Traurig Training for the Present, Not the Future : Riding: After disaster in 1964, he takes events one at a time. Next up is World Cup.

The horse’s name was Envoy, and Bernie Traurig was a 17-year-old Wunderkind who was on his way to the 1964 Olympic Games.

But Envoy strained a tendon in the last conditioning workout before heading for Tokyo.

Neither horse nor rider made the trip. Still, he has a chance to ride with the world’s elite. Today through Sunday, Traurig will be one of nearly 50 riders descending upon the Equestrian Arena at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to determine the 1992 Volvo World Cup champion, a precursor to Barcelona’s Summer Olympic Games. He enters as the leading West Coast rider.

The World Cup’s opening ceremonies begin tonight at 7 and the event continues through Sunday with two sessions daily, including International and Junior/Amateur Owner competition. Prize money at stake in the World Cup is 540,000 Swiss francs, or about $377,622.

Today, Traurig is comfortable, living in Rancho Santa Fe and teaching riding disciplines on Albert Court Limited.

He works for Fahad Zahid, the Saudi Arabian owner of Maybe Forever, Traurig’s mount this week. Zahid also owns Albert Court Limited, headquarters for the Saudi Arabian equestrian national team. Traurig is the Saudi coach, and five of Traurig’s students will be riding in the Amateur/Owner division at the World Cup. Three of the students who will be competing, Ziyad Abduljawad, Ramzi Duhami and Khaled Aleid, are in training under Traurig for the 1996 Olympics, the Saudis’ first in the equestrian arena.

Traurig’s credentials are unique--and expansive--in that he has competed in all three Olympic disciplines, three-day eventing, dressage, and show jumping. In addition to his 1964 three-day eventing success/disappointment, he was an alternate in dressage for the 1988 Games. For show jumping, the World Cup is the World Series.

Now 47, Traurig has known for 30 years one of the most important lessons about the horses that have become such an important part of his life, and he holds out no immediate hope that he will be riding in Barcelona.

“I think everyone would like to be in the Olympics,” Traurig said. “I haven’t made a commitment (to that goal) because I’m a realist. Horses are fragile and you can never count on things so far in advance, not even one to two weeks, much less three or four months.”

All he has to do is remember his disappointment of 1964: “I trained for those Games every day for 2 1/2 years. I worked out at the training facility in Gladstone, N.J., as a total commitment for those Olympics. I was second in the trials in June, and one week before leaving, there was the tendon injury, and that was it, the end of 2 1/2 years’ work.

“I learned very quickly how fragile horses are and how much you can count on them.”

You can’t.

You can’t count on a million-dollar horse with $2 ankles, not when they are jumping the five types of jumps they will negotiate this week: a vertical fence, a spread, a combination, a water hazard and a wall.

The World Cup is being held on the West Coast for the first time in its 14-year history. It’s only the third time the event has been held outside Europe.

Traurig enters the competition as the West Coast scoring leader, his four victories giving him a perfect score of 80 points, 20 more than Candice Schlom of Calabasas. But that means little because everyone starts evenly today.

“It’s a whole new ballgame,” Traurig said. “I don’t feel better going in because I’m the leading qualifier; it’s a whole new competition and starts fresh. I didn’t have to qualify against the people I have to compete against (this) week.”

This is not the first time Traurig has been on top heading into the World Cup. He was the points leader in 1980, ’82 and ’90. It was in 1990 that he took eighth place, his best finish. He did not compete last year because his best horse was injured and he didn’t want to compete with his second-best mount.

There is little room for second best here.

Most important to Traurig about this week’s festivities is that it’s right in his backyard, just down the road on Via de la Valle. If ever there was a time that Traurig seemed destined to win the World Cup, this is it.

“I think we have the support of a lot of people,” Traurig said. “Do you feel better getting booed or cheered in a stadium? If you’ve got people behind you, psychologically you feel better--I know I do. I put enough pressure on myself; I don’t try to let outside influences put pressure on me.

“I’ve got a good horse and he was eighth the last time I showed him (in the World Cup). He showed good form in the qualifiers and won quite a few grand prix in the last six months.”

And his chances?

“It doesn’t get much better.”

It could certainly take away the sting of 1964.