And Away He Goes

By BILL CHRISTINE

Nov. 9, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

An old warhorse, Skip Away, and the new kid on the block, Favorite Trick, struck Ruthian blows for horse-of-the-year honors at Hollywood Park on Saturday, devastating opponents in the 14th Breeders’ Cup and leaving Eclipse awards voters in a quandary.

First Favorite Trick, a quick-footed colt who keeps outrunning his pedigree, steamed to a 5 1/2-length win in the Juvenile, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 2/5 to shatter the Breeders’ Cup record.

More than an hour later, Skip Away coasted to victory in the world’s richest race, his six-length win being the biggest margin for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. His time of 1:59 for 1 1/4 miles broke Cigar’s record of 1:59 2/5, set in 1995.

Gentlemen and Silver Charm, unable to run Saturday because of illnesses, and Formal Gold, recently injured, forged exceptional records, but horse-of-the-year voting by turf writers, track racing secretaries and the Daily Racing Form is expected to center on Saturday’s heroes.

Let the campaigns begin.

“If he’s not a horse of the year, I don’t know what is,” said Mike Smith, who rode Skip Away after Shane Sellers had been dismissed and Jerry Bailey had honored a commitment to another horse.

Joseph LaCombe, who bought an unraced Favorite Trick earlier this year for $100,000, made his case.

“My horse deserves it,” LaCombe said. “I’d be silly if I didn’t say that. He’s certainly the best 2-year-old, and I hope he’s also horse of the year. His trainer [Patrick Byrne] also deserves [an Eclipse award].”

R.D. Hubbard, chairman of Hollywood Park and principal owner of Gentlemen, plugged his horse. After the $4.4-million Classic, Hubbard congratulated trainer Sonny Hine and his wife Carolyn, who owns the horse.

“What did he say?” Sonny Hine was asked. “He said congratulations, and he said that Gentlemen was horse of the year.”

The decision by about 300 voters will come after they analyze the records of Skip Away and Favorite Trick, which are in sharp contrast. Favorite Trick won all eight of his races, the best all-winning record by a major 2-year-old since horse of the year Native Dancer won nine in a row in 1952.

As a 4-year-old, Skip Away won only four of 11 starts, but two of his strongest races were at the end, which sometimes has an impact with voters. He won the Jockey Club Gold Cup by 6 1/2 lengths three weeks ago and Saturday’s victory, worth $2,288,000, pushed his lifetime total to $6.8 million, second only to Cigar, who retired $185 short of $10 million.

“Money ought to count for something,” Sonny Hine said before the race.

Bob Baffert, the trainer of Silver Charm, said that if he had a vote for horse of the year, it would be for Skip Away.

“The man [Hine] put up his money, came all the way out here and kicked their [tails],” Baffert said. “He deserves it.”

Baffert said one of the Eclipse voters told him after the Classic that he was going to vote for Silver Charm, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

“I told him not to,” Baffert said. “Skip Away is the horse. He ran in a real tough handicap division and won the big race at the end.”

Traditionalists among the voters may opt for Skip Away on the grounds that 2-year-olds don’t count if there’s a worthy older horse. The only 2-year-olds to win the national championship--Native Dancer in 1952 and Secretariat in 1972--are in the Hall of Fame, and actually Native Dancer didn’t win an outright title. Before the Eclipse award era, he was voted best by the track racing secretaries, but the Daily Racing Form’s kudos went to One Count.

If Skip Away wins the title, he would be the first horse of the year with a sub-.500 record since Ferdinand, who won four of 10 starts, including the Classic, in 1987.

The scintillating runs by Skip Away and Favorite Trick, before a crowd of 51,161, were only part of a day that also included:

* Countess Diana’s 8 1/2-length win in the Juvenile Fillies. By saddling both her and Favorite Trick, Byrne, in his first Breeders’ Cup, became only the second trainer to sweep the juvenile races. Wayne Lukas did it twice, in 1988 and 1994.

* A thrilling win in the Turf by Chief Bearhart, the Canadian colt who beat the German filly Borgia by three-quarters of a length at the wire.

* A successful invasion by Spinning World, the French colt who notched a convincing two-length win in the Mile.

* A half-length upset by Elmhurst, at 16-1, in the Sprint, which gave trainer Jenine Sahadi her second consecutive win in the stake.

* Ajina’s two-length victory over Sharp Cat in the Distaff, giving owners Allen and Madeleine Paulson a record sixth Breeders’ Cup win.

Breeders’ Cup records were strewn all over the place. Of the winners, all but Ajina set or tied records for fastest Breeders’ Cup races. Spinning World’s time in the Mile tied both the Breeders’ Cup and the Hollywood Park records.

With Carolyn Hine delivering staccato shouts from her box seat and her speechless, gum-chewing husband standing behind her, Skip Away roared away from Deputy Commander in the stretch in the Classic. The runner-up finished three-quarters of a length in front of the previously undefeated Whiskey Wisdom, who was disqualified to fourth because of a bumping incident. The stewards moved Dowty up to third place. The disappointment in the race was Touch Gold, who finished last in the nine-horse field after going off as the second choice.

Mike Smith didn’t necessarily want to be on the lead early, but Skip Away, who paid $5.60 as the favorite, pulled him to the front with about five-eighths of a mile left.

“He dragged me around there,” said Smith, who also rode Ajina and moved into second place among jockeys with his eighth Breeders’ Cup win. Pat Day, who won aboard Favorite Trick, has nine.

At the quarter pole, Skip Away had Deputy Commander measured by four lengths.

“I heard those loudspeakers and got real confident,” Smith said. “The crowd roared and my horse looked up, and that’s when I gave him three taps [with the whip]. Then I just hand-rode him the rest of the way.”

Touch Gold won the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell Handicap, but this was his second consecutive last-place finish.

“If he had gone on and run well and we got beat, I could use 100 yards out of the gate as an excuse,” jockey Chris McCarron said. “I got shut off out of the gate. But he ran terrible, just awful.”

Because Skip Away hadn’t been nominated for the Breeders’ Cup before his first birthday, the Hines had to make a supplementary payment of $480,000 to run. Gentlemen coming out of the race because of a virus helped them make that decision.

The Hines also liked the new Breeders’ Cup rules. Their $480,000 was added to the purse, and if Skip Away runs in next year’s Classic at Churchill Downs, it will cost them only $80,000 instead of another $480,000. They bought Skip Away as an unraced 2-year-old for $22,500.

“The money’s only paper,” said Sonny Hine, 66. “We lead a slow life. After the Jockey Club, we went back to the hotel and celebrated with potato chips and jelly and crackers. The horse earned his way into this race. We wanted to show the world how great he is.”

JUVENILE FILLIES

Winner: Countess Diana

Payoff: $6.00

CAPSULE: C12

SPRINT

Winner: Elmhurst

Payoff: $35.20

CAPSULE: C12

DISTAFF

Winner: Ajina

Payoff: $11.60

CAPSULE: C12