COMMENTARY / HORSE RACING : Laurel Finds Three First-Time Starters Worth a Second Look

Few racing fans would have paid much attention to Perfect Reign, The Manager and High Passer when they shipped into Laurel for separate maiden races in November and December. All three were first-time starters. All showed a series of mediocre workouts at Delaware Park. Their three trainers were complete unknowns--one of whom had never won a thoroughbred race before.

Yet despite their apparent lack of merit, the three horses were bet heavily. Perfect Reign won by nearly four lengths at 15 to 1. The Manager was bet down to 4 to 1 and scored by three lengths. High Passer went off at 3 to 1 but failed, finishing a close third.

Maryland racing officials investigating these races now believe that the horses may have had more in common than their seemingly weak credentials. Racing records link all three horses to the same owner, Frank Lussier, of Barre, Vt., and to trainer Michael W. Downing--even though Lussier’s name appeared on the official program at Laurel in connection with only one of the horses and Downing’s name never appeared at all. Downing trains his horses at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., not at Delaware Park, raising questions about the accuracy of the published workouts for the horses.

The two horses that did not run in Lussier’s name were placed last month on the Maryland “stewards’ list,” which bars them from being entered until questions about their ownership are resolved. This week, the stewards officially referred the entire case to the state racing commission, citing the possibility of “corrupt practices, conduct detrimental to racing and . . . hidden ownership.”

This intrigue was played out over a five-week period, beginning on Nov. 26, when Perfect Reign was entered at Laurel in a cheap maiden race, with Woodard F. Tuttle listed as her owner and trainer. The filly’s odds were understandably high throughout most of the wagering, but on the last flash of the tote board her price dropped from 25-1 to 15-1. According to sources in Las Vegas, Perfect Reign was heavily bet there too.

Perfect Reign left Maryland after her easy victory and went to Rockingham Park (where the Daily Racing Form shows a Jan. 2 workout for her). The next time she raced, the Form listed the owner as Frank Lussier and the trainer as Michael W. Downing.

On Dec. 29, The Manager was entered in a race at Laurel, with Lussier identified on the program as the owner but unknown Jody Marsh listed as trainer. The filly was 23 to 1 early in the wagering, but her price plummeted to 6 to 1 a minute before post time and 4 to 1 at the final bell. After winning with authority, she left Maryland and went to Rockingham; when she raced again, Lussier was still listed as owner, but now the trainer was Downing.

After the victories by Perfect Reign and The Manager, Laurel was buzzing with speculation about these evident betting coups, and alert horseplayers were watching for horses with an obscure-sounding trainer and a string of slow Delaware Park workouts.

They didn’t have to wait long. On Dec. 31 High Passer appeared at Laurel, running under the name of owner-trainer Carlisle Wisecarver III. However, Racing Update’s Compendium of Sales Results show that when High Passer was sold for $15,500 at an Ocala, Fla., auction in April 1991, the buyer had been Frank Lussier. After High Passer’s loss, he (like the others) next appeared at Rockingham and had Downing listed as the trainer. (The owner was identified as Capital Racing Stable.)

The identity of the trainer would have been a key factor in determining the odds on the three horses in question. When a horse is making his first start, the public makes its judgments on the basis of the animal’s pedigree, his published workouts and his trainer’s competence.

Bettors tend to shun horses with little-known trainers. Conversely, they would pay considerable attention to a horse trained by someone such as Downing--who annually wins with about 15% of his starters--especially if they knew the horse had been shipped all the way from Salem, N.H., to Laurel for a cheap race.

Yet the rules of racing do not necessarily require that a horse’s trainer be properly identified. It is common practice for a trainer to ship a horse from one track to another and put him in the temporary care of somebody else.

When that happens, the horse may run under the name of that caretaker. However, the rules governing hidden ownership are explicit and strict, and the Maryland stewards wanted to determine whether Lussier’s involvement with the horses had been falsified. They also wanted to probe the question that will pique fans who have long complained about the accuracy of published workout information: How could these three horses all show a full set of workouts at Delaware Park?

The stewards asked Lussier, Downing and others to appear before them last week, but neither the owner nor the trainer showed up. Efforts to contact Tuttle, Marsh and Wisecarver earlier this week were unsuccessful.

“Michael Downing hasn’t been licensed in Maryland since 1987,” said his attorney Alan Foreman, “and our position was that the stewards have no jurisdiction.” It was because of this lack of jurisdiction that the stewards referred the case to the racing commission.