OAK TREE : River Special, Reign Road Turn Lousy Starts Into Great Finishes

Neither River Special nor Reign Road got away smoothly for their stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday, but they were in the right place when it counted--River Special winning the $200,000 Norfolk by six lengths and Reign Road scoring a 1 1/2-length victory in the $215,200 Goodwood Handicap about an hour later.

River Special, a maiden until he won the Del Mar Futurity in his previous start, was fractious in the paddock, showed kidney sweat in the walking ring, broke in a tangle at the start and was breathing irregularly after the Norfolk. In between, he dominated a modest group of four 2-year-olds, earning a trip to the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 31.

Reign Road clipped himself leaving the gate and was bleeding profusely from the left foreleg after the Goodwood, but that didn’t stop the 4-year-old colt from rushing past Sir Beaufort with less than a sixteenth of a mile to run. After the race, trainer Jay Robbins said that Jack Kent Cooke, who bred and owns Reign Road, would decide this week about the horse’s status for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Kent Desormeaux, who began last week with $10.7 million in purses, about $1 million more than Chris McCarron in the national jockey standings, rode both winners, getting the mounts because their jockeys from previous races had other plans.

McCarron, who rode River Special in the Del Mar Futurity, was at Keeneland, riding heavily favored Paseana to a second-place finish behind Fowda in the Spinster Stakes. David Flores, who had ridden Reign Road to his first stakes victory, in the Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Del Mar on Sept. 13, stayed loyal to Marquetry, a multiple stakes winner. Marquetry made a belated run to take third, finishing two lengths behind Sir Beaufort.

“He really out-talented that bunch,” Desormeaux said of River Special. “When he turned down the backside, he was all by himself and I kind of put the bridle on his mouth to make him switch leads, and he surged forward. It wasn’t what I wanted him to do, but it definitely was more than I needed.”

River Special, coupled in the betting with owners John and Betty Mabee’s other starter, Devil Diamond, earned $120,000 for his second victory in four starts. The son of Riverman and Nijinska Street paid $2.60 to win and ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 2/5. Imperial Ridge finished second, three lengths ahead of Devil Diamond.

After his races, River Special sounds as if he needs a respirator, and Sunday was no different. “That’s the way he is,” trainer Bob Hess Jr. said. “He was born that way, with a short epiglottis (a part of the throat that helps a horse swallow). He has a condition that’s called a displaced epiglottis. It doesn’t bother him when he trains, only after races. It’s not (surgically) correctable.”

Hess has never saddled a horse for a Breeders’ Cup race and Desormeaux, despite his success nationally, has never ridden a Breeders’ Cup winner. Hess has no illusions about River Special going to Gulfstream and dominating the way he did Sunday. “Gilded Time is the horse to beat,” Hess said. “He might be a super horse.”

Best Pal, who in 1990 gave the Mabees their first Norfolk victory, won the Hollywood Futurity later that year, with Reign Road a fast-closing third in only his third start. But the Hollywood Park race left him with a hairline fracture in his left ankle, and then he had a hip injury that wouldn’t go away.

In late April, he ran last in the San Jacinto Handicap at Santa Anita. By the time he returned to racing, however, the hip was better. He was fourth in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar at 21-1, and his first stakes victory came two weeks later.

On Sunday, Reign Road was the longest price on the board in a six-horse field, paying $18.60 after he ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 1/5. He carried 116 pounds, five fewer than the favorite and high weight, Another Review, who was fifth, and four less than Marquetry.

“I think he’s matured with age,” Robbins said of Reign Road. “I’m glad, too, because it confirms that his last race was no fluke. He was fortunate to get around horses in the stretch. The foot doesn’t appear to be serious.”

Claret, Casual Lies and Another Review battled for the lead in the Goodwood. Claret was the first to weaken, and at the head of the stretch the race was between Casual Lies and Another Review, with Sir Beaufort looming dangerously. Reign Road was fifth.

“The other horses were across the track in front of me, and I was just sitting back there five or six lengths off of them,” Desormeaux said. “At the three-eighths pole, I knew that I had them. Everybody else was already knuckling, and I was picking them up. I hope I have the opportunity to ride this horse again.”

Horse Racing Notes

From Keeneland, trainer Ron McAnally said that the decision would be made by Paseana’s owners, Sid and Jenny Craig, whether the mare will be supplemented into the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff for $200,000. The Craigs did not attend Sunday’s Spinster, during which Fowda beat Paseana. The Craigs also own Exchange, who has been nominated for the Distaff at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 31 and can run without being supplemented. . . . Meadow Star, third in the Spinster, and Lite Light, who ran fourth, are also headed for the Breeders’ Cup.

Kent Desormeaux won three races Sunday. . . . Ralph Delvecchio, 63, an unemployed West Hollywood resident, bet a $2 ticket Sunday and won a Pick Six worth $104,893.80. Delvecchio, who used to operate a lamp and shade business, takes the bus to Santa Anita. After taxes, he collected $89,915.80. . . . Trainer Rodney Rash, who saddled two winners Sunday after his Navarone won the Oak Tree Invitational on Saturday, has Light Of Morn in today’s Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Handicap. Desormeaux will try to keep his stakes streak going aboard Gray Slewpy, who hasn’t run in more than four months. Answer Do, second to Frost Free in last year’s Ancient Title, is also entered.