Shoo-In Might Be on Other Hoof

Usually, a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness--the first legs of the Triple Crown--is a shoo-in for an Eclipse Award, but this season Charismatic is no cinch for year-end honors.

General Challenge, not a factor in the Triple Crown races--his only start in the series was an 11th-place finish in the Derby--is in a position to not only beat out Charismatic for 3-year-old honors, he might also slip in as horse of the year.

To do any of this, General Challenge will have to win his next two races, starting with the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Saturday at Santa Anita. The other race on his schedule is the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 6.

Charismatic was injured while running third in the Belmont Stakes, the final race in the Triple Crown, and then retired. The last Derby-Preakness winner that didn’t clinch 3-year-old honors was Majestic Prince, who was outvoted by Art And Letters at the end of 1969.

General Challenge met Charismatic twice at Santa Anita early this year, General Challenge winning the Santa Catalina and the Santa Anita Derby while Charismatic finished last and then fourth. Since his disappointing run in the Kentucky Derby, General Challenge has won the Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park and into competition defeated older horses in a victory in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. In between was a second-place finish against Cat Thief in the Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood.

At 120 pounds, General Challege will carry the same weight in the 1 1/8-mile Goodwood as Old Trieste, the fast 4-year-old colt whose career has been frequently interrupted by foot problems. This will be only the third start of the year for Old Trieste, who won the Californian at Hollywood in May before he ran third last month in the Del Mar Breeders’ Cup Handicap. General Challenge has won five of eight starts this year and is undefeated in three tries at Santa Anita.

The six-horse lineup in post-position order: Barter Town, Old Trieste, General Challenge, Hollycombe, Koslanin and Budroyale.

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Laffit Pincay rode two winners Thursday at Santa Anita, giving him 8,797 and leaving him 36 short of Bill Shoemaker’s record 8,833. . . . The $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders’ Cup Mile will also be run Saturday. One of the hopefuls is Silic, who won the Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile at Hollywood in June before finishing fifth, but beaten by only two lengths, in the Woodbine Mile. Others running are Brave Act, Mr Lightfoot, Lord Smith, Dixie Dot Com, Bouccaneer and Pavilion. . . . Fiji, who was sixth in the Yellow Ribbon in her first start of the year, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite today as she faces eight rivals in the $500,000 Vinery First Lady Stakes at Keeneland.