Derby Favorite Young but Not Phenomenal

Sitting in front of the television in their dressing room Sunday at Santa Anita, most of the jockeys cheered when Tiger Woods birdied the 16th at Pebble Beach. Two holes later, Woods was still a length behind and the jockeys went quietly back to their business.

Lesson of the day: Don’t bet the young phenoms every time.

That applied not only to a Tiger but to a horse named Boston Harbor. The early Kentucky Derby favorite after winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he was expected to win his 3-year-old debut against a respectable field in the $105,950 Santa Catalina Stakes at Santa Anita. Instead, he finished a fading fourth.

He did it his way. Considering it was Boston Harbor’s first race since October, jockey Jerry Bailey planned to hold him back at the start of the 1 1/16 miles. But the precocious young champion, who hasn’t quite gotten past the terrible twos, had plans of his own. Bailey conceded, letting him go with the fast early pace even though he knew there would be a price to pay down the stretch.

“I figured he’d get tired, so I let him get as fit as he could out of this race,” Bailey said.

In other words, it was a well-attended workout.

According to conventional wisdom, trainer Wayne Lukas would start Boston Harbor in the less-demanding, seven-furlong San Vicente next Saturday. But if Lukas listened to conventional wisdom, he’d be just another trainer instead of one who has had winners in seven of the last eight Triple Crown races.

“We took a little roll of the dice,” Lukas said. “But I still feel comfortable in what we tried to do. He probably would have looked a lot sharper if we’d sprinted him, but I don’t know if we would have gotten him far down the basepath.”

Second and third base for Boston Harbor en route to the May 3 Kentucky Derby probably are the March 2 San Rafael at Santa Anita and the April 5 Santa Anita Derby. It might be some consolation to Lukas that another highly touted 3-year-old, Ordway, was less impressive Sunday, finishing eighth and last in a race at Gulfstream Park won by 105-1 shot Frisk Me Now.

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A popular men’s cologne a while ago was Tiger Sweat. Put a swoosh on the bottle and it would sell a ton today. . . .

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Does anybody remember the name of the Ducks’ backup goalie?. . .

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Jackie Robinson would have been 78 last Friday. . . .

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Quote of Last Week: After knocking out Tina Speakman of Atlanta in the second round at the Forum Friday night, Beverly Szmanski of Detroit said, “She fought just like a girl.”

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While reminding Del Harris to practice this week on beating the press, I was thinking: the Bull-Laker game Wednesday night is creating more buzz than any game at the Forum since before Magic retired the first time, or maybe since Magic returned the second time, it was big of Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins to suspend two of his best players before a game against 3-16 DePaul, the reason I quit golf is because my swing looked like Furyk’s.