THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Perkins Sends Storm Warnings About Storm Tower to the West

When Ben Perkins Jr. went to his first Kentucky Derby in 1975, he arrived in Louisville by bus from Philadelphia, where he had just finished his final exams at the University of Pennsylvania.

Perkins’ father, Ben Perkins Sr., was saddling Bombay Duck in the Derby. A fast horse, Bombay Duck was 27-1, but still seemed dangerous because he had almost registered an upset two weeks earlier in the Wood Memorial. Foolish Pleasure, who would win the Derby, had barely edged Bombay Duck at the wire in the Aqueduct race.

Bombay Duck rolled out of the gate to set what were then the fastest fractions in Derby history--22 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 45 2/5 for the half. With a three-length lead going down the backstretch, Bombay Duck was struck by a beer can thrown from the Churchill Downs infield and lost interest.

“This was the last year they didn’t have the (restraining) fence for that mob in the infield,” Ben Perkins Jr. said. “The next year, they put up the fence. Maybe the horse wouldn’t have lasted, anyway, but getting hit by that can sure didn’t help.”

Bombay Duck finished last in a 15-horse field. In 1989, the Perkinses ran another Derby longshot, Faultless Ensign, who finished 14th, beating one horse. Perkins flew to Kentucky that year.

“I reached the Louisville airport thinking, ‘I hope I don’t spend the week answering questions about Bombay Duck and the beer can,’ ” Perkins said. “Then the first paper I picked up had a headline that said, ‘Bombay Duck’s Derby Legacy.’ ”

Perkins told the story of Bombay Duck the other morning at Gulfstream Park, where Storm Tower, his undefeated colt, was being prepared for Saturday’s $500,000 Florida Derby, one of the major preps for the Kentucky Derby on May 1. Storm Tower’s four consecutive victories, by margins of two to seven lengths, have not intimidated any trainers, and on Thursday, 12 other horses--the largest field since Snow Chief came from California and defeated 15 rivals in 1986--were entered for the 1 1/8-mile race.

And Storm Tower, whose record includes three victories at Gulfstream this winter--the last a three-length romp in a division of the Fountain of Youth Stakes three weeks ago--was installed as a moderate 3-1 favorite. The second choice, at 4-1, is Living Vicariously, a Shug McGaughey-trained colt who has won twice in seven starts, neither of them in a stakes race.

Here’s the way the field breaks down, in post-position order, with jockeys and odds:

Kissin Kris, Jerry Bailey, 12-1; Living Vicariously, Jose Santos, 4-1; Halostrada, Eddie Maple, 20-1; Bull In The Heather, Wigberto Ramos, 15-1; Wallenda, Herb McCauley, 10-1; Gentle Patrick, Ruben Hernandez, 20-1; Duc d’Sligovil, Julie Krone, 6-1; Storm Tower, Rick Wilson, 3-1; Silver Of Silver, Jacinto Vasquez, 6-1; Ambush Alley, no jockey listed, 20-1; Great Navigator, Herb Castillo, 15-1; Hidden Trick, Mike Smith, 6-1; and Pride Of Burkaan, no jockey listed, 20-1.

Halostrada and Gentle Patrick have been put in the parimutuel field, which means the track handicapper figures they have the least chance of winning. All of the horses will carry 122 pounds, with a fast track probable after rain earlier in the week.

Horsemen in California seem to think they have the deeper crop of 3-year-olds, but Perkins, 37, is not subscribing to that theory.

“I guess Storm Tower would still be a maiden if he was out in California,” Perkins said. “I don’t know where the best horses are. We had a horse, Wild Zone, who just got beat in the last two jumps by the California horse, Gilded Time, in the Sapling (last year at Monmouth Park); and in the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile), It’sali’lknownfact ran by the California horse (River Special) to get second. I think that right now it’s a wide-open Kentucky Derby situation everywhere.”

Storm Tower’s owners, Charles Hesse III and Anthony Tornetta, bought the colt for $245,000 at a Florida sale of unraced 2-year-olds early last year.

“We thought the prices might be softer, because the horse was in on the last night of the sale,” Perkins said. “We went for the price because the horse had the whole package: He trained well for the sale, he was a handsome horse and he had an athleticism about him.”

The son of Irish Tower, from the Storm Bird mare, Storm Doll, Storm Tower began his career with a seven-length maiden sprint victory at Monmouth Park last June. He chipped a bone in his right knee in the race, however, and underwent arthroscopic surgery.

Perkins could have brought him back by the end of the year, and even toyed with the idea of sending him to California to run in the Hollywood Futurity in December.

“But we knew there would be an ambitious campaign this year, so we waited,” Perkins said. “We brought him to Florida around Thanksgiving.”

Storm Tower’s first start at Gulfstream resulted in a five-length victory over six furlongs. Three weeks later, he moved up to 1 1/16 miles and won by two lengths. In what appeared to be the stronger division of the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, Wilson kept Storm Tower close behind Great Navigator all the way, and he outran his rival from the quarter pole to the wire, winning by two lengths. Kissin Kris, rallying from far back, finished third, beaten by four lengths.

Horse Racing Notes

Santa Anita will offer betting on the telecast of the Florida Derby. . . . In another stake for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream on Saturday, eight horses are entered for the seven-furlong Swale. Cherokee Run is the 9-5 favorite, Fight for Love is 3-1 and Demaloot Demashoot, owned by Pasadena’s Team Valor Stable, is 4-1. . . . Lite Light, runner-up to Dance Smartly in the Eclipse Awards voting for best 3-year-old filly in 1991, has been sold by the Hammer family to Mitsuo Haga of Japan. Lite Light will be bred in Kentucky to A.P. Indy, the 1992 horse of the year.

St. Jovite, the top horse in Europe last year, was in Florida, preparing for a campaign in the United States, but he aggravated a tendon injury and has been retired. . . .Siberian Summer, scheduled to return to California in a few days, kicked himself and suffered a minor injury while running sixth as the second betting choice in last Sunday’s Gulfstream Park Handicap.