HORSE RACING : They’re Not Breed Apart in Florida

The Breeders’ Cup in Florida and European horses go together like corned beef and candy.

Philip Mitchell, the English trainer who has had modest success in the United States with Running Stag, stated the obvious when he said: “Florida is a graveyard for European horses. European horses can’t deal with the heat and humidity there.”

Running Stag, seventh in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, ran fourth as the favorite in last Saturday’s Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. Wrung out by the muggy heat in this year’s Dubai World Cup, Running Stag will skip the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 6 at Gulfstream Park near Miami. Mitchell will send him to Hong Kong for a $2-million year-end race instead.

Gulfstream is getting the Breeders’ Cup for the third time. In the two previous runnings there--in 1989 and 1992--31 horses from Europe competed, with their best finish a second by the French filly Sierra Roberta behind Prized in the Turf Stakes in 1989. Prized had never run on grass before.

It’s not likely that many European horses will show up at Gulfstream this time. The tipoff for the European trainers came early, in the 1989 Breeders’ Mile, but it took them a while before they conceded that Zilzal’s disastrous experience wasn’t an aberration.

Unbeaten in five starts back home, Zilzal was even money to win the Mile for trainer Michael Stoute, but for him the race was lost even before he reached the track. These are the Daily Racing Form’s unusual footnotes:

“Zilzal was allowed to leave the paddock early and did not participate in post parade, was sweating profusely in warm weather and was reluctant to go to gate. . . . Delaying the start for a few minutes [he] failed to break alertly; improved position to midstretch, then could not appreciably gain.”

Zilzal’s sixth-place finish was part of a 0-for-12 day for the Europeans, who participated in four of the seven Breeders’ Cup races in 1989. Three years later, the Europeans had at least two horses in each of the seven races. They went 0 for 19 in the 87-degree heat, the best finishes a couple of thirds by the French filly Jolypha in the Classic and Brief Truce in the Mile. There were some notable disappointments: Arazi, the brilliant winner in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs before surgery on both knees, was a 3-2 underlay in the Mile and finished 11th; and Dr Devious, winner of the Epsom Derby, and Subotica, winner of France’s prestigious Arc de Triomphe, were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Turf.

Mitchell plans to run Running Stag next year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, where the fall weather more resembles what the European horses are used to.

“There are only three tracks--Churchill, Belmont Park and Woodbine--where the English horses have a chance,” Mitchell said. “When they run the Breeders’ Cup anyplace else, it’s like climbing a mountain for us.”

REMEMBRANCE

Dave Hale saw more Southern California races than anyone in the last 10 or 15 years. He wasn’t a steward, he wasn’t a turf writer. Hale ran Eclipse Photography Inc., the company that determined whether one horse’s nose hit the wire ahead of the other horse.

Hale, 49, died Tuesday near Bishop, his motorcycle struck by another vehicle that crossed over to his side of the road.

Hale was at Santa Anita or Hollywood Park or Del Mar every racing day. No one around those tracks can ever remember him making a bet, but he was a fount of knowledge about the game, whether the important race was in his own backyard or at Belmont Park. Hale usually came armed with an opinion, and it didn’t hurt to listen.

Julie Hale, his wife, recently joined the staff of the Bill Shoemaker Foundation. Their children are Cameron, 7, and Megan, who will be 4 on Sunday. A trust fund in their names has been set up at 710 Fargo Rd., San Dimas 91773. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.