THOROUGHBRED RACING : Setting and Meeting Goals Lets Hawley Ride Into Hall of Fame

About half of Canada seemed to be in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Thursday to honor Sandy Hawley as he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.

Hawley was enshrined at Saratoga. Earl Sande went into the Hall of Fame in 1955, but Damon Runyon’s verse, written about 25 years before, would have been suitable for Hawley, too:

Maybe we’ll find another

Maybe in 90 years;

Maybe we’ll find his brother

With his brains above his ears

Maybe--I’ll lay against it

A million bucks to a fin--

Never a handy guy like Sande

Bootin’ them babies in.

Hawley, 43 and still riding, is in two halls of fame, having been inducted in his native Canada in 1986. Early in 1973, he became the first jockey to break the 500 mark in victories in a year with 515. Hawley told the secret that has inspired him through almost 25 years in the saddle: “I feel that if you have a goal to shoot for, you’re always going to try to do something better.”

Hawley’s goals were set and met along the way: Sovereign Awards in Canada; an Eclipse Award for a 413-victory year in the United States; validating his skills with riding titles at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita and more than 1,600 victories on the tough California circuit; 2,000 victories in his career--then 3,000 and 4,000 and 5,000 and finally 6,000.

Bettors learned early in Hawley’s career that when he started winning races, it would be folly to consider horses ridden by anyone else.

In his heyday, Hawley was one of the great streak jockeys. In 1972, less than four years after he broke in, Hawley rode seven winners from nine mounts on a spring day at Woodbine, near Toronto. Three days later, he won six races from nine mounts, part of a 10-day stretch in which he reeled off 42 winners, to go with 14 seconds and 10 thirds, in 82 races.

Hawley won seven races in a day again at Woodbine in 1974. Seven times, he’s had six winners on one card, twice at Santa Anita within 34 days in 1976. That was the season when he won 129 races in 77 days. A year later, he won 123 races in a 76-day meeting at Hollywood Park.

Hawley’s riding style would never be compared to Bill Shoemaker’s sit-still discipline with a horse, but he had some of the same characteristics that Shoemaker in the Hall of Fame.

Hawley has had a weight problem--even now, he weighs less than 110 pounds--and, like Shoemaker, he has been good at other sports. Before dropping out of school to work on a farm in Canada, Hawley was a hockey goaltender and a star wrestler.

Ancient Title might not have been the best horse Hawley ever rode, but he was probably his favorite. They won the Whitney together at Saratoga in 1975. “He wanted to win as much as I did,” Hawley said. “He was really trying all the time.”

Hawley’s business soured in California in the mid-1980s, sending him back to Canada and the American Midwest for those goals in thousand-race increments. He was his old streaky self during the summer of 1987 at Arlington International, collecting 70 winners in 62 days.

In most recent winters, Hawley has drifted back to California, taking his chances with longshot stock, and last season it took him more than 60 rides to win three times at Santa Anita. The chance to be a penalty timekeeper at the Kings’ hockey games seems to compensate for any indignities.

Hawley’s goals changed dramatically in 1986. He learned late that year that a mole on his back was malignant, and has twice undergone surgery--once to remove 32 lymph glands--since then. There was an ugly reminder of the problem in the fall of 1987 when Don MacBeth, another successful Canadian jockey, died of cancer.

Now, as Hawley reflects on the realization of his ultimate career goal, winning races in bunches is no longer as important as it used to be.

This year’s Hall of Fame jockey election was one of the closest, with Hawley edging Steve Cauthen. The 100 voters faced a tough ballot, with Eddie Delahoussaye, Don Brumfield and Jacinto Vasquez also listed. The four runners-up probably will get another shot next year.

Also inducted into the Hall at Saratoga Thursday were trainer Scotty Schulhofer, steeplechase jockey Jerry Fishback and three horses--Johnstown, Lady’s Secret and Slew o’ Gold.

Johnstown won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 1939.

Lady’s Secret was voted horse of the year in 1986 for a 15-race campaign that took her from California to New York and back again, with victory No. 10 coming in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. Overall, the daughter of Secretariat ran 45 times, winning 25 and becoming the first filly or mare to earn $3 million. Dance Smartly broke Lady’s Secret’s record for earnings last year.

Slew o’ Gold, a son of Seattle Slew, won two Eclipse Awards but was beaten by John Henry in 1984 in the closest horse-of-the-year election ever held. Slew o’ Gold won 12 of 21 starts but was winless in five tries outside New York, including a fourth place in the Kentucky Derby in 1983 and a second place after the disqualification of Gate Dancer in the roughhouse inaugural Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park in 1984.

Trainer Jack Van Berg, who has won two stakes at Del Mar, with Mongo’s Pride in the 1972 Escondido Handicap and Beyond Perfection in the 1990 Del Mar Debutante, will try to win two in one day Saturday. He will saddle Renegotiable in the $125,000 San Diego Handicap and Alysbelle in the $75,000 San Clemente Handicap.

Renegotiable beat Missionary Ridge, another of the six starters in the 1 1/8-mile San Diego, in the Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park on July 26, but Saturday, the 4-year-old colt also will have to beat Another Review, Claret, Quintana and Subordinated Debt. Another Review, the high weight at 120 pounds, drew the rail, and next in order come Missionary Ridge, Renegotiable, Claret, Quintana and Subordinated Debt.

Alysbelle, a winner at 1 1/16 miles on grass at Hollywood, has the same parents, Alydar and Bel Sheba, as Alysheba, Van Berg’s Kentucky Derby winner in 1987 and horse of the year in 1988. The San Clemente, one mile on grass for 3-year-old fillies, also has drawn Hopeful Amber, Morriston Belle, Royal Bobbe, Wicked Wit, Omjii, More Than Willing, Miss Turkana and Golden Treat. The high weight is Golden Treat with 121 pounds.