SANTA ANITA : His First Southland Title Won, Van Berg Turns Attention East

Jack Van Berg didn’t win the training title at Santa Anita with one arm tied behind his back, but he did finish the meeting with his right arm in a sling.

Despite undergoing surgery for an infection last week, Van Berg was at Oaklawn Park on Saturday to saddle Blumin Affair for a second-place finish in the Arkansas Derby, then he made a quick return for the final two days of the Santa Anita meet. Van Berg is on the move again this week, heading for Churchill Downs to supervise the final preparations for Blumin Affair before the colt runs in the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Van Berg didn’t win any races Monday, as Santa Anita’s 90-day season ended on a rain-splattered track, but he didn’t have to. His 33 victories left him five ahead of Bill Spawr in the final training standings. Van Berg has led the nation in victories nine times and was elected into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1985, but this was his first seasonal training title in Southern California.

None of the Santa Anita victories were by Blumin Affair, who ran only once at the meet, finishing fourth against older horses in an allowance race on March 20. After that, Van Berg shipped the colt to Oklahoma, where he ran second in the Remington Park Derby. Blumin Affair has won only two races, both as a 2-year-old, but his late-running seconds to Brocco in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to Smilin Singin Sam at Remington and to Concern at Oaklawn have convinced the 57-year-old Van Berg that he has a chance in the Kentucky Derby.

Van Berg has been right before at Churchill Downs. In 1987, Alysheba went into the Derby with an undistinguished record and a recently corrected throat problem and won the race at 8-1. The tipoff was the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where he finished first only to be disqualified to third for interference.

This year, Van Berg’s Derby hopeful is in better shape than the trainer. “I’ve got to have surgery on the other arm too,” Van Berg said. “How did I get this way? I’m just getting old, that’s all. If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”

Van Berg didn’t hit the top 10 nationally last year in purses or victories, but this year, through April 17, he is in third place on the money list with $1.7 million, not far behind Bill Mott and Gary Jones. At Santa Anita, led by Mamselle Bebette’s four victories, Van Berg won eight stakes, finishing one behind Jones, who has led that category for four consecutive meets.

Although he had the lowest winning total since 1985, Kent Desormeaux won 22.6% of his races and earned his first Santa Anita title with 90 winners. Gary Stevens, who finished second with 79, rode in 73 more races than Desormeaux but skipped the final day of the meet because he was at Churchill Downs, aboard Santa Anita Derby winner Brocco for a mile workout.

After a 50 3/5 half-mile, Brocco finished in 1:40.

“He wasn’t handling the track well for the first half-mile,” Stevens said, “but he adjusted to it pretty well and got over the track real well the last half-mile. He wanted to ease up with me a little bit at the sixteenth pole, because this stretch is a little longer than what he’s used to back at Santa Anita. But I got after him a little bit and he picked it up again and galloped out real strong.”

Horse Racing Notes

Chris McCarron rode 16 stakes winners to lead the Santa Anita meet. . . . Business was about the same on-track, but overall the $8.9-million daily average handle set a state record. There was an increase in off-track outlets, including intra-state satellites, out-of-state locations and the exchange of races daily with Northern California tracks. On-track, the betting average was $3 million, a drop of less than 1% from the previous year. On-track attendance dropped 4.5%, to 13,977 a day. The overall handle was up 21.6%. . . . Monday’s sloppy going was the 12th off track of the meet, compared to 31 a year ago. . . . On a turf course listed as good, Square Cut led all the way to win the $111,200 San Jacinto Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths. The 5-year-old gelding, ridden by Fernando Valenzuela, has accounted for both of trainer Joe Devereux’s stakes victories at Santa Anita.