture, Ken de Saron, Queens Court Queen, Snow Forest, Spinning Round. Alternates: Miss Legality, Easy Now, Fretina, Point Spread, Pennant Fever, Miss Jealski.

$1-million Distaff (1 1/8 miles): Versailles Treaty, Fit To Scout, Queena, Brought To Mind, Til Forbid, Grand Girlfriend, Fit For A Queen, Train Robbery, Dance Smartly, Lady d’Accord, Only Yours, Private Treasure, Richard’s Lass, Wilderness Song. Alternate: Top Halo.

$1-million Mile (1 mile on grass): In Excess, Scan, Jolie’s Halo, Tight Spot, Itsallgreektome, Opening Verse, Sultry Song, Val des Bois, Danseuse du Soir, Kooyonga, Polar Falcon, Priolo, Second Set, Shadayid. Alternates: Star Of Cozzene, Hector Protector, Forest Glow, Keen Hunter, Polemic, Spending Record, Pleasant Tap, Only Yours, Cold Hoist.

$1-million Juvenile (11/16 miles): Bertrando, Tri To Watch, Star Recruit, Agincourt, Pine Bluff, Big Sur, Dance Floor, Snappy Landing, Arazi, Bag, Devil On Ice, Offbeat, Onlooker, Showbrook. Alternates: Walkie Talker, Meadowsun, Cheap Shades, Retiring Wealthy.

$2-million Turf (1 1/2 miles on grass): Solar Splendor, Itsallgreektome, Filago, Sky Classic, Dear Doctor, El Senor, Kartajana, Panoramic, Cruachan, In The Groove, Pigeon Voyageur, Pistolet Bleu, Quest For Fame, Saddler’s Hall. Alternates: Star Of Gdansk, Miss Alleged, Saganeca, Cudas, Spending Record, Cameroon.

$3-million Classic (1 1/4 miles): Farma Way, In Excess, Black Tie Affair, Fly So Free, Festin, Strike The Gold, Chief Honcho, Twilight Agenda, In The Groove, Marquetry, Priolo, Star Of Gdansk, Summer Squall, Unbridled. Alternates: Pleasant Tap, Wiorno, Cudas.

Horse Racing Notes

Francine Villeneuve, who has the mount on Wilderness Song, Dance Smartly’s stablemate in the Distaff, will become the second female jockey to compete in the Breeders’ Cup. Julie Krone has ridden in four Breeders’ Cup races, her best finish a second aboard Darby Shuffle in the Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs in 1988. . . . Krone has at least one assignment this year, on Preach, the probable favorite in the Juvenile Fillies. . . . The Canadian-born Villeneuve, 27, rides on the Ontario circuit. Since 1988, Villeneuve has suffered a broken thigh bone, a cracked pelvis and a dislocated elbow. She has ridden Wilderness Song three times, winning a stake with the filly at Ft. Erie in August. . . . Pat Day, who rode Wilderness Song to victory in the Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 13, has the mount on Dance Smartly in the Distaff.

Wayne Lukas, easily the leading Breeders’ Cup trainer with 10 victories and $8 million in purses from 65 starters, is assured of nine Breeders’ Cup starters, none of whom will be favored. Lukas’ contenders are Farma Way and Twilight Agenda in the Classic; Big Sur and Dance Floor in the Juvenile; Star Of Cozzene in the Mile; Grand Girlfriend and Train Robbery in the Distaff and Deposit Ticket and Media Plan in the Sprint. . . . The Lukas alternates are Spending Record in both the Turf and the Mile and Pennant Fever in the Juvenile Fillies. . . . Star Of Cozzene is assured of a starting spot in the Mile because Itsallgreektome, who ranks ahead of him, is expected to run in the Turf.

When races are over-subscribed--more than 14 horses wanting to run--the first eight spots go to horses that accrue the most points for high finishes in important U.S. races throughout the year. The remaining six are picked by a Breeders’ Cup panel of racing secretaries. . . . There was a stir in New York when Easy Now did not qualify for the Juvenile Fillies. In her only start, Easy Now, a daughter of Danzig, won a maiden race by 11 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park.