OAK TREE : Frankel Looks to Breeders’ Cup; Best Pal Is Favored in Cal Cup

Bobby Frankel is the leading trainer in the country with a stable that has produced more than $6.5 million in purses and doesn’t have a horse running Saturday in the fourth annual California Cup, but he was on hand at Santa Anita Thursday morning as entries were drawn for the nine races worth $1 million.

Frankel has never run a horse in a Cal Cup race. He seldom has California-breds in his barn, but this year he could have started Bertrando in Saturday’s $250,000 Wells Fargo Classic. Instead, he will prepare Bertrando off of workouts for the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 6.

Twenty-seven Cal-breds have run in the 63 Breeders’ Cup races in the last nine years and the best result is two second-place finishes. Bertrando ran second as Arazi demolished the field in the Juvenile in 1991, and Fran’s Valentine was second in the Distaff in 1986.

Fran’s Valentine finished first in the Juvenile Fillies in the first Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park in 1984 but was disqualified to 10th place because of interference.

Without Bertrando in the Cal Cup Classic, Best Pal has become the 2-5 favorite in the seven-horse field. Had Bertrando also been entered, he would have been the favorite.

“My horse has had enough racing to get ready for the Breeders’ Cup,” Frankel said Thursday. “He worked today in 1:14 3/5 (for six furlongs). That’s slow, but I’ve got four more works before Breeders’ Cup day, and I’ll have some speed in him.”

In the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 21, Bertrando beat stablemate Missionary Ridge by three lengths, and Best Pal finished third, another three-quarters of a length back. A month later, Bertrando was at Belmont Park, running off to a 13 1/2-length victory over a sloppy track in the Woodward.

“If I was running him any place this week, it ought to be back in New York,” Frankel said, looking at the field for Saturday’s $850,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup. The runners there are Devil His Due, Diazo, Colonial Affair, Miner’s Mark, Brunswick and Valley Crossing, who will probably skip the Belmont race to run tonight in the $500,000 Meadowlands Cup.

“Only five horses, and there’s no speed in the race,” Frankel said, second-guessing himself for keeping Bertrando in the barn.

In a literal sense, Bertrando hasn’t been a “horse of the year,” because he started 1993 with a victory and then five consecutive defeats. But his victories at Del Mar and Belmont and another win three weeks from Saturday at Santa Anita could sweep him into the horse-of-the-year title because it’s been a year without a clear-cut standout.

“If he wins the Breeders’ Cup, he wins the title,” Frankel said. “If he doesn’t win, they’ll have to give it to somebody else. Maybe one of the grass horses, or maybe the filly (Sky Beauty) if she wins another one (the Breeders’ Cup Distaff).”

Another scenario might even lead the Eclipse Awards voters to Devil His Due, if he wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Frankel ran 1-2-4 in the Pacific Classic with Bertrando, Missionary Ridge and Marquetry, and he might run all of those horses, plus the filly Jolypha in the Classic. Marquetry, who runs tonight at the Meadowlands, is also a possibility for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Bertrando’s owners, Eddie Nahem and Marshall Naify, are committed to paying the $360,000 penalty that will get their horse into the Classic.

“It’s not that good of a gamble (the winner earns $1.56 million), but these guys want to win horse of the year and know they have to run to do it,” Frankel said.

Best Pal, another horse not nominated, would also have to be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup Classic for $360,000.

“If he runs a bad race Saturday, I don’t think he would be supplemented,” said trainer Gary Jones, who ignored the pressure that goes with saddling a 2-5 shot. “I’ve gotten more 2-5 shots beaten than anybody,” the trainer said.

In the 1991 Cal Cup, Best Pal went off at 2-5 and was beaten by a head by Charmonnier, who was 28-1. Carried out by Charmonnier as the horses reached the top of the stretch, jockey Pat Valenzuela hoped that Best Pal’s number might be moved up because of a foul.

“The stewards told Pat that he had to get hit by the other horse before they were going to make a change,” Jones said.

Best Pal, whose only win in six starts this year has been in the Hollywood Gold Cup, will carry 126 pounds, which is between 10 and 19 pounds more than the other six horses running in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Here are the fields, in post-position order, for the seven Cal Cup races worth $100,000 or more:

$250,000 Classic (1 1/8 miles)--Best Pal, I’m Ruined, Natural Fifty Six, Wild Bamboo, Goldigger’s Dream, Bossanova and Native Boundary.

$150,000 Mile (1 mile on turf)--Fax News, Journalism, Breakfast Table, Moscow Changes, Der Rosenkavalier, What A Spell, Hill Pass, Town Caper, Megan’s Interco, El Atroz and Never Round (Der Rosenkavalier and El Atroz are coupled in the betting).

$100,000 Sprint (6 furlongs)--Softshoe Sure Shot, Black Jack Road, Gundaghia, Echo Of Yesterday, Knight Prospector, Answer Do, Arp, Boating Pleasure, Letthebighossroll, Alta Blue, Scherando, Davy Be Good and Outlawed.

$100,000 Matron (1 1/16 miles)--Another Natalie, Glass Ceiling, Saros On The Town, Sensational Eyes, Starolamo, Southern Truce, Cargosita and Gumpher.

$100,000 Distaff (about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf)--Risky Ristine, Nannetta, Venetian Fleet, Beverly Z., Best Dress, Don B’s Princess, Spirited Susan, Miss L. Attack, Bel’s Starlet, Fran’s Lass and Malojen.

$100,000 Juvenile (1 1/16 miles)--Individual Style, Flying Sensation, Creston, Ricks Ebony Star, Double The Weather, Subtle Trouble, Possess the Best and Our Blue Michael.

$100,000 Juvenile Fillies (1 1/16 miles)--Tan Line, Fuzzy Side Up, Gambling Mistress, Top Of The Sky, Brendas Wildindian, Ballerina Gal, Icy Luck, Burning Desire, Fancy ‘n Fabulous, Private Persuasion, Willieshoe, Cimply A Lady, Deal Em Darling and Lost In The Hay (Gambling Mistress, Icy Luck and Lost In The Hay are coupled and Company Shot and Limitless ‘N Free are on the also-eligible list).

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Nakatani, who was named to ride several horses on the California Cup card, is in the middle of a five-day suspension that started Wednesday. Nakatani is seeking a stay of the suspension and a hearing will be held today. . . . Post time for the first race Saturday is noon. Santa Anita’s betting card also includes the Jockey Club Gold Cup from Belmont Park and the Palo Alto Handicap from Bay Meadows. . . . Toussaud is out of Sunday’s Koester Handicap because of a foot injury, but Bobby Frankel said she is still a probable for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. . . . Devoted Brass, the multiple stakes winner who has earned more than $300,000, has been sold by Don Jordens to European interests and shifted from Noble Threewitt’s barn to Ron McAnally’s. . . . Marquetry, with Kent Desormeaux riding, is the 5-2 favorite in the Meadowlands Cup and will break from the outside post in what is likely to be a field of nine. . . . Lure, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Gulfstream Park, has his final prep for this year’s race when he runs Saturday as the 3-5 favorite in the Kelso Handicap at Belmont. . . . Dehere, beaten at 2-5 as his undefeated streak ended in the Futurity at Belmont last month, is 2-5 again Saturday in the Champagne Stakes. . . . Devil His Due is the 2-1 favorite in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. . . . Strategic Maneuver is expected to stretch her win streak to five Saturday in the Frizette Stakes on Belmont’s Breeders’ Cup preview day.