Strodes Creek Going Down Familiar Path : Horse racing: Santa Anita Derby entrant hopes to duplicate Sunday Silence in Kentucky.

Stop here if you’ve heard this story before:

Arthur B. Hancock III has a young horse who was sired by Halo.

Hancock thinks the colt might be sold for a decent price, but the horse is unlucky and regarded as damaged goods by potential buyers.

After trying to sell the horse a couple of times, a frustrated Hancock finally decides to race him.

Hancock sends the horse to trainer Charlie Whittingham in California.

The horse scores a victory and finishes second in his first two races, then goes on to win the Kentucky Derby.

That’s what happened to Sunday Silence. And except for the last part--winning the Kentucky Derby--this is also the Strodes Creek story. Bred by Hancock and owned by him in a partnership with Whittingham, Strodes Creek could still duplicate Sunday Silence’s feats all the way to the Churchill Downs finish line on May 7, but first he will have to run a big race today in the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby, which is loaded with Kentucky Derby candidates.

The 7-5 morning-line favorite, Brocco, heads an eight-horse field that also includes stakes winners Tabasco Cat, Soul Of The Matter and Fly’n J. Bryan. Whittingham even has a second hopeful in Numerous, the $1.7-million yearling owned by Howard Keck, who also raced Ferdinand. Whittingham won his first Kentucky Derby winner with Ferdinand in 1986, three years before Sunday Silence.

Only six might run today. Soul Of The Matter, winner over Brocco in the recent San Felipe Stakes, is expected to be scratched because of a skin blister on his left foreleg, and late Friday there was an unconfirmed report that longshot Pollock’s Luck also might not run.

Hancock, who owns Stone Farm near Paris, Ky., would have sold Sunday Silence for $50,000, but he couldn’t get that for the knock-kneed colt at auction, so he and his partners, Whittingham and Ernest Gaillard, a retired La Jolla surgeon, charged into Louisville five years ago and upset Easy Goer, the heaviest Kentucky Derby favorite in a decade.

Sunday Silence almost died of an intestinal virus as a weanling, and later, while being shipped across the country, he survived an overturned-van accident that occurred after the driver suffered a heart attack.

Strodes Creek’s problems also began early. He was foaled with one testicle undescended, and when he was a yearling, a lesion, a flaky growth, was detected in the stifle joint of an upper rear leg.

Still, Hancock was determined to run Strodes Creek through a Keeneland auction.

“I wouldn’t do it,” veterinarian Dewitt Owen advised him. “He won’t bring much. Especially the way you do it, Arthur, announcing everything that’s wrong with a horse.”

Hancock later withdrew Strodes Creek from a horses-in-training sale because inclement weather had disrupted the colt’s training schedule. Then a deal fell through to sell Strodes Creek privately.

Early last year, when the unraced Strodes Creek was a 2-year-old, he took off running in a five-acre paddock at Stone Farm. Far ahead were two fences, both about six feet high and at least eight feet apart. Strodes Creek must have figured he would jump both of them, or he didn’t realize that the second one was there. By the time the colt reached the first fence, he was in high gear. He cleared that barrier but crashed into the back fence, opening a large gash in one of his shoulders. It took more than 20 stitches to close it.

When it was suggested to Hancock that Strodes Creek could have been killed, he said: “Yes, but I like to see a horse jump like that. Just about every horse I’ve had that could jump could also run.”

Hancock is superstitious. He credits the finding of a lucky penny in Baltimore with helping Sunday Silence win the 1989 Preakness.

“I think there’s some destiny involved with Strodes Creek,” Hancock said. “I think I’ve been destined to keep him.”

Hancock, 51, son of the late Bull Hancock of Claiborne Farm fame, was a partner with the late Leone Peters when they won the Kentucky Derby with the Eddie Gregson-trained Gato Del Sol in 1982. Gato Del Sol ran fourth in the Santa Anita Derby; seven years later, Sunday Silence won at Arcadia by 11 lengths, which is still the record margin for the Santa Anita race.

Strodes Creek, named after a family that crossed the Allegheny Mountains during Daniel Boone’s time and built a fort less than three miles from where Hancock’s farm now stands, grew rapidly. By the time Strodes Creek got to California, Whittingham knew the colt would need time for his head to catch up with his body.

“He was a big horse and he knew it,” Whittingham said.

The first time Strodes Creek ran, in a 6 1/2-furlong race at Santa Anita on Jan. 15, he came from last place to win by five lengths. In his next start, at a mile on Feb. 12, the speedy Argolid beat him by two lengths. On March 5, Strodes Creek again came from off the pace to score a half-length victory over Irgun in a 1:35 mile. In his next start, Irgun won the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct by six lengths.

Whittingham, who will turn 81 Wednesday, is fitting Strodes Creek with blinkers for today’s race. “He was green and lugged in in that last race,” jockey Corey Black said. “He’s improved every race and should still improve. Whether he can improve enough to win, I just don’t know.”

Meantime, that man of destiny, Arthur Hancock is still not tuning out overtures for his horse. Not long ago, he asked Whittingham his opinion about a new offer he had received.

“A faint heart has never won a fair lady, my boy,” Whittingham said. Hancock still owns Strodes Creek, so apparently he understood.

Santa Anita Derby

A look at the post positions for Saturday’s $500,000 Santa Anita Derby:

PP Horse Jockey Odds 1. Pollock’s Luck Delhssaye 30 2. Tabasco Cat Day 5-2 3. Brocco Stevens 7-5 4. Soul Of The Matter Desormeaux 3 5. Strodes Creek* Black 5 6. Numerous* McCarron 5 7. Wild Invader Pincay 30 8. Fly’n J. Bryan Valenzuela 15 9. Robannier Antley 30

* C. Whittingham entry

Distance: 1 1/8 miles on main track

Weights: 122 pounds