THOROUGHBRED RACING : Because of One Bad Race, In Excess Must Prove Himself in San Antonio

No group of sports fans forgets the immediate past faster than horseplayers. Which is why In Excess, because of one race, must prove himself all over again.

For different reasons, there are other horses in similar situations this holiday weekend. After In Excess runs today in the $300,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, two champions from last year--Pleasant Stage and Miss Alleged--are scheduled to make their 1992 debuts. Pleasant Stage is entered in Sunday’s $150,000 Las Virgenes Stakes, and if more rain doesn’t force Monday’s $250,000 San Luis Obispo Handicap off the grass, Miss Alleged will run in that 1 1/2-mile stake.

Meanwhile, in Florida on Monday, Strike The Gold will try for the 10th time to score his first victory since his Kentucky Derby win nine months ago.

In Excess, the high weight in the San Antonio at 123 pounds when Twilight Agenda’s trainer, Wayne Lukas, declined to run his horse with 126, will be racing at Santa Anita for the first time in 11 months.

Strictly a grass runner in England and for his first seven starts in the United States, In Excess was introduced to dirt while winning the San Fernando at Santa Anita on Dec. 31, 1990. Subsequent races at Santa Anita last winter resulted in a third-place finish in the Strub and a fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap.

After that, trainer Bruce Jackson, suspecting that the Eastern tracks would be kinder on In Excess’ tender feet, embarked on a New York campaign. They were so successful there--wins in the Metropolitan, Suburban and Woodward Handicaps at Belmont and a victory in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga--that the horse-of-the-year title was at arm’s length by the time they reached the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in the fall.

Returning to grass instead of running in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, In Excess faded to ninth after leading for six furlongs in the Mile. The Eclipse Awards voters turned on In Excess after that. He received only 25 of 283 votes in the older-horse category, and was a well-beaten fourth, behind Black Tie Affair, Dance Smartly and Arazi, in the horse-of-the-year poll.

The only time the champion, Black Tie Affair, and In Excess met, Black Tie Affair ran ninth, beaten by 11 lengths in the Metropolitan. Eclipse voters were preparing to penalize In Excess even before his performance in the Mile, disturbed that Jackson didn’t challenge the country’s best dirt horses at 1 1/4 miles in the Classic. Black Tie Affair, under a solid front-running ride from Jerry Bailey, won the Classic and the title.

Even before the Eclipse voting was announced, Jackson questioned Black Tie Affair’s credentials. “He doesn’t deserve the title,” the trainer said. “We won four Grade I races. Black Tie Affair only ran in four Grade I’s, and he only won two. Where was he when he ran against us? And I’ll tell you another thing. He wouldn’t have won the Classic if we’d been in there. He wouldn’t have been able to get that nice, easy early lead if we had run. But then if we had run, neither one of us would have won. We would have set it up for one of the closers.”

A horse who has been closing all his life--and since the 1991 Derby, closing belatedly to get a lot of thirds and fourths and little else--is Strike The Gold. On Monday at Gulfstream Park, he goes from the Park Avenue races to the Bowery, running in the ungraded Broward Handicap for $75,000.

Strike The Gold’s post-Derby malaise is being compared to Gato Del Sol’s career after his Derby victory at 21-1 in 1982.

Strike The Gold is a plodder, like Gato Del Sol. Even before the Derby, their records were similar. Gato Del Sol had won two of 12 starts and only one stakes. Strike The Gold was two for seven, with one stakes victory. Both of them prepped for the Derby with a strong race at Keeneland, Gato Del Sol running second in the Blue Grass and Strike The Gold winning the same race.

Gato Del Sol was still running as a 6-year-old, and after the Derby he won only four of 26 races. He had only two more stakes victories, minor races at Del Mar and Hollywood Park.

Gato Del Sol changed trainers, going from Eddie Gregson, his Derby conditioner, to Charlie Whittingham. Strike The Gold hasn’t had a trainer change--yet--but there have been several jockey switches, the latest Julie Krone instead of Chris Antley for Monday’s race, and he has raced in different colors, the result of a feud among his owners. Two of them don’t speak with the third partner and a lawsuit has been filed. Trainer Nick Zito, for trying to keep the trio together, saw the remaining horses of the outcast partner moved to another trainer’s barn.

Gato Del Sol’s fall in popularity has followed him to the breeding shed. In 1988, he was advertised at $15,000 for every live foal one of his mares produced, and that price has dropped to $1,000 for the current breeding season. But it’s not necessarily Gato Del Sol, it’s the depressed breeding business. For example, the stud fee for Criminal Type, horse of the year in 1990, has dropped from $50,000 to $15,000. Black Tie Affair’s starting stud fee is only $15,000.

Horse Racing Notes

Hollywood Reporter and High Energy, who are entered in races Sunday, have been scratched from the San Antonio, and others may come out, depending on the track condition. . . . The rainfall count at Santa Anita this week has reached six inches. . . . After skipping the San Antonio, Twilight Agenda will remain in California. “The Santa Anita Handicap (March 7) is the goal,” assistant trainer Jeff Lukas said. “It’s a mile and a quarter, and maybe the weights will be different.”

The 13-horse field of 3-year-old fillies, in post-position order, for Sunday’s one-mile Las Virgenes: Fluttery Danseur, Wakiland, Magical Maiden, Luv Me Luv Me Not, Don B’s Princess, Icy Eyes, Golden Treat, Pleasant Stage, Alpine Queen, I Aim High, Hopeful Amber, Red Bandana and Over The Mamoon. Pleasant Stage, who will be ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, will carry 123 pounds, spotting the others between two and eight pounds. Fluttery Danseur is undefeated in four races.