SANTA ANITA : Drysdale Finds Coincidence Is on His Side

A.P. Indy has the breeding--he is a son of Seattle Slew, a grandson of Secretariat and a half-brother to Summer Squall--and might have developed into a leading Kentucky Derby contender no matter who owned or trained him. But being in the hands of big-race trainer Neil Drysdale is an advantage, and the circumstances that led this 3-year-old to Drysdale’s barn are one coincidence after another.

Noel O’Callaghan stood outside A.P. Indy’s barn Sunday morning, the day after the horse had won the Santa Anita Derby, and recounted them. O’Callaghan, managing director of the British Bloodstock Agency, outbid trainer Wayne Lukas at a Keeneland yearling sale, where he bought A.P. Indy on behalf of Japanese real-estate developer Tomonori Tsurumaki for $2.9 million.

“This all happened by accident,” O’Callaghan said.

First, Tsurumaki had bought an Alydar colt the year before for $525,000. The day before A.P. Indy was auctioned, this 2-year-old, Lindo Shaver, broke his maiden by eight lengths in Japan. This impressive victory persuaded Tsurumaki to return to the sale.

Minutes before Tsurumaki bought A.P. Indy, he paid $2 million for another colt, a son of Fappiano, who was named A.P. Jet. Both names are derived from AutoPolis, an auto-racing track and leisure center that Tsurumaki, 49, built in Japan.

“We really weren’t budgeted to spend that much money on those two horses,” O’Callaghan said. “But Summer Squall had won the Preakness several weeks before the sale, and A.P. Indy was out of the same mare (Weekend Surprise). This stimulated our interest in buying him in no uncertain terms.”

Lindo Shaver later won a stake in Japan that was the equivalent of the Hollywood Futurity, and he was voted that country’s outstanding 2-year-old for 1991. But then he suffered a career-ending leg injury.

Both A.P. Indy and A.P. Jet had been sent to Drysdale in California, the plan being to race both of them in the United States.

“But when Lindo Shaver got hurt, that left Mr. Tsurumaki with no big horse to run in Japan anymore,” O’Callaghan said. “He decided that one of the horses he had given Neil would be sent to Japan to race.”

Drysdale picks up the story at this point. “A.P. Jet was (developing) nicely,” he said. “He had 2-year-old written all over him.”

A.P. Jet went to Japan, where he has also become a stakes winner, and A.P. Indy remained with Drysdale.

Now Tsurumaki has the best of two continents, a stakes winner in Japan, where he has raced horses for about 20 years, and a Kentucky Derby challenger in the United States, where his first important horse was Fair Judgement, winner of the Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park in 1989.

In Drysdale, Tsurumaki has a trainer who never has run a horse in the Kentucky Derby. But Drysdale, 44, an Englishman and former assistant to Charlie Whittingham, has a long list of major stakes victories on his resume, including three in the Breeders’ Cup--with Princess Rooney in the Distaff in 1984, Tasso in the Juvenile in 1985 and Prized in the Turf in 1989. Prized’s victory was special, because it came in the first race that the horse ran on grass.

On Sunday, Drysdale said that A.P. Indy came out of the Santa Anita Derby in good shape and will be flown to Kentucky later this week. The Derby will be May 2.

“There are a lot of advantages in getting a horse there early, and no negatives,” Drysdale said. “The climate will be good, and the horse will get the chance to relax, and familiarize himself with the layout. I’ve run several horses at Churchill Downs in races other than the Derby, and I think A.P. Indy will like the surface there.”

Bertrando finished second, 1 3/4 lengths behind A.P. Indy, and held off Casual Lies by a neck. Both Bertrando and Casual Lies are headed for the Derby, Casual Lies leaving on Thursday, and Lukas said Sunday that he’s not giving up on Hickman Creek, who finished fourth in the Santa Anita Derby, beaten by more than five lengths.

Horse Racing Notes

Kostroma, running for the first time in more than four months, rallied from sixth place to score a 1 1/4-length victory over another closer, Miss Alleged, in the $265,200 Santa Barbara Handicap at Santa Anita. Kostroma won three in a row last fall, finished sixth in the Matriarch at Santa Anita and was delayed in returning to action because of tender hoofs. Free At Last, who led the race until mid-stretch, finished third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Miss Alleged.

Chris McCarron’s mount in the Kentucky Derby might be Dr Devious, who will race in England before he heads for Churchill Downs. . . . Eight horses are expected to run against Arazi Tuesday in the Prix Omnium II Stakes near Paris. Arazi is listed at 1-10 odds as part of a three-horse entry.