Belmont Park, Oak Tree Fans Get Preview of Breeders’ Cup

In three instances, Belmont Park’s 1994 Breeders’ Cup preview day turned out to be just that.

Flanders followed her record-setting victory in the Frizette with a narrow win over stablemate Serena’s Song in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs, Tikkanen followed his score in the Turf Classic with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Timber Country returned with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile after taking the Champagne.

How the winners of today’s half-dozen Breeders’ Cup preview races fare three weeks from now in Breeders’ Cup XII at Belmont Park remains to be seen, but fans at Santa Anita will get to wager on all six of those stakes events.

For its own contribution, Oak Tree is offering three stakes today that could have Breeders’ Cup implications, and one of them--the $250,000 Goodwood Handicap--will be telecast by NBC as part of the 90-minute Breeders’ Cup preview show.

The Goodwood, which will be run as the fourth live race locally, is the first of the three stakes. It will be followed by the $200,000 Oak Leaf for 2-year-old fillies, then the $125,000 Col. F.W. Koester Handicap on turf.

Tinners Way, scheduled to start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is the 9-5 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Goodwood, but he is winless in three starts on the Santa Anita main track.

An easy winner over Soul Of The Matter for his second consecutive victory in the $1-million Pacific Classic nearly two months ago at Del Mar, Tinners Way could have the tables turned here.

Soul Of The Matter, who also could go on to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is unbeaten in three tries at Santa Anita. He is the 2-1 second choice, and both will carry 121 pounds.

Only three others will start, but many handicappers say Alphabet Soup, the 5-2 third choice, could pull a mild upset. He won two stakes at Del Mar, and the 4-year-old roan is getting better with racing. He has a first and a third in two starts at Arcadia.

“He’s coming up to the race really well,” trainer David Hofmans said. “He might have the jump on Soul Of The Matter and Tinners Way. They’ll have to catch him.”

Luthier Fever, who figures to set the pace, and Lykatill Hil, who was second behind Alphabet Soup in both of his Del Mar victories, complete the field.

Unbeaten in four starts, Batroyale will be heavily favored to win the Oak Leaf, but she will be trying something new in the Grade I--two turns.

All of her victories have come in sprints, but now she’ll try to stretch out to 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Her pedigree suggests she’ll have no problem with more ground, and she extended her lead in the final eighth of a mile in the seven-furlong Del Mar Debutante.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who has won the Oak Leaf seven times, will try to upset Batroyale with Tipically Irish, who has won her last two starts at Turfway Park in Kentucky. Included was a victory in the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies two weeks ago.

The field is completed by Gastronomical, who is proven around two turns, Ocean View, Cosmic Fire, Ecstasy and Saratoga Flower.

River Flyer, who hasn’t run since April 1, is the 5-2 choice in the one-mile Koester, and he’ll be opposed by 10, including Megan’s Interco and defending champion Bon Point.

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Lukas will be hoping to have a big day at Belmont Park, where rain is a possibility. He will have starters in four of the six Breeders’ Cup preview races, and two of his horses will be heavily favored.

Golden Attraction is the choice to win for the sixth time in seven starts in the Frizette, and Hennessy is the 4-5 favorite to earn his fifth victory in six tries in the Champagne. Gary Stevens will ride both 2-year-olds.

The jockey will also be aboard Serena’s Song, who will take on Heavenly Prize and Lakeway in the Beldame, and Thunder Gulch, who will meet Cigar for the first time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Dove Hunt, who has two victories in a row for trainer Neil Howard, is the 5-2 favorite in the Kelso, and Awad is the 2-1 choice in the Turf Classic.

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After running two races on its new, $2.3-million turf course the first two days of the meeting, Santa Anita canceled the race scheduled for the grass on Friday and will run only stakes on the surface through at least the end of the month.

“Our intention is to give the course a chance to mature,” said director of racing Tom Robbins.

Horse Racing Notes

With Chris McCarron starting a suspension on Sunday, Gary Stevens has picked up the mounts on Borodislew in the $125,000 Lady’s Secret Handicap on Sunday and Track Gal in the $100,000 Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Monday. McCarron will be able to ride Northern Spur in the $300,000 Oak Tree Invitational on Sunday because it is a designated race. . . . Making her first start since Jan. 29, Call Now was beaten a neck by Igotrhythm in Friday’s feature, a $46,000 allowance. The 1994 Del Mar Debutante winner and 4-5 favorite was beaten in 1:08 1/5 for the six furlongs. Igotrhythm, who was ridden by Corey Nakatani and was the 8-5 second choice, has won two in a row for trainer Bobby Frankel and owner Edmund Gann. . . . Laffit Pincay Jr. won his 500th race at Oak Tree when he took the fifth on Flying Winner. He then came back to win the seventh on Cezind.