Stronach Trots Out His Ideas for Track

Auto parts manufacturer Frank Stronach, still heady from winning last Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic with Awesome Again, was a visitor at Santa Anita on Friday, taking another presale look at the track he says will be his Dec. 15.

“I’ve had my eye on Santa Anita for some time,” Stronach said. “If there’s any racetrack in the world you want to have, it would be Santa Anita.”

Stronach, 66, said he sees no obstacles to his purchase of Santa Anita from Meditrust Cos., the troubled real estate investment trust that bought the track in November 1997. Meditrust, whose debts exceed $3 billion, bought a parcel of Santa Anita properties that included the Santa Anita Fashion Park and a medical office building in Arcadia, but Stronach said he will be buying only the racetrack. He would not disclose the sale price, which is believed to be about $150 million.

“Santa Anita has such a beautiful location, but we can do more to make it a family entertainment center,” Stronach said. “There are so many entertainment opportunities in Southern California that you have to be competitive. Our long-range plans include a racing museum and theme park on the track property.”

Stronach met with a few trainers during his visit.

“Above all else I want a safe racetrack,” he said. “I want to improve the running surface to minimize the number of injuries to the horses.”

A new era in California racing will begin Jan. 1, when tracks here will be allowed to telecast and offer betting on full daily cards from out-of-state tracks. Stronach would prefer to emphasize the live product.

“Without good live racing, the sport will die,” he said.

The Austrian-born, Canadian-based Stronach has homes in Switzerland, Canada, Florida, Colorado and Kentucky and farms in Canada, Kentucky and Florida. He said he plans to buy a home in Southern California.

Stronach said he probably will race some of his horses in California.

“It is a sensitive area,” he said. “I would have to be very careful if I ran horses at my own track. I would have to make sure that there would be no perception that I was racing with a special advantage.”

Patrick Byrne, Stronach’s private trainer, saddled Awesome Again for his Breeders’ Cup win.

“If my stable came to California, it would only be for the winter,” Byrne said the day after the Breeders’ Cup. Winter racing in Southern California is conducted at Santa Anita, from Dec. 26 through April 19.

By winning the Classic, Awesome Again, who has just recently been retired, became a challenger to Skip Away for horse-of-the-year honors. Skip Away, who ran sixth in the Classic, began the year with seven straight wins, five in major races, and finished with two losses.

Immediately after the Breeders’ Cup, Stronach said he would leave the horse-of-the-year debate to the voters. Now, however, he must feel that some campaigning is in order.

“We never dodged anybody, like some people think,” Stronach said Friday. “If anything, when we ran in the Whitney at Saratoga, Skip Away dodged us. We didn’t run against Skip Away [at Belmont Park] because that would have been the third time we would have shipped to New York. My horse was unbeaten [in 1998], he beat Skip Away at level weights and he did it in the race that counted.”

Stronach has become North America’s leading owner as a result of Awesome Again’s win, which was worth $2.6 million. Stronach moved to No. 1 on this year’s money list, his horses having earned almost $7 million.

“Stronach’s a guy who cares about racing and will put up his dough,” said Jim Proudfoot, a columnist for the Toronto Star. “His record in marketing the game is good, and whatever he does, he likes to go first class. He’s responsible for practically recreating racing in Austria. The track in Vienna was run down, and he’s put money and horses into the operation over there to revive the sport.”

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Horse Racing Notes

Silver Charm and Victory Gallop, who was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will meet once more this year, in the $400,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27. Victory Gallop’s trainer, Elliott Walden, says that a win will nail down the Eclipse award for best 3-year-old male. Bob Baffert, who trains Silver Charm, has an extra incentive to win the Clark. Baffert also trains Real Quiet, the Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner who will win the Eclipse if Victory Gallop doesn’t. . . . Another possibility for the Clark is Wild Rush, who’ll be retired after the race.

Baffert’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, Silverbulletday, will run in the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill on Nov. 28. Stablemate Excellent Meeting, second to Silverbulletday, is headed for the Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 13. . . . There’s a chance that Buck’s Boy, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, will run in the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 12. Buck’s Boy finished fourth in the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Hollywood.

Favorite Trick, horse of the year in 1997, has been retired. He won all eight of his starts for trainer Patrick Byrne to become the first 2-year-old to win the title since Secretariat in 1972. This year, Favorite Trick finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby, then his new trainer, Bill Mott, took a different approach--shorter distances and racing on grass. Favorite Trick, eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, finished with 12 wins in 16 starts and purses of $1.7 million. . . . Labeeb, third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, has been retired. . . . Reraise, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is aiming for the Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.