THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Wicked North Injury Leads to Retirement

The Wicked North, a $10,000 horse who made the most of his 17 races, earning $1.1 million and winning a divisional title, has been retired.

Phil Hersh, who owns The Wicked North with his wife Sophie, said Thursday that the 6-year-old has a slight ligament tear in his lower left foreleg.

“We would have had to lay him up for three or four months before we brought him back,” Hersh, 76, said. “He wasn’t going to make the Santa Anita Handicap (March 11), and that was the only race I was really interested in. So why hurt the horse? I love this horse. He was the horse of a lifetime.”

The Wicked North, after beating Stuka by 1 1/2 lengths in last year’s Santa Anita Handicap, was disqualified for interfering with another horse. It was a controversial decision that cost the Hershes $475,000 in purse money. They lost an appeal with the California Horse Racing Board, then continued their battle in the courts. On Thursday, however, Hersh said that he’s giving up.

Despite his disqualification, The Wicked North went on to win an Eclipse Award. He was named best older male, beating out Colonial Affair and Devil His Due in a vote that was closer than any of his races. Of 245 ballots cast, The Wicked North got 71 votes, with 65 going to Colonial Affair and 58 to Devil His Due.

Horses that don’t run after July seldom win titles, so the Hershes and trainer David Bernstein were surprised when they were told in mid-January of The Wicked North’s Eclipse.

“I was at a sale in Kentucky,” Bernstein said. “A reporter came up to me and started asking all kinds of questions about the horse. I couldn’t figure out why they needed all this information. Finally I said, ‘Why do you want to know all this?’ He said, ‘Because he’s won an Eclipse Award.’ I was floored.”

Hersh said that The Wicked North’s breeding plans are unclear. He said that there had been earlier conversations with some Kentucky breeders about syndicating the 6-year-old chestnut there.

The Wicked North finished with eight victories, four seconds and a third. He won once on grass, in the San Francisco Handicap at Bay Meadows in 1993. Just before last year’s Big ‘Cap, he had won the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, and then he added victories in the Oaklawn Handicap at Arkansas and the Californian at Hollywood Park.

In his last race, in July, The Wicked North chipped a bone in his right front ankle while finishing fourth as the 3-5 favorite in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

The Wicked North’s comeback this winter had been hampered by rain and a skin infection, besides the ligament injury. Bernstein wasn’t able to train him with any regularity.

“I would have loved another shot at the Big ‘Cap, but it wasn’t to be,” Bernstein said. “He was an honest and genuine horse. He gave me my greatest thrills.”

A grandson of Northern Dancer, The Wicked North was a son of Far North and and Wicked Witchcraft and was bought at a Keeneland yearling auction for $10,000.

“I got him for a cheap price, but his breeding wasn’t cheap,” Hersh said. “Sometimes, when you’re buying horses, you’ve just got to be there at the right time.”

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Breeding plans have been announced for Holy Bull, last year’s horse of the year, and Go For Gin, the winner of the Kentucky Derby.

Holy Bull, quickly retired after suffering tendon injuries in last Saturday’s Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, leaves Tuesday for Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., where his stud fee will be $25,000.

Jimmy Bell, manager of Jonabell, said that when he returned to Kentucky from Florida this week, there were about 100 faxes and phone messages from people interested in breeding to Holy Bull. He may be bred to as many as 50 mares this year. A book of 40 mares is typical for a stallion.

“People who didn’t figure on Holy Bull being at stud this season will be reshuffling their mares,” Bell said.

Jimmy Croll, who owns and trained Holy Bull, made a handshake agreement to send the gray colt to Jonabell before his victory in the Travers at Saratoga last August. A contract was drawn up at the start of this year, with Croll selling a 25% breeding interest for $750,000.

Go For Gin, who won the Derby while favored Holy Bull ran 12th, will go to Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., in 1996. His fee for a live foal will be $20,000.

In training at Gulfstream, Go For Gin is expected to make his debut as a 4-year-old next month and will be heading for New York to run May 29 in the Metropolitan Mile, a race that Holy Bull won last year.

Horse Racing Notes

Jambalaya Jazz, disqualified from his last victory when Jose Santos cut in front of another horse, will be ridden for the first time by Eddie Delahoussaye Saturday in the $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile race has additional West Coast flavor, with trainer Wayne Lukas shipping in Thunder Gulch and Mike Mollica running Valid Wager. There will be betting on the race at Santa Anita, which has carded the Fountain of Youth between its third and fourth races.

On the track Saturday, Santa Anita will run the 5 1/2-furlong El Conejo Handicap, a $100,000 race that has drawn Gundaghia, winner of the race last year. The high weight in a 10-horse field is Rotsaluck, who will carry 117 pounds, one pound more than Ferrara and two more than Gundaghia and Subtle Trouble. . . . Maybe they should have run the Santa Anita Handicap this week. Dramatic Gold looks ready after biting trainer David Hofmans’ night watchman, necessitating two stitches to close a scalp wound. . . . Best Pal (Dramatic Gold’s entrymate), Slew Of Damascus and Tossofthecoin, the first three finishers in the San Antonio Handicap, are probables for the Big ‘Cap. Nancys French Fry and Del Mar Dennis may also run.

Jockey Martin Pedroza and his wife Kim have a new baby boy, Tyler, who arrived early Thursday. . . . Starlit Bronze, winner of Thursday’s feature at Santa Anita, hadn’t won since breaking her maiden at Del Mar in August. . . . Powis Castle, with Pat Valenzuela riding, will be at Laurel Monday for the $200,000 General George Handicap. . . . Tommy Valando, who won the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with Fly So Free, died Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Fla., of complications from pneumonia. He was 72.