Investigator’s Find a Relief for Sahadi

On the day after Christmas, opening day at Santa Anita, Frank Moore, an investigator for the California Horse Racing Board, was walking around the grandstand.

It goes with the job. You might spot a pickpocket in action. Touts could be touting. You might see somebody making book on the next race. You might even find George Comorre, who for nearly two years had been stalking trainer Jenine Sahadi.

Moore had almost given up on that one.

“We had wanted to slap [Comorre] with a temporary restraining order,” he said. “But he was a transient, he really didn’t live anyplace, and we didn’t know how to find him.”

The day after Christmas, Moore spotted somebody who might have been Comorre. Moore wasn’t sure at first. This guy had clumps of bushy hair, which didn’t fit Comorre’s description, and was wearing a cap pulled down. But as Moore got closer, he realized he had his man.

Comorre, 38, went quietly. Previously ejected and ruled off at Santa Anita, he was charged with trespassing. Sahadi will go to court next Tuesday to ask for a permanent restraining order.

“When I saw him, I thought he was wearing a disguise,” Sahadi said. “It was amazing [the investigators] recognized him. I think it might have been the ears. He has Mr. Spock ears.”

Sahadi and her trainer-husband, Ben Cecil, will celebrate their first wedding anniversary March 14. Twelve days before that is the second anniversary for George Comorre’s intrusion into Sahadi’s life.

“I remember it so well because the first day I was aware he was around was Santa Anita Handicap day,” Sahadi said.

Sahadi, 35, isn’t sure why Comorre picked her.

“All I know is that he’s a very weird guy,” she said.

Comorre sent her cards. He sent her gifts. He’d show up at the paddock.

“He’d cut and paste words from headlines from the [Daily Racing Form] to form messages,” Sahadi said. “I don’t know what the gifts were. I never opened them.”

Comorre’s pursuit wasn’t restricted to Santa Anita. He also showed up at other tracks. When Sahadi and Juanita Delahoussaye, jockey Eddie Delahoussaye’s wife, left Del Mar in their car one day, Comorre followed them, on a bicycle.

Julie Krone, who has won more races than any female jockey, once reported a stalker to racing authorities in Florida.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Sahadi said. “Women are vulnerable around the track. We’re alone a lot, and there are a lot of unusual hours, like very early in the mornings when training starts.”

Sahadi became the first woman to saddle a Breeders’ Cup winner when Lit De Justice won the Sprint at Woodbine near Toronto in 1996. With Elmhurst, she won the Sprint again in 1997, when it was run at Hollywood Park.

Then came 1998, naturally memorable because of her marriage to Cecil, but forgettable because of her slumping stable. Sahadi’s horses didn’t win a stakes race in Southern California, and at mid-year she hadn’t saddled a winner in 70 consecutive races.

Maybe 1999 will be an encore of the Lit De Justice and Elmhurst years. At least Sahadi shouldn’t have Comorre around as a distraction.

*

Who led the nation’s jockeys in purses in 1998?

It depends on what set of figures you look at.

According to the Daily Racing Form, the money champion was Pat Day, with $17.2 million in purses. Jerry Bailey finished second, with $16.9 million, and Gary Stevens was third, with $16.7 million.

The Equibase Co. statistics, however, list Stevens No. 1, with $19.3 million, followed by Day with $17.3 million and Bailey with $17.1 million.

The Racing Form doesn’t count the $2.65 million Stevens’ horses earned on Dubai World Cup day, thus, the discrepancy.

Yet the Form counts the $2.4 million earned by Silver Charm, ridden by Stevens, in the Dubai World Cup. Without the $2.4 million, Silver Charm wouldn’t have led the country in 1998, and wouldn’t be eyeing Cigar’s career money record this year.

At least the Form included Stevens’ Dubai money when it sent out information to the Eclipse awards voters last month. But for the Form to turn around and not count the Dubai money in its own national jockey standings doesn’t make any sense.

According to Equibase, Stevens missed the one-year record, set by Bailey in 1996 when his horses earned $19.4 million, by only $106,000.

Racing must be the only sport that has different record keepers. Tim Smith, the commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn., said recently that debate is the cornerstone of the game. This isn’t debate. It’s stupid.

*

Lord Grillo, racing for the first time since last January, registered a sharp four-length win Thursday at Santa Anita, running seven furlongs in 1:21 2/5. That was the same time Lord Grillo posted while beating Silver Charm and winning the Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26, 1997. His only start since then was a third-place finish in the San Fernando. With one more prep, trainer Mike Puype hopes to have Lord Grillo ready for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.

Lord Grillo was ridden Thursday by Delahoussaye, who rode to his 5,990th victory. Delahoussaye is 10 away from becoming the 14th jockey to join the 6,000-win club. . . . O.J. Waddell, a paraplegic, said he hopes to drive in a qualifying harness race at Los Alamitos next Wednesday night. Waddell isn’t sure how many qualifiers he will need before he might be issued a license. Waddell will drive Hutt Girl, a 7-year-old mare he recently claimed for $4,500.