THOROUGHBRED RACING : Best Pal Might Lose ACRS Lead in Suburban Handicap Today

Best Pal, unable to run since May, has been at the top of the American Championship Racing Series standings for four months, but he might lose his lead when the $500,000 Suburban Handicap is run today at Belmont Park.

Best Pal has 23 ACRS points, 10 each for winning the Santa Anita and Oaklawn handicaps and three for running fourth in the Pimlico Special. A shin injury suffered during a workout in early June has prevented Best Pal from training until recently. Strike The Gold and Sultry Song, favorites in the Suburban, have moved into position in the competition for $1.5 million in bonus money, half of which goes to the horse with the most points in the nine-race series.

Both Strike The Gold and Sultry Song could pass Best Pal today. Strike The Gold has won the last two races in the series, the Pimlico Special and the Nassau County Handicap, for 20 points. Sultry Song, third in the Nassau County and winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup, has 15 points. Points are awarded on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis for top-five finishes.

The final two races of the series are the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 8 and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30. Best Pal has an outside chance of running in the Pacific Classic, a race he won last year.

The Suburban wasn’t on the original series schedule. When financially strapped Rockingham Park told series officials it wouldn’t be able to run the $500,000 New England Classic, Belmont Park moved the date of the Suburban from July 4 to today and the 1 1/4-mile stake replaced the Rockingham race.

The Suburban was going to be on Strike The Gold’s schedule, even before it became part of the championship series, something that has rankled John Mabee, who owns Best Pal.

Asked this week about the fairness of the revised schedule, Strike The Gold’s trainer, Nick Zito, said: “We’re innocent bystanders. As some others have said, this is still good for racing.”

Added Joe Cornacchia, one of Strike The Gold’s owners: “This is the luck of the draw. It (the schedule change) is not something that we asked for.”

The revised schedule also has helped Sultry Song, who would not have been able to run in both the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Suburban with the original schedule.

As a 3-year-old last year, Strike The Gold won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs three weeks later. He then lost 12 races in a row, not winning again until the Pimlico Special--a year and five days after his Derby victory.

The Special and the Nassau County have given Strike The Gold consecutive victories for only the second time. During the losing streak, only Zito was a constant. Chris Antley, who won the Derby with Strike The Gold, was fired, then recalled twice as the 4-year-old colt underwent six jockey switches.

Strike The Gold’s three owners couldn’t agree on who was in charge. Lawyers were hired and in May, Giles Brophy dropped out when Cornacchia and Bill Condren bought 100% of the horse for $2.9 million at an auction.

Since then, Strike The Gold is undefeated, and to ensure an honest early pace for their late-running colt, Cornacchia and Condren recently bought Loach, a front-running 4-year-old colt, and entered him in the Suburban.

Loach has achieved more notice before the Suburban than he did in 11 starts in Allen Paulson’s colors. Only one of his four victories has come in a stake, the Ben Ali at Keeneland last spring. In his last race, Loach ran fifth in the Californian at Hollywood Park, finishing 15 1/2 lengths behind the winner, Another Review.

Zito said he considered 20 to 25 other horses before his owners bought Loach from Paulson. “I just hope that Chris (Speckert) or Pat (Kelly) won’t be thanking me for putting a (pace-setter) in this race,” Zito said.

Speckert trains Pleasant Tap, another Suburban starter, and Kelly will saddle Sultry Song. Both horses have running styles similar to Strike The Gold’s and also could benefit from a fast pace.

Pleasant Tap, second by a neck to Strike The Gold in the Nassau County, had a troubled trip. Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye had to steady the horse when they were blocked by a wall of opponents on the far turn, and there was another jam-up in the stretch. Strike The Gold was always clear, 15 lengths behind after a half-mile, and he closed on the outside while Pleasant Tap finally shook loose to make a belated run next to the rail.

Craig Perret, who rode Strike The Gold in his last two victories, will have the mount again today.

Earlier this year, Zito indicated that the Pacific Classic at Del Mar wasn’t on Strike The Gold’s schedule, but this week he left the door open.

“If he wins the Suburban,” Zito said, “and Best Pal is in training and there’s something on the line, then we might go out there. If there are honors to be won, we should be there, and my owners are great sportsmen.”

Horse Racing Notes

Twilight Agenda and and Sea Cadet, neither of whom will run in the Suburban, are tied for third in the series standings with 17 points each. Defensive Play and Pleasant Tap, part of the seven-horse field, have eight and seven points, respectively. . . . Strike The Gold and Sultry Song picked up three pounds off their last victories, to 119 and 116, respectively, while Pleasant Tap stayed at 119. . . . Paseana, second in her American debut, at Santa Anita in October, and unbeaten in six starts since then, drew the No. 2 post in a seven-horse field for Sunday’s $300,000 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park. Fowda will be on the rail, carrying 118 pounds including Pat Valenzuela. After Paseana, 127 pounds, Chris McCarron, come Guiza, Corey Nakatani, 112; Laramie Moon, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116; Steff Graf, Martin Pedroza, 112; Re Toss, Alex Solis, 115; and Campagnarde, Kent Desormeaux, 115. The 1 1/8-mile stake will be Guiza’s first start on dirt. . . . Re Toss was second, 2 3/4 lengths back, when Paseana won the Milady Handicap under 125 pounds June 13. Fowda was third in the Milady. . . . Counting her races in Argentina, Paseana has 11 victories, one second and one third in 15 starts. With earnings of $871,441, the 5-year-old mare could go over the $1-million mark Sunday. . . . Between the first and second races Sunday, Hollywood Park will offer betting on the telecast of the Delaware Handicap.

American Championship

Racing Series Standings

1. Best Pal: 23

2. Strike The Gold: 20

3. Twilight Agenda: 17

4. Sea Cadet: 17

5. Sultry Song: 15

6. Out Of Place: 10

7. Defensive Play: 8

8. Fly So Free: 8

9. Marquetry: 7

10. Pleasant: Tap 7

* 9 other horses have 5 points or fewer.

* Horses are awarded points on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis for finishing in the first five positions in any of the races.