Underwriting Bonus May Be a Bad Policy

When negotiations stalled in an attempt to get an insurer to underwrite a bonus for any horse that sweeps three $1-million races at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar this year, the bonus committee put in a call to John Mabee.

Golden Eagle Insurance, Mabee’s firm in San Diego, is owned by one of California’s most prominent breeders. Golden Eagle Farm bred and races Best Pal. Golden Eagle Insurance has also been active in the horse business on a major scale. The company insured Alydar and once wrote the policy on the $5-million bonus that goes with the Triple Crown.

The bonus committee hoped Mabee would give them a premium break on a policy that would be paid out if a horse won the Santa Anita Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic.

He might have, but he couldn’t. In effect, Mabee told committee members that he would be run out of business by state insurance authorities if he underwrote a bonus policy.

Mabee was asked about this at Santa Anita the other day.

“My company insured the Triple Crown bonus until it was written in the Los Angeles Times that I was doing so,” Mabee said. “I got a call from the state telling me to quit. I didn’t know there was anything wrong with it, but apparently it’s against the law in California to write a policy on something that’s connected to gambling.”

The bonus committee still doesn’t have its insurer. Waiting in the wings is Cigar, racing’s best horse last year. His owner, Allen Paulson, first thought that there might be a $3-million bonus offered in California, but lately he has been told that the payoff might be only $1.8 million for a sweep, and even that amount hasn’t been settled.

“We would consider writing the policy if we could,” Mabee said. “But it’s impossible. The state has taken us out of the picture.”

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Cobra King, one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby, will be making his debut as a 3-year-old a little sooner than expected, in Saturday’s $75,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

When Cobra King was shipped from California to Florida at the end of the year, the plan was to run him first in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 4. Running for Betty Biszantz, Cobra King’s entire racing career has been in California--four wins in six starts, including a victory over Hennessy in the Hollywood Prevue Stakes on Nov. 19. Cobra King has also won stakes at Del Mar and Santa Anita.

“The Holy Bull race is 1 1/16 miles, and we want to see what he can do around two turns,” said Gary Biszantz, the owner’s husband. Mike Puype, who trained Cobra King in California, has 12 horses in training for the Biszantzes in Florida.

Cobra King, who has never run beyond seven furlongs, might run in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 24, but it’s possible that he’ll go straight into the Florida Derby off his race Saturday. The Florida Derby is at Gulfstream on March 16.

“Our plan is to run him three or four times before the Kentucky Derby [May 4],” Biszantz said. “The three races in Florida and the Blue Grass [at Keeneland three weeks before the Derby].”

In leaving California, the Biszantzes may be sending their colt in the toughest direction. With Maria’s Mon, the 2-year-old male Eclipse Award winner, on the sidelines and out of the Kentucky Derby picture, the runners-up in the division--Breeders’ Cup winner Unbridled’s Song and Ide--join a strong group of other 3-year-olds at Gulfstream.

“I don’t think there’s any question that the group in Florida is tougher,” Gary Biszantz said. “But we like it that way, and we think our horse will like the deeper tracks back there. Racing’s a lot like boxing. Fighters get better by fighting the best, and we think that works for horses too.”

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Some trainers with an eye on the Santa Anita Derby--a $1-million race for the first time--will be running today in the San Miguel Stakes.

Heading the field is Honour And Glory, from trainer Wayne Lukas’ barn. Hennessy, Editor’s Note and Honour And Glory gave the Lukas outfit a 2-3-4 finish, behind Unbridled’s Song, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park in October.

Before the Breeders’ Cup, Honour And Glory had run three solid races. He won his debut, at Saratoga, by 10 lengths; finished third, beaten by Maria’s Mon, in the Futurity at Belmont, and won the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland. Honour And Glory, a son of Relaunch, is owned by Michael Tabor, who combined with Lukas to win last year’s Kentucky Derby with Thunder Gulch.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Corey Nakatani has seven whip violations on his record, according to his attorney, Darrell Vienna. Nakatani has been under fire for whipping a horse after they crossed the finish line, and the Santa Anita stewards will conduct a hearing into the incident on Friday. The horse, Tillie’s Joy, broke down as he was galloping out and was destroyed. Nakatani has been riding since 1988. “The seven rulings for whips is a middling number,” Vienna said. “There are a number of other jockeys who have had more violations. It by no means puts Corey at the top of the charts.”

Exotic Wood, a 4-year-old filly who’s undefeated in five tries, will get her first test around two turns on Saturday in Santa Anita’s $125,000 El Encino Stakes. . . . Valid Expectations, entered in today’s San Miguel, was a well-traveled 2-year-old. In winning four of seven starts, he raced in Illinois, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Valid Expectation’s victory in Kentucky wasn’t at any of the better-known tracks; it came at the Dueling Grounds, a track near Nashville, Tenn., that’s open only a few days a year. . . . If trainer Wayne Lukas runs Cara Rafaela in Saturday’s $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows, she’ll be the first filly to start in the race. Cara Rafaela, winner of the Hollywood Starlet, finished third, behind Golden Attraction and My Flag, in the Eclipse Awards voting for best 2-year-old filly last year. . . . Charles Cella, who races Northern Spur, last year’s champion male turf horse, owns Oaklawn Park, the Arkansas track that doesn’t have a grass course. “While I’d like to say that we’re thinking about building a grass course so Northern Spur could eventually run there, that isn’t the case,” Cella said.