OAK TREE : Answer Do Will Try to Make Cal Cup Sprint a Senior Tour

The California Cup is only in its fourth year, and already the series has an old war horse. He is Answer Do, a 7-year-old gelding who will try to win his second consecutive $100,000 California Cup Sprint today at Santa Anita.

Of the richest Cal Cup races--the 20 of the previous 25 that have been worth $100,000 or more--none has been won by a horse older than 6. The only 6-year-olds to win have been Shirkee, in 1991, and Answer Do, who needed to run six furlongs in 1:08 1/5 last year to overtake a familiar rival, Gundaghia, in the Cal Cup Sprint.

Answer Do didn’t come close to the Santa Anita record, the 1:07 1/5 set by Sunny Blossom in 1989, but he ran a fifth of a second faster than Smile when Smile won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in 1986.

Gundaghia and Answer Do are equally weighted today at 120 pounds; a year ago, Answer Do raced at a three-pound disadvantage.

Answer Do, who scored back-to-back victories last year in the Hollywood Turf Express Handicap and the Cal Cup, has 15 victories, 15 seconds and six thirds in 44 starts, with almost $800,000 in earnings. He has run only four times since last year’s Cal Cup, and was out of action for almost seven months because of injuries suffered in the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise, a race he had won in 1991-92.

The 19-10 favorite for his third try, Answer Do stumbled leaving the gate, kicked himself and suffered an ankle injury trying to recover from the tangle. Despite the injuries, Answer Do finished fourth, beaten by 4 1/2 lengths.

His return to racing came on Sept. 15, closing day at Del Mar, in a six-furlong allowance race. The second betting choice, Answer Do beat only one horse, finishing more than six lengths behind the winner, Softshoe Sure Shot, who also is entered in today’s Sprint.

“He was probably three weeks away from being at his best,” said Brad Rollins, son of and assistant to trainer Lyman Rollins. “But we needed a race in order to get him ready for the Cal Cup, and this was one that turned up.”

In his last important workout for the Sprint, Answer Do went five furlongs at Santa Anita in 59 2/5. Of the 54 horses who worked that distance that morning, only one had a faster time.

Answer Do is owned by Charles Heider, a 67-year-old Omaha, Neb., businessman who sent Lyman Rollins to a Kentucky yearling sale in 1987 with $25,000 to spend. Rollins, whose training career spans more than 50 years, brought back Answer Do, with $11,000 and change.

“I went clear to Kentucky to buy a Cal-bred,” Rollins said.

Answer Do was gelded before he ran. “We geld almost all of our horses,” Brad Rollins said. “The only time we don’t is when an owner insists that we don’t. The kind of money we usually pay for our horses, there’s not going to be much breeding value for them, anyway. They’re easier to train, too. People really aren’t doing the breed a favor if they breed back stock that isn’t likely to come up with much quality.”

The first time Answer Do won the Turf Express, he won in 1:07 for six furlongs, an American grass record.

“Winning that stake three straight times, and setting the record the first time, are the highlights of his career,” Brad Rollins said.

Asked if Answer Do had ever run for a claiming price, Rollins said: “He never has, and he never will. As long as he can keep performing without cheapening himself, he’ll stay on the track. But when he can no longer do that, we’ll find a nice place for him to stay.”

Horse Racing Notes

With rain in the forecast, trainer Gary Jones has also entered Best Pal, the 2-5 favorite for the California Cup Wells Fargo Classic, in Sunday’s $200,000 Goodwood Handicap, another 1 1/8-mile race. If Best Pal runs Sunday, he would be the high weight in the race at 123 pounds. Otherwise Jolypha and Region, at 116 pounds apiece, will be the top weights. Other stakes at Santa Anita Sunday will be the $100,000 Koester Handicap at a mile on grass and the $100,000 Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup at six furlongs on the main track. The Tender Track and Rois Des Champs will run as an entry. Johann Quatz, third in the Arlington Million, is the high weight at 119 pounds. In the Ancient Title, Wild Harmony, with 118 pounds, will carry the most weight. . . . Mounts on Best Pal today and Jolypha Sunday appear to be coming at the right time for Corey Black, who was two for 40 at the the meet going into the weekend. If Best Pal would run Sunday, Pat Valenzuela would ride, because Black has Jolypha.

Letthebighossroll, winner of the 1991 Cal Cup Sprint by a head over Answer Do, is also entered in the Sprint. Valiant Pete and Sensational Star finished ahead of Answer Do in the 1990 Sprint. Eddie Delahoussaye, who is tied with Valenzuela for most Cal Cup winners with four, has the mount on Answer Do. . . . Bel’s Starlet will be trying for victory No. 3 in the Cal Cup Distaff.

The Kings’ owner, Bruce McNall, has resigned from the board at Hollywood Park. McNall said that his duties as chairman of the board of the NHL are consuming much of his time. . . . Corey Nakatani will be able to ride at Santa Anita today and Sunday after obtaining a stay on the final two days of a five-day suspension. The status of the remaining two days will be determined at a hearing early next month.