THOROUGHBRED RACING : Jim Beam Stakes Winners Point the Way in Triple Crown Races

When rating the Santa Anita Derby with the Jim Beam Stakes as a recent successful prep for the Triple Crown, the comparison isn’t even close.

Since 1990, the Jim Beam wins, five Triple Crown victories to one.

The last four winners of the Beam have all won Triple Crown races, with Summer Squall taking the Preakness in 1990, Hansel winning the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1991, Lil E. Tee capturing the Kentucky Derby in 1992 and Prairie Bayou winning the Preakness last year.

During the same period, the only winner of a Triple Crown race to emerge from the Santa Anita Derby has been A.P. Indy, who won the Belmont in 1992.

Despite these achievements by Beam horses, the stake at Turfway Park, the Kentucky track in suburban Cincinnati, struggles to draw top horses. Starting last year, the Beam became a $600,000 race, $100,000 more than the Santa Anita Derby and the richest of the Kentucky Derby preps, but most of the division leaders continue to be sent in other directions.

This year, Turfway is again caught in the scheduling squeeze that positions the Santa Anita Derby a week from Saturday and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland the week after that. If a horse is going to run only one more race before the Kentucky Derby, which is on May 7, most trainers seem to prefer the Santa Anita and Keeneland time frames.

The last four Jim Beam winners blossomed at Turfway. Summer Squall’s Beam was only his second start as a 3-year-old, and he ran second in the Derby before winning the Preakness. Hansel was only the fourth betting choice at Turfway--even Apollo, the fast colt from California, was considered better than him--and ran 10th in the Derby before winning the last two legs of the Triple Crown.

Similarly, Lil E. Tee, who had never won a stake, went off at 9-2 at Turfway. Prairie Bayou, underrated because his early 1993 victories had come at Aqueduct, was favored at Turfway; he also won the Blue Grass two weeks later and was second in the Derby before winning the Preakness.

Eleven horses have been entered for Saturday’s Jim Beam, and, based on the morning line, the best in the group is Southern Rhythm, who broke his maiden less than two months ago and is on a three-race winning streak after a victory in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 12.

Southern Rhythm, who is listed at 3-1 by the Turfway linemaker, gets a new jockey in Chris McCarron, who won the Beam last year astride Prairie Bayou. At 1 1/8 miles, Saturday’s race is an eighth of a mile farther than the Southwest, which was Southern Rhythm’s first test around two turns.

Polar Expedition and Chimes Band, who were third and fourth, respectively, in the Southwest, are also in the Beam field, with Polar Expedition the second choice at 7-2.

California shippers have occasionally been factors in the Beam, but a West Coast horse hasn’t won the stake since Marfa in 1983. Powis Castle, second to Tabasco Cat as he came from a three-month layoff in the San Rafael at Santa Anita on March 6, is given the best chance of the California invaders. Listed at 4-1, Powis Castle ran twice at Turfway as a 2-year-old and won a sprint stake there in December.

Chris Antley will be riding Powis Castle. Laffit Pincay has the mount on Shepherd’s Field, winless since the Norfolk at Santa Anita last fall, and Shane Sellers will ride Almaraz, who was third in the Bradbury at Santa Anita in February.

Others entered are Dynafleet, Mahogany Hall, Road Rush, Sir Walter Lyzalot and War Deputy. Polar Expedition, Shepherd’s Field and Southern Rhythm drew the three inside post positions and Powis Castle got No. 5. There will be betting on the Jim Beam at Santa Anita, between the fourth and fifth races.

*

With Chris Antley at Turfway to ride Powis Castle, Corey Nakatani, winner of three races Thursday, takes over on Stuka in Saturday’s $200,000 San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita.

With Antley aboard, Stuka won the Santa Anita Handicap after the stewards disqualified The Wicked North for interfering with another horse, Myrakalu, in the stretch. The California Horse Racing Board is expected to rule later this month on an appeal by The Wicked North’s owners.

Misil, the high weight in the 1 1/8-mile San Bernardino with 119 pounds, has earned $1.4 million with 12 wins in 27 starts, but hasn’t run since a sixth-place finish in the Japan Cup in November.

Kissin Kris, 118 pounds, and Stuka, 117, are next in the weights. Others in the 10-horse field are Furiously, Hill Pass, Star Recruit, Tinners Way, Dare To Duel, Lottery Winner and Del Mar Dennis. Misil, Star Recruit and Dare To Duel are also entered in a race today.