Sadly for Skip Away, It’s Churchill Downer

Trainer Sonny Hine would have liked to believe it wasn’t an omen when debris from a United Parcel Service 747 ascending from Louisville International Airport fell in the early-morning hours Wednesday on the roof of Barn 36, disturbing his $9-million horse, Skip Away, from a restful sleep. But Hine couldn’t ignore the possibility. Unlike some of his horses, he doesn’t wear blinkers.

Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby for 124 years and four of the 15 Breeders’ Cups, is a mecca for horsemen. It is not for at least one horse.

Name almost any famous track in America, Skip Away has won on it. Belmont. Pimlico. Gulfstream Park. Hollywood Park. Suffolk Downs. Monmouth. Keeneland. But, in his only visit to Churchill Downs before this week, for the 1996 Kentucky Derby, he finished 12th.

In his next 26 races before Saturday, he never finished out of the money. He won 14 of them, including nine in a row over an 11-month period starting in October of last year, and was approaching Cigar in stature as well as career earnings. If Skip Away had finished in the top three in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, he would have surpassed Cigar’s record of $9,999,815.

Unfortunately for Skip Away, the race was scheduled for Churchill Downs.

If indeed there are courses for horses, this indeed is not one for Skip Away. Hine as much as admitted it, putting his champion thoroughbred through his serious paces at home at Belmont before shipping him here early last week. But Hine wasn’t avoiding trouble, only delaying it. A little more than 24 hours after jet pieces rained from the sky, Skip Away was still spooked, throwing his exercise rider. Curses for horses?

If bettors had been listening, they would have known that Hine was trying to tell them something when he started campaigning for Skip Away as Horse of the Year even if he didn’t win the Classic. If Hine, a former FBI agent and state department operative in Hong Kong, had been confident, losing wouldn’t have crossed his mind. Bettors, however, weren’t listening, making Skip Away the favorite.

With a purse of $4,689,920, including an $800,000 contribution by Hollywood Park chairman R.D. Hubbard as a supplemental fee to enter Gentlemen, it was the richest race ever. Considering the credentials of the 10 horses entered, it also was supposed to be one of the best.

“I don’t recall in 25 years of racing a field with this kind of depth,” said Pat Day, who was riding Awesome Again.

Jerry Bailey, who rode Skip Away, had a good view of it from his position in the middle of the pack, which is where they finished--2 1/2 lengths behind the winner in sixth place.

All the interesting racing occurred ahead of them. Down the stretch, poised for an upset, European champion Swain began veering to the outside. Gary Stevens, inexplicably, took 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion Silver Charm wide with Swain, opening an inside lane for Awesome Again, who won by three-fourths of a length.

“In the stretch, there was a hole there,” Bailey said. “The hole was moving faster than I was.

“I knew 50 yards into the race I was in trouble. He just could not handle this track. Some horses handle some tracks and some don’t. I’ve been on great horses that couldn’t handle certain tracks and that’s the only thing I can write off for this race.”

So Skip Away was not the Horse of the Day.

Is he Horse of the Year?

Awesome Again, 6-0 as a 4-year-old, suddenly has supporters, although his owner, Frank Stronach, diplomatically refrained from attempting to sway voters who will determine the prestigious Eclipse Award winners later this year.

“Let the sportswriters decide,” he said. “I think they’re fair.”

Stronach, an Austrian industrialist who has homes in Switzerland, Canada, Florida, Colorado and Kentucky, later revealed he has signed a letter of intent to buy Santa Anita. It’s too early to tell whether he will be as successful as an owner of a racetrack as he is racehorses, but, for what it’s worth, it appears he will get along well with the Southern California sporting press.

Awesome Again’s trainer, Pat Byrne, proved more of an advocate, saying, “Everyone has Skip Away tattooed for Horse of the Year, but this horse should not be thrown out of the voting.”

Byrne had last year’s Horse of the Year, Favorite Trick, then had to give him up when he went to work exclusively for Stronach. One of his consolations was Awesome Again, who had been under trainer David Hofmans’ care at Santa Anita.

Hine still turns apoplectic when last year’s voting is mentioned because he thought Skip Away, the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner at Hollywood Park, was the obvious choice for Horse of the Year. Now it’s possible, although not likely, that a Byrne horse again will deprive Skip Away.

Hine is as convinced as ever that Skip Away deserves the honor, pointing out that he has won five Grade I races this year to two for Awesome Again and one for Silver Charm.

On Saturday, however, that was a fight for another day.

Skip Away, who, after his second straight loss, will be retired to stud, went out much like the horse he chased to end but couldn’t quite catch. Cigar lost three of his last four, including his finale, the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I’m ready to cry, but I won’t,” said Hine, who bought Skip Away for his wife, Carolyn, in 1995 for $22,500. They became so attached to him that they called him Skippy.

“It’s just a shame it turned out like it did,” Hine said. “I feel really bad about the horse. He gave me plenty. He is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s too bad it had to end on a sour note.”