DEL MAR : Bertrando’s Victory on Grass Sets Up a Classic Showdown

The country’s best older horse running on dirt last year made his grass debut a success Thursday as Bertrando scooted around Del Mar’s turf course for a 1 1/4-length victory in the $60,900 Wickerr Handicap.

This race might have been a preliminary for another grass appearance, in the Arlington Million on Aug. 28, but Bertrando’s owners, Eddie Nahem and Marshall Naify, and the 5-year-old’s new trainer, John Shirreffs, don’t think so. The Del Mar Classic on Aug. 13 is too handy, it’s also $1 million, and Bertrando won the 1 1/4-mile race a year ago.

“The Classic is only 16 days away,” Nahem said. “But we didn’t have to beat up on our horse to win today. (Jockey Pat Valenzuela) didn’t have to hit him once; he did it all on his own.”

Besides a new surface and a new trainer, Bertrando was being ridden by Valenzuela for the first time, after his seven victories in 16 previous starts had been the work of Alex Solis, Chris McCarron and Gary Stevens.

“Pat’s a natural speed rider and Bertrando’s a natural speed horse, so they’re a perfect fit,” Nahem said. “When Pat’s right, there’s not a better jockey in the country.”

Bon Point, who runs for Bobby Frankel, Bertrando’s former trainer, tried to sneak past Bertrando with a move along the rail in the last sixteenth of a mile, but he wasn’t up to it and finished second.

“He felt great,” Valenzuela said of his first ride on Bertrando. “He relaxed all the way around. He’s a classy one. He was just galloping out there.”

Bertrando ran the mile in 1:36 1/5, carrying 121 pounds, which was four to seven pounds more than his five rivals. After running second to the 133-1 Arcangues in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, Bertrando underwent arthroscopic surgery for a chipped knee and was successfully bred to 58 mares, at $20,000 per breeding.

Bertrando paid $5 as the favorite, earning $33,900 to boost his career total to $3,058,365. Of horses in training, only Best Pal, with $4.7 million, has earned more. Best Pal, winner of the first Pacific Classic, in 1991, and third in the race last year, is expected to run in the $1-million Del Mar race next month.

“Best Pal was fantastic (at Hollywood Park) the other night,” Nahem said. “And I have a lot of respect for Slew Of Damascus too. But I think that with the possible exception of Holy Bull, there’s not a horse in the country who’s faster than Bertrando.”

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Neither the jockeys nor the horses were seriously injured in a spectacular two-horse spill in Thursday’s third race. Western Style, who finished first, was disqualified to fourth place by the stewards for her part in the accident.

At the top of the stretch, Western Style, running in second place under Stevens, was brought to the outside, bumping Solis and his mount, Et Voila. After Et Voila went down, Viz stumbled over her, unseating jockey Martin Pedroza.

Pedroza continued riding in later races, but Solis, returning to the jockeys’ room after his X-rays were negative, complained of soreness and took off the rest of his mounts.

Stevens was reportedly so shaken by the incident that he considered canceling the rest of his mounts. “The bump was not as bad as it seemed,” track veterinarian Jock Jocoy said. “When Gary’s horse came over, Alex’s filly had all four feet off the ground, and that’s what caused her to lose her balance.”

In the disqualification, the stewards moved Fast Reward up to first place.

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McCarron, who injured his ankle when a mount flipped in the gate before a race Wednesday, was off his mounts Thursday but is expected back today.

Kent Desormeaux, the leading rider at Del Mar a year ago with 67 winners, returns today after serving a five-day suspension that started at Hollywood Park.

Garrett Gomez begins a five-day suspension Sunday for an incident that resulted in his mount, Ocean Crest, being disqualified from third to fourth place in the second division of the Oceanside Stakes Wednesday.

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Ed Friendly, who took over last month as president of the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn., said Thursday that the organization’s recently elected board of directors is reviewing an underfunding of more than $2.8 million in the group’s backstretch pension fund.

At a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board in Del Mar Thursday, commissioner Robert Tourtelot asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate the possibility of criminal activity regarding management of the pension fund.

Chris Clark, who preceded Friendly as president, serving in the position for about 16 months, said that the pension was underfunded before he took office.

“Don’t hold me to the exact year,” Clark said, “but I think about five or six years ago, the monthly benefit was increased from $250 to $300. Since then, revenues have declined and interest rates have plummeted like crazy.”

The CHBPA, an organization of horse owners and trainers, is paying pensions to about 400, according to Brian Sweeney, former chief operating officer of the group. Backstretch employees must be 65 to qualify, and there are slight increases in the monthly benefits for those with more than 10 years of working time.

It bothers Friendly that a large percentage of the pension recipients are trainers. “About 35% are in that category,” Friendly said. “I thought the main purpose of this fund was help the beleaguered backstretch help.”

Del Mar Notes

Following up the passage of a new state law, the California Horse Racing Board voted Thursday to recognize the Thoroughbred Owners of California as the group that will represent owners, and the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn. as the organization that will represent trainers, beginning next year. Before Ed Friendly and others formed the owners’ group last year, the protective association represented owners and trainers.

Kingdom Found, who was shipped to Belmont Park and ran last in the Suburban Handicap on July 4, is the 116-pound high weight for Saturday’s $125,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. Others entered are You And I, Blinking Lights, Berillon, Tossofthecoin, Rapan Boy, Dr. Pain and Brilliant Blue. . . . In Saturday’s $75,000 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies, Work The Crowd, who has had seven victories and three seconds in her last 10 races, carries high weight of 120 pounds. Her opponents will be Musical Pal, C’mon Lets Dance, Fancy ‘N Fabulous, Pharma, Solar Beam, Dancing Mirage, Wood Of Binn, Malli Star and Rabiadella.