THOROUGHBRED RACING : Unbeaten Derby Candidates Rare

Few 3-year-olds in the running for the 1992 Kentucky Derby have come this far without losing at least one race.

One of the undefeated contenders, Mineral Wells, has won three in a row but came out of his hard-earned Feb. 9 victory in the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita with general soreness, and trainer Wayne Lukas has no immediate plans to enter him in a race. Mineral Wells, a $500,000 Mr. Prospector yearling, appears to have run out of the necessary time to be ready for the Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

There are two other Derby candidates in Florida who have never lost--D.J. Cat, with four consecutive victories, and Alydeed, a Canadian-bred grandson of Alydar who has won two races.

While D.J. Cat and Alydeed have run more recently than Mineral Wells, neither colt is considered a prime challenger at Louisville. The obscurely bred D.J. Cat has done all of his winning in sprints, and his decision by a neck in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes last Saturday at Gulfstream Park suggested that the 1 1/4-mile Derby distance is not a realistic goal. Binalong, the colt that finished second, may get more out of the race in terms of being able to stretch out.

The same horses had met at Gulfstream two weeks before, and that time Binalong was again second, but D.J. Cat beat him by 8 1/2 lengths. So Binalong improved by more than eight lengths in the Swale, and even though he failed to overtake D.J. Cat in a long stretch drive, trainer Carl Nafzger’s horse still made it close while running on the same lead foot from the backstretch to the wire.

“Now we’re ready for two turns, which should really help this horse,” said Nafzger, who won the Derby with Unbridled in 1990.

D.J. Cat is trained by “Happy” Alter, who continues to reflect his nickname despite having sold Pistols And Roses, another Derby candidate in Florida, for $25,000 last year.

The breeder of both Pistols And Roses and D.J. Cat, Alter consigned them to a sale of 2-year-olds last July at Calder Race Course. George Willis, who bought Pistols And Roses, also was interested in D.J. Cat, but because D.J. Cat already was entered in a race a couple of days later, he was unable to work out, and Willis’ advisers told him not to consider the colt.

Alter was still trying to sell D.J. Cat--or at at least 50% of him--in the days leading up to the Swale. “He wants $200,000 for half,” one potential buyer said. “I’m going to wait until after the race.”

He never got the chance, because before the Swale, Alter found a buyer, Bea Oxenberg, and she reportedly paid close to $500,000 for a 50% interest.

“I only wanted to sell half because this way I’m assured of still training the colt,” Alter said.

Pistols And Roses has the look of a horse who will earn a lot of money, but may never be good enough to beat the best. He won four in a row before Dance Floor defeated him in the Fountain of Youth. Pistols And Roses was third.

In last Saturday’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream, Pistols And Roses again made up ground for another third-place finish, but he couldn’t get past Dance Floor, who may have started hemorrhaging internally at the quarter pole. At least that’s when Dance Floor’s jockey, Chris Antley, believed his mount began to falter. Dance Floor will get Lasix, a diuretic treatment for bleeders, for the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 11, when Technology, the Florida Derby winner, also may show up.

Pistols And Roses did enough in Florida for his trainer, George Gianos, to keep thinking about the Kentucky Derby. Pistols And Roses needed minor throat surgery before he was sold, and Alter told the buyer that. For his honesty, Alter has been given one breeding when the colt goes to stud.

When Dance Floor left California and went to Florida for an easy victory in the Fountain of Youth, other West Coast trainers concluded that leaving town might be better than facing A.P. Indy and Bertrando at Santa Anita.

Three Peat, who ran a freaky-fast 1:08 2/5 six furlongs while winning against maidens at Santa Anita, then was second to Arp in a minor stake, will run Saturday at Aqueduct in the seven-furlong Bay Shore, one of the preps for the Wood Memorial on April 18. The Bay Shore has drawn 12 starters, including Goldwater, Best Decorated and Agincourt, running for the first time since the knee surgery that followed his fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November.

Vying Victor, a stakes winner at Santa Anita, left town at the same time as Dance Floor, only to run ninth in the Fountain of Youth. But last Sunday, against softer opposition, Vying Victor showed trainer Ian Jory a new dimension by sitting just off the pace before winning the Remington Park Derby in Oklahoma. Jory is considering the Jim Beam at Turfway Park a week from Saturday and the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields on April 11.

Treekster, who gave A.P. Indy a tough race in the San Rafael at Santa Anita on Feb. 29, also is headed for the Jim Beam.

Horse Racing Notes

Fly So Free, sidelined in Florida because of a virus, will make his first start since running fourth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic when he meets seven others in Saturday’s Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park. The race is intended to be a tuneup for the Oaklawn Handicap on April 11, a stake that may draw Best Pal, Twilight Agenda and Sea Cadet.

Tight Spot will carry 125 pounds, which is eight to 12 more pounds than his eight opponents, in Saturday’s San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields. Eternity Star will carry 117 pounds, the same as Bistro Garden; Forty Niner Days, at 116, will try to win the stake for the second consecutive year. There will be betting on the race at Santa Anita.

Saturday’s feature at Santa Anita is the $75,000 Santa Lucia Handicap, with Brought To Mind carrying high weight of 122 pounds in an eight-horse field of fillies and mares running 1 1/16 miles. The others are Cuddles, Shadna (if there is an off track), Immerse, Suite, Winglet, Long Time Ago and Avant’s Gold.

Felipe Martinez was handed a 10-day suspension by the Santa Anita stewards, who blamed him for crowding a horse into the rail Wednesday, causing Alex Solis to go down. . . . Bert Thompson, former national director of the Jockeys’ Guild, died recently in La Jolla. He was 85. . . . A.P. Indy worked six furlongs Wednesday at Hollywood Park in 1:13 3/5.