THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Paying Out on Bonus Races Is Almost Sure Bet

In 1989, the people at the Ontario Jockey Club and the Bank of Montreal had a good idea. They put up a $1-million bonus, underwritten by an insurance company, that would be paid to any owner whose horse swept the Canadian Triple Crown--the Queen’s Plate, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders’ Stakes.

It seemed as though everybody connected would get some cheap publicity: For a $50,000 premium on an insurance policy, the racetracks and the bank could make a grandiose offer. The insurance company was also happy to be involved; one of its actuaries researched the history of the Canadian triple and found that there hadn’t been a sweep in 33 years, since the aptly named Canadian Champ won all three races in 1956. Winning the Triple Crown would be as much of a longshot as hitting the national lottery.

But then the unexpected happened: With Approval, a roan colt with strains of a long-ago American Triple Crown champion, War Admiral, in his blood, won the three races, two of them by a gaping eight lengths apiece. A saddened Toronto actuary quickly embraced a win-some, lose- some philosophy.

In 1990, the bonus principals licked their wounds and were back for more. Predictably, the cost of the insurance went up. Officers at the Bank of Montreal still thought they were buying a bargain; it was their turn to tell themselves that a sweep couldn’t happen again. No one reminded Izvestia, a gray colt who won the three races by bigger margins than With Approval, including a 13-length win in the Queen’s Plate.

The insurance company paid off another $1 million, and for 1991 the premium on the bonus was pegged at $250,000, quintupling what it had been two years before. The bank was still game, but lightning struck a third time, in the form of the brilliant filly Dance Smartly, who annihilated the males in all three races.

Three bonuses, three sweeps. Before the insurance company could announce another premium hike, and perhaps shop for a new actuary before it did, the Bank of Montreal pulled the plug on the sponsorship. The economic climate had soured in Canada. Bank customers, some of them having been rejected for mortgages and loans, muttered that the institution had no business passing out $1-million bonuses at a racetrack. What began as a marketing coup regressed into a public-relations black eye.

The moral seems to be: Those who live by the bonus live on thin ice. Early Times, the whiskey company, was bonus-bitten last year. Early Times offers a $1-million bonus should a horse sweep three grass races--the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico and the Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park. Paradise Creek did exactly that in 1994, but the fine print of the bonus rules prevented trainer Bill Mott’s horse from earning the big money. When trainer Richard Small, livid because a pre-race medication stall wasn’t ready, scratched his Dancing Douglas, the Dixie Handicap was reduced to five starters, one fewer than what was required to keep the bonus alive. Instead of suffering a substantial loss that would have come with the payment of the bonus, an insurance company reportedly pocketed a premium of $120,000.

Even two-race bonuses can by sticky. This summer, Sandpit, winner of the Caesars International Handicap at Atlantic City, was eligible for a $312,500 bonus that would be paid if he also won the Caesars Palace Turf Championship at Hollywood Park.

At the post-position draw for the second race, only five horses were ready to run. The underwriter required six starters before it had to pay off on the policy.

Owner Ron Charles had two horses eligible for the Hollywood Park race but was running only one. “The morning of the draw, R.D. Hubbard [Hollywood’s board chairman] called,” Charles said. “He asked me if I could run both of my horses. I didn’t understand what he was talking about at first, how it related to the bonus and the insurance. I thought he was looking for more betting interests in the race, and I told him that even if I ran both, they’d still be coupled in the betting. But it wasn’t about that. It was about insurance.”

Charles held his ground, running only one horse, and although Sandpit beat only four other horses, his owner, Sergio Coutinho de Menezes, still collected the bonus. A spokesman for Caesars would say only that the bonus had been paid. There have been reports that the hotel-casino, a good customer, prevailed on its carrier to honor the policy, anyway.

Now, into this looking-glass world of bonus races, come three California tracks, seeking insurance that guarantees $3 million should a horse sweep next year’s Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Cigar, unbeaten since owner Allen Paulson knows when, is the drawing card, but he is also a Catch-22. Underwriters are not lining up with cut-rate premiums when they know that Cigar will be odds-on to win. And they aren’t going to write a policy that doesn’t have a minimum-field escape clause.

Ed Friendly, whose Thoroughbred Owners of California group hatched the idea for this three-race bonus series, has suggested a two-tier policy, with a substantially lower premium if Cigar doesn’t run. That sounds like the prudent approach for all concerned. There are enough out-of-work actuaries as it is.

Horse Racing Notes

Gary Stevens, who has won 50 stakes and ridden horses that have earned $14.1 million, is the winner of the 1996 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Stevens finished first in a national vote by members of the Jockeys’ Guild. . . . Flu season has claimed jockeys Corey Nakatani and Kent Desormeaux; Martin Pedroza has been sidelined by a dental infection and David Flores will sit out the rest of the week because of a tonsillectomy. . . . Pat Valenzuela and Paul Atkinson are also gone, riding this weekend in Hong Kong. . . . Tropicool, winner of the Remsen at Aqueduct at 31-1, will be a $25,000 supplementary runner in the $500,000 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17.