THOROUGHBRED RACING : Woodward Could End Up Being Preview of Breeders’ Cup Classic

The seasoned horse against a horse running after a layoff, the well-bred horse against a New York-bred--these are some of the elements today at Belmont Park, where bettors will try to sort out the eight-horse field in the $500,000 Woodward Stakes.

The sorting extends all the way to Fairplex Park and the Pomona track’s satellite centers, which will offer betting on a telecast of the Woodward.

New York’s traditional fall fixture, now being run at 1 1/8 miles, is a collection of horses who might also wind up in the season’s final horse-of-the-year campaign stop, the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 31.

Pleasant Tap, the son of 1981 Kentucky Derby winner Pleasant Colony, is the 5-2 favorite for the Woodward. His seven rivals have been cranking up all summer but Pleasant Tap hasn’t run since he beat Strike The Gold and Sultry Song, two other Woodward starters, in the Suburban Handicap at Belmont two months ago.

In trying to bring Pleasant Tap up to the Breeders’ Cup properly, trainer Chris Speckert even skipped the windup to the American Championship Racing Series, with a $750,000 bonus on the line. Winning twice in that nine-race series, Strike The Gold earned the bonus.

Pleasant Tap, who but for a troubled trip would probably have beaten Strike The Gold in the Nassau County Handicap at Belmont in June, is capable of winning after a layoff. In April at Keeneland, he shipped in from Santa Anita, where he had last run almost two months before, and won the Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup Stakes.

That field, however, was not as contentious as today’s, and didn’t include a horse of the caliber of Thunder Rumble, who after missing the Triple Crown races because of a virus has become a late contender for the 3-year-old colt title.

Thunder Rumble was the first New York-bred to win Saratoga’s Travers, and he will try to extend the distinction to the Woodward. He is the second choice on the morning line at 7-2, and being a younger horse gets a five-pound break in the weights, carrying 121 pounds to 126 for Pleasant Tap, Sultry Song and Strike The Gold.

Thunder Rumble, who will be ridden by Herb McCauley, New York’s leading stakes jockey this year, is dropping five pounds from his Travers victory, whereas Pleasant Tap is gaining seven pounds over the day he won the Suburban.

The other starters are Devil His Due, Chief Honcho, Lost Mountain and Out Of Place.

Devil His Due is also a 3-year-old. Younger horses winning the Woodward is not uncommon, four 3-year-olds having won the stake in the 1980s. One of them was Pleasant Colony.

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Eddie Delahoussaye, who will be riding Pleasant Tap, has another major mount in the 6 1/2-furlong first race at Belmont today when Lite Light faces six rivals, including Miss Iron Smoke, in trainer Wayne Lukas’ hurry-up plan to have her ready for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Oct. 31.

Lite Light has been off since last year, yet Lukas has not ruled out the Distaff. Last year, when Jerry Hollendorfer trained the filly for rap star Hammer and his family, Lite Light ran some memorable races at Belmont. She lost by a nose to Meadow Star in the Mother Goose, a race in which Lite Light suffered pulmonary bleeding, and won the Coaching Club American Oaks, with Meadow Star second, beaten by seven lengths.

Lite Light finished second to Dance Smartly in the voting for best 3-year-old filly. Meadow Star is on a comeback of her own at Belmont, running Sunday in the Ruffian Handicap.

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Lite Light is running for a $41,000 purse, one of the cheapest races on today’s Belmont card, which totals nine races worth $1.3 million. Besides the Woodward, there are two $100,000 stakes for 2-year-olds, the Futurity and the Matron, and the $400,000 Man o’ War for grass horses.

Dear Doctor, winner of the Arlington Million, is an 8-5 favorite in the Man o’ War. Among his seven opponents is Fraise, who likes the Belmont turf and goes into the Man o’ War with a victory in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga.

Allen Paulson and his wife, Madeleine, are busy on two fronts today. Besides Fraise, their Eliza was shipped from Del Mar to Chicago for today’s $250,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie for 2-year-old fillies.

Based on a maiden victory, Eliza looked like one of the best young horses at Del Mar this summer, but in the Sorrento Stakes, 10 days after her previous race, she might have been too fresh. Trying to run off with jockey Pat Valenzuela, Eliza finished second to Zoonaqua. Valenzuela will be aboard today.

A Chicago filly that Eliza won’t have to beat is Beal Street Blues, who came to California and won the Del Mar Debutante. Instead, trainer Frank Brothers will run Bashful Charmer in the Lassie.

Horse Racing Notes

Sky Beauty is the 6-5 favorite in the Matron. If not for a disqualification at Saratoga, the 2-year-old filly would be undefeated. . . . Great Navigator, the 2-1 favorite in the Futurity at Belmont, is ridden by Aaron Gryder, a former California jockey. One of Great Navigator’s opponents today is Strolling Along, a colt he beat in the Hopeful at Saratoga.

Zoonaqua, third in the Del Mar Debutante, is scheduled to run in the Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 10, and her stablemate, Zealous Connection, is expected to run in the Princess Futurity at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 27. Trainer Brian Mayberry’s plan to race Zealous Connection in the East this summer was thwarted when she ran a fever. . . . Barbara LaCroix has turned over the operation of the family’s Meadowbrook Farm near Ocala, Fla., to her son, David, who is ending his 15-year stint as a California trainer. David LaCroix, 38, said that Meadowbrook’s 12 horses in California will be turned over to several trainers. One of them ran for Bobby Frankel the closing week at Del Mar.

Hats off to Fairplex Park for calling its Pick Three exactly what it is--a Pick Three. The bet is to try to pick the winners of three consecutive races, which is a smaller version of the Pick Six or the Pick Nine. Some tracks refer to the Pick Three as the Daily Triple. Calling it anything other than the Pick Three is simply another way that tracks confuse new bettors. . . . The $50,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes for fillies and mares has drawn seven horses at Fairplex on Sunday, with one of the favorites the Craig Lewis-trained Shrewd Vixen, who will be ridden by Corey Nakatani. . . . On the same card is the $25,000 Pomona 870 Handicap for quarter horses. Speedy Lunch, who drew the No. 7 post in a field of eight, will try to win the stake for the third consecutive year. Speedy Lunch could also win his fourth stake at Pomona, breaking the record he shares with Miss Myrna Bar, who ran there in the 1950s.