THOROUGHBRED RACING : Valiant Nature Pulled Out of Saturday’s Race

A press aide from Santa Anita arrived at trainer Ron McAnally’s barn office Thursday morning, plopped two shopping bags on the floor and left.

They contained 10 to 15 sets of caps, sweat shirts and pin-on lapel badges, all with Valiant Nature’s name and caricature on them.

McAnally looked at the assortment and shrugged. He was standing with a group of reporters, explaining why Valiant Nature would skip Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby to run in another $500,000 Kentucky Derby prep, the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 16.

Santa Anita will still have the strongest field of 3-year-olds for a race this year, but Valiant Nature would have made the 1 1/8-mile stake even better, and the smiles in the track’s executive suite weren’t quite as wide. “I just wish we had known about this a few days ago,” said Mark Stephens, Santa Anita’s director of marketing.

The track’s pre-race hype has focused on three horses--Valiant Nature, Brocco and Tabasco Cat--and as late as Thursday, Santa Anita was running full-page newspaper ads that included a zany drawing of Valiant Nature, dressed up like Sherlock Holmes with a magnifying glass sticking out of one hoof.

McAnally said the decision to ship Valiant Nature to Keeneland wasn’t made until Wednesday night, after options were discussed with Verne Winchell, who bred and owns the colt, and David Fiske, general manager of Winchell’s Oakwind Farm near Lexington, Ky.

NcAnally said Winchell had left the decision up to the trainer. “We decided that it would be good to get the horse back to Kentucky ahead of time,” McAnally said. “We’re thinking of the horse more than anything else. It’s what’s good for the horse that matters, and he’ll have extra time back there and the chance to get acclimated.

“I want to emphasize that we’re not ducking anybody. We’re not afraid of Brocco. We’ve got a legitimate (Kentucky) Derby horse and he’s of the caliber that he could have won either one of these races. The field here has a lot of depth, but we’ll be meeting another Derby favorite (Holy Bull) at Keeneland, and he’s got as much speed as my horse. I think my horse would have been the second choice, no matter where he ran.”

When the nine-horse Santa Anita Derby field was drawn Thursday, Brocco was installed as the 7-5 favorite.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner was beaten by Valiant Nature in the Hollywood Futurity, then after a three-month layoff, they had an extended duel in the San Felipe Stakes three weeks ago. Soul Of The Matter went by both of them in the last sixteenth of a mile, with Brocco beating Valiant Nature by a head for second place. McAnally said Valiant Nature had been wrung out after the race, but a 1:13 3/5 six-furlong workout Sunday convinced the trainer that the full brother to 1991 grass champion Tight Spot was back on his game.

Jeff Tufts, the Santa Anita linemaker, said he might have made Valiant Nature the co-second choice, with Tabasco Cat, depending on post positions. As it is, Tabasco Cat is 5-2, followed by Soul Of The Matter at 3-1.

Trainer Bobby Frankel said it was probable that Wild Invader would be scratched, to wait for the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 16. All of Saturday’s starters will carry 122 pounds.

According to Fiske, the possibility of running Valiant Nature in the Blue Grass came up about 10 days ago. “The size of the fields was a factor,” Winchell’s farm manager said. “The Blue Grass is going to be a potentially smaller field than the Santa Anita race. And if you had the choice of running against one top horse or four top horses, why wouldn’t you run against only the one top horse? We’re trying to get to Churchill Downs (for the May 7 Kentucky Derby) with a full tank of gas. We don’t want to burn up this horse too fast.”

More important than his impact on Santa Anita’s marketing plans, Valiant Nature, through his absence, could change the race’s riding tactics. Doug Peterson, who trains the speed-crazy Fly’n J. Bryan, is ecstatic that Valiant Nature won’t run. “It’s good news,” Peterson said. “My horse should get a better trip and should be able to relax more.”

Not so happy is Randy Winick, Brocco’s trainer, who would prefer that his colt not battle for the early lead. “This changes the complexion of the race,” Winick said. “Valiant Nature and Fly’n J. Bryan figured to contest the lead. My colt has speed, too, but we’d just as soon be laying off the pace.”

Gary Stevens, Brocco’s jockey and a three-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby, doesn’t think that Fly’n J. Bryan will be allowed to ramble along by himself on the front end.

“I’ve ridden Pollock’s Luck,” Stevens said, “and from the No. 1 post, I think they’ll have to go with him. Even Tabasco Cat might be up there early.”