HOLLYWOOD PARK : Another Review Hits His Stride

Chris Speckert, the dapper English trainer with a laugh that could sandblast a wall, tried to pinpoint the day Another Review changed from a ho-hum hayburner into the monster who will be favored in Saturday’s $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup.

“It was sometime well before the San Bernardino,” Speckert began, referring to the first of Another Review’s three consecutive stakes victories in early April. “He was using himself way too much in the mornings. Wouldn’t relax at all.

“So I started getting on him. Took him to the training track and kept at him until he lowered his head and went about his business. Eventually, he got the message, and you could make him go as fast or slow as you wanted.”

It is a fine point of training, the difference between getting a good horse fit and working him into a frenzy. Some horses can run fast morning, noon and night. They have names such as Spectacular Bid, John Henry and Secretariat. Most, however, need to be carefully rationed. Another Review, in essence, was squandering his ability.

Speckert, who goes a solid 175 pounds whether he’s wearing suits or faded denim, does not pretend to be the greatest gallop rider in the world. But the personal touch worked, and Another Review has become the horse New Yorkers thought he would be more than a year ago, when he ran with the best 3-year-olds in the East.

Of course, anyone looking for a historical shortcut simply circles the San Bernardino as Another Review’s first race using Lasix, the legal diuretic that tends to lower blood pressure in racehorses and help prevent internal hemorrhaging. In his two most recent starts, the 4-year-old son of Buckaroo has won the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap and the Californian.

In fact, though, Lasix is only part of the puzzle that has come together at just the right time for Another Review, Speckert and the Buckland Farm of owner-breeder Thomas Mellon Evans, who at 82 is enjoying what should turn out to be his most successful season.

Things have gone so well this year that Evans didn’t bat an eye when he had to put up a $25,000 late fee to run in the Gold Cup, which will have six starters when it is contested for the 53rd time Saturday. Another Review could have been nominated for just $500 on Feb. 12, but it was no oversight.

“Frankly, we didn’t think he was good enough,” Speckert said.

And he was right. Just days earlier, Best Pal had beaten Another Review by 10 lengths in the Strub Stakes.

Then, while horses such as Best Pal, Twilight Agenda, Sea Cadet and Strike The Gold made headlines in the American Championship Racing Series, Another Review set off on his one-horse show this spring. Each of his three victories has displayed a new dimension of ability, much to Speckert’s delight.

“People are always looking for stories, making up this or that,” the trainer said. “But all you have to do is look at his last three performances, and that’s about all you need to know.

“Sure, you could say the ACRS series made it easier for him. But so what? That’s my luck, isn’t it?”

Speckert strolled down his Santa Anita shed row to admire Another Review, who was sticking his blazed face out of his stall, looking for attention. Veins stood out on the colt’s light chestnut coat as he nipped at his visitors and submitted to an impromptu inspection.

“Look how big and powerful he’s gotten,” said Speckert, who took over the colt’s training last November. “That’s a bloody strong animal from any angle.”

Speckert trained Another Review’s sister, No Review, who won major stakes at Del Mar and Santa Anita in the late 1980s. She was a chronic bleeder who benefited from Lasix, something the trainer always kept in the back of his mind.

“With him, it’s preventive more than anything,” Speckert said. “A hard-running, aggressive horse like him is more susceptible, especially with his family history.”

In some ways, Another Review’s no-surrender style is reminiscent of Perrault, winner of the 1982 Hollywood Gold Cup for Charlie Whittingham. Speckert was Whittingham’s traveling assistant in those days, and got to know the moody Perrault as well as anyone.

“They’re both massively powerful horses,” the trainer said. “Although Perrault wouldn’t relax quite as much. He was very hard on himself. Thankfully, this horse has learned not to be.”

Another Review drew post position No. 3 and is listed at 6-5 on the morning line. Kent Desormeaux, as usual, will be aboard.

Surrounding him in the gate will be Ibero, Defensive Play, Sultry Song, Twilight Agenda and defending Gold Cup champion Marquetry. The 1 1/4-mile event will be the fifth race Saturday to accommodate a live telecast to the rest of the nation on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Post time is about 2:45 p.m.

This should have been a triumphant week for Best Pal, the Santa Anita Handicap winner and consensus top older horse in the country. On paper, the gelding outclasses the Gold Cup field by a furlong.

But instead of being the talk of the Gold Cup draw ceremonies Thursday morning, Best Pal was standing quietly in his stall at Gary Jones’ barn, getting his right shin “pin-fired” by Dr. Jack Robbins.

The time-honored procedure is still a popular treatment for irritated splints, those pesky, small bones that act as linchpins for the ligaments. The firing iron--a far more precise version of a soldering iron--applies points of heat around the injured area to increase blood flow and accelerate healing.

“Given time, usually the horse will be OK,” Robbins said. “But if you’re aiming for a race and you have to rush them, you can mess them up a little bit. I’m sure Gary will do the conservative thing.”

There is a slight chance Best Pal will be back in time to defend his title in the $1,000,000 Pacific Classic Aug. 29 at Del Mar. The next two weeks will give Jones and owner John C. Mabee a better feel for Best Pal’s return to training.

Horse Racing Notes

Pat Valenzuela suffered a bruised thigh when he was kicked by Stellar Spell while saddling up for Thursday’s first race. The rider had to take off his mounts. Stellar Spell, which was one of them, was ridden to victory by Kent Desormeaux. . . . The Jim Murray Handicap is on Saturday’s Gold Cup undercard, and if Irish Empire isn’t a hunch bet, there never was one.

Regards to Jimmy Kilroe, the legendary racing secretary who ruled both New York and Southern California during his career. Kilroe, now retired, turns 80 on Monday.