THOROUGHBRED RACING : After a Struggle in Blue Grass, Lykatill Hil Goes to Plain Grass

Introduced to Swaps when he was a teen-ager, Art Sherman was spoiled for the rest of his life.

“I’ve never come across another horse like him,” said Sherman, whose barn currently includes Lykatill Hil, the best horse he has come across since he started training about 13 years ago.

Once a Kentucky Derby possibility, Lykatill Hil was running at Hollywood Park instead of Churchill Downs on Derby day, finishing second behind Earl Of Barking, who ran a 1:33 4/5 mile in winning the Spotlight Breeders’ Cup Handicap. The same two horses are in a 13-horse field Saturday at Hollywood for the $100,000 Will Rogers Handicap, a grass race a sixteenth of a mile longer than the Spotlight.

Lykatill Hil went off at 6-1 in the Spotlight, slightly shorter than his odds for the April 10 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where he was the fifth betting choice, behind Corby, Dixieland Heat, Prairie Bayou and Sea Hero.

As indicated by this year’s crop, the 3-year-olds that gear up for the Triple Crown can be quickly strewn:

--Corby, who beat only two horses, one of them Lykatill Hil, in the Blue Grass, was sixth in the Derby and hasn’t run since.

--Dixieland Heat is on the shelf, the result of an injury suffered in the Derby.

--Sea Hero and Prairie Bayou, respective winners of the Derby and the Preakness, will have their rematch in the Belmont Stakes two weeks from Saturday.

--And Lykatill Hil is trying to carve out a reputation on the grass.

Sherman was using the Blue Grass as a trial for Lykatill Hil, to see if he fit with the better ones. His form as a 2-year-old in Northern California had been excellent, two victories and two seconds in four starts, including a victory over Corby in a minor stake at Bay Meadows. A month before the Blue Grass, Lykatill Hil had won the Sausalito Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

In the Blue Grass, Lykatill Hil ran hard for six furlongs, but once he lost his third-place position on the far turn, he backed up badly.

In the Spotlight, his first time on grass, Lykatill Hil found himself almost last after a poor start, and the rest of his trip wasn’t that much better. Earl Of Barking, an Irish-bred who scored his first American victory at Hollywood last fall, was a 2 3/4-length winner.

Sherman, 56, was an exercise rider for trainer Mesh Tenney when Swaps burst upon the Southern California racing scene in 1954.

“He was the runningest horse I’ve ever been on,” Sherman said. “And he did it all despite that infected hoof. They had to pack his foot with iodine and cotton, and put a leather patch over it. He was a freak, with natural speed and a way of stretching out when he ran. It was a thrill just to be on him in the mornings.”

Ridden by Bill Shoemaker, Swaps defeated favored Nashua in the 1955 Kentucky Derby and was voted horse of the year the next year. He was retired with 19 victories in 25 starts.

“Nashua was a very good horse, but he was no match for Swaps in the Derby,” Sherman said. “(Eddie) Arcaro had to (whip) Nashua early, just to get him to keep up with Swaps.”

Sherman began his jockey career in 1956, making his debut at Hollywood Park, winning his first race at Caliente and retiring from the saddle in 1978 with almost 1,000 winners. Prepared to go as high as $50,000 for Lykatill Hil at a Keeneland yearling auction, he bought the horse for $30,000.

“It was a tough decision to geld him,” Sherman said. “But I was afraid he was going to self-destruct before he ever got to the track.”

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Earl Of Barking will carry 122 pounds in the Will Rogers, an increase of two since his Spotlight victory. Lykatill Hil is weighted at 119, the same as in the Spotlight.

Devoted Brass, seventh in the Illinois Derby in his last race, has been assigned 121 pounds. Tossofthecoin, second in the Wood Memorial and then last while bleeding in the Kentucky Derby, will carry 119 pounds. Here’s the field, in post-position order:

Earl Of Barking, Siebe, Manny’s Prospect, Stately Warrior, Offshore Pirate, Lykatill Hil, Auvergne, Devoted Brass, Westcot, Future Storm, Tossofthecoin, Elkhart and I Like To Run. Auvergne and Elkhart will run as an entry.

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Predictably, the U.S. Humane Society was not pleased about Union City’s breaking down and being destroyed in the Preakness.

“The racing industry accepts breakdowns as part of doing business, but we do not,” spokesman Steve Dickstein said. “Apparently, Union City showed no prior injuries before the race. But we would feel better if horses--all horses, not just the high-profile horses in big races--were inspected more thoroughly before they run, and if more thorough post-mortems were conducted after a horse is destroyed.”

A Maryland state veterinarian, David Zipf, said that he had checked Union City twice before the horse ran in the Preakness.

“He looked sound the first time I saw him,” Zipf said. “There was nothing to indicate any soreness. Then he galloped by me in the post parade and I couldn’t see any problem.”

Horse Racing Notes

Twelve horses, among them Val Des Bois and Best Pal, have been nominated for the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap on May 31. The other nominees are Man From Eldorado, River Majesty, Leger Cat, Corrupt, Jahafil, Beyton, Rainbow Corner, Lomitas, Bien Bien and Misty Valley. . . . Paseana, winner of the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in Little Rock, Ark., last month, will continue to campaign on the road. Her next start is expected to be the Hempstead Handicap at Belmont Park on June 12.

Another of trainer Ron McAnally’s horses, Ibero, is headed for the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on May 31. . . . Bull Inthe Heather, the second betting choice who ran 11th in the Kentucky Derby, is a possibility for the Belmont Stakes on June 5. . . . Trainer Mark Hennig figured Personal Hope would bleed sooner or later, and he did while running fourth in the Preakness, which will enable the horse to race with Lasix. “He’s by Storm Bird, and that family has a lot of bleeders,” Hennig said. “Summer Squall had problems with bleeding most of his career.” Summer Squall bled after a gallop at Pimlico the day before the Preakness in 1990, then won the race.