HOLLYWOOD PARK : All the Horse Shoes Are on Horses

Something is terribly wrong with the national list of top 10 money-winning thoroughbred trainers this year. Terribly, terribly wrong.

It is strange enough to see names such as Peter Ferriola, Gasper Moschera and Lynn Whiting peppered among mainstays Wayne Lukas, Ron McAnally, Gary Jones and Bobby Frankel. But by the time you arrive at No. 10, there is an empty feeling. Something is missing.

Where’s Charlie?

Charlie Whittingham, third from the left on the Mt. Rushmore of American trainers, is going through a long stretch of hard luck. Through the racing of May 17, his stable had earned only $980,950 in 1992. That was within hailing distance of the bottom rung on the top 10 (Dick Mandella’s $1,182,077) but still far below Whittingham’s standards.

To his credit, Whittingham has maintained an even keel, changing nothing in his meticulous training style. At 79, with 18 years in the Hall of Fame and nine champions, you don’t panic over a few sore shins and poor racing luck. And besides, a bad year in Whittingham’s barn is a great year for most stables.

“If you haven’t got the big horses, you don’t win the big races,” Whittingham said as he mulled over the last five months. “We’ve had some tough breaks.”

No kidding. If anyone could choose a rotisserie league stable starting at Jan. 1, 1992, the Whittingham barn would have filled every need. Led by champion Miss Alleged, his lineup included Flawlessly, Golden Pheasant, The Prime Minister, Liginsky, Compelling Sound, Excavate and Colour Chart. That looked like an easy $3 million in earnings right there.

But one by one, each fell short of expectations. Miss Alleged has been an unlucky loser of three major events. Flawlessly, the 1991 Matriarch winner, came up with minor shin trouble. Liginsky, Whittingham’s top hope for the Triple Crown, fractured a cannon bone in April.

Compelling Sound, who defeated Best Pal last summer at Hollywood Park, needed throat surgery. The Prime Minister’s chronic foot problems finally forced his retirement. And the handsome Excavate continues to be a riddle wrapped inside an enigma.

Eventually, the people at the Whittingham stable would cringe whenever veterinarian Helmut von Bluecher drove into the yard, many times bearing grim tidings. Whittingham thought about putting up a special parking sign labeled “Bad News von Bluecher.”

Whittingham, however, has taken patience to new levels. He has weathered doldrums in the past, and this will be no different. Even with Jones, Frankel and McAnally nipping at his heels in California, Whittingham still commands respect--by deed, not simply by reputation.

Golden Pheasant, the 1991 Japan Cup winner who suffered a bruised foot at Santa Anita and has not run since Jan. 20, could kick off Whittingham’s rejuvenation Sunday in the Inglewood Handicap. At 1 1/16 miles, the Inglewood may be a tad short for Golden Pheasant’s taste, but a good race could put him on track for a profitable second half.

“I was hoping to run him Monday at a mile and a quarter,” Whittingham said in reference to the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap on Memorial Day. “But I came up a little short on time. It wouldn’t have done any good to rush him, though. You get in more trouble doing that.”

In addition to the comeback of Golden Pheasant, Whittingham has Flawlessly nearing her return. She should be ready by mid to late July, just in time to tear up Del Mar again and head for the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington International.

Whittingham also has high hopes for two new shooters. Beau Sultan, a turf horse owned by Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky, came to Whittingham after a 1991 campaign that included a third-place finish in the Man o’War Stakes in New York. And Cadillac Women, now owned by Isaam Fares, was third after setting the pace in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer W.L. Proctor returned home last weekend after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery at Cedar-Sinai Hospital. Patty Johnson is running the barn while the 76-year-old trainer recuperates. . . . Chris McCarron will be out of town for the weekend, riding Devil’s Orchid in a $150,000 Breeders’ Cup-sponsored race at Garden State Park on Saturday and then Twilight Agenda in the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park on Monday.