Bailey Gives Golden Missile the Look of a Classic Upsetter

Hunch players for the Breeders’ Cup might have gotten their first revelation Friday when trainer Joe Orseno named Jerry Bailey to ride Golden Missile in the $4-million Classic.

When Bailey gets a chance to ride a horse for the first time in the Classic, it’s wise to pay attention:

* Before the 1991 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, 11 jockeys had ridden Black Tie Affair in his 44 races. Bailey hadn’t been one of them.

Pat Day, who had won three consecutive stakes with Black Tie Affair earlier in the year, was tied up with Summer Squall.

After trainer Ernie Poulos hired Bailey, he nursed their horse through ridiculously slow early fractions and Black Tie Affair won by 1 1/4 lengths, clinching the horse-of-the-year award. Summer Squall, with Day, finished ninth.

* Bailey was given the mount on Arcangues, a French import, for the 1993 Classic. He had never even seen Arcangues before, and didn’t know how to pronounce the horse’s name (Neither did a lot of other people; it was are-KONG).

Fifteen minutes before the race, Bailey entered the walking ring at Santa Anita, not really sure what Arcangues’ trainer, Andre Fabre, looked like. They met briefly, and Bailey and Arcangues were sent on their way.

Bertrando, the favorite, had a 1 1/2-length lead at the top of the stretch, but the back-sore Arcangues and Bailey caught him, winning by two lengths. The $2 win payoff was $269.20, still a Breeders’ Cup record.

Now comes Golden Missile, who’ll be another longshot when Churchill Downs runs the Classic on Nov. 4. The Daily Racing Form’s early morning line lists Frank Stronach’s horse at 15-1. The favorites are Fusaichi Pegasus and Lemon Drop Kid, at 5-2 and 7-2.

Kent Desormeaux, who’s ridden Golden Missile in his last five starts, including wins in the Pimlico Special and the Stephen Foster Handicap, was not available because he’s committed to Fusaichi Pegasus in the Classic. Bailey became available when his horse, Behrens, cut his leg while running sixth in last Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Bailey hardly was a difficult choice. He’s won nine Breeders’ Cup races, two fewer than the record holder, Day, and four of Bailey’s wins have been in the Classic, which ties him with Day for that stake.

Bailey’s other Classic wins were with horses he was more familiar with, Concern in 1994 and Cigar in 1995.

Golden Missile is a 5-year-old, as were Black Tie Affair and Arcangues when they won the Classic.

Golden Missile’s profile is not unlike that of Awesome Again, a Stronach colt that pulled off a surprise win--at Churchill--in the 1998 Classic. Awesome Again had won the Stephen Foster, giving him a stakes win over the Churchill Downs strip. He had prepped for the Classic, a month before, with a win in the Hawthorne Gold Cup.

The difference with Golden Missile is that the Foster, in mid-June, was his last win. Since then, bothered by nagging foot problems, he’s been fifth in the Whitney at Saratoga, second in the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park and a disappointing third as the heavy favorite in the Hawthorne Gold Cup. But all of Golden Missile’s races at Churchill have been good. With Desormeaux last year at Florida’s Gulfstream Park, he ran third, at 75-1, in the Classic.

On Nov. 4, many bettors will note his proclivity for running at Churchill, tack on the addition of Bailey, and give him a chance.

Orseno also named Bailey on two of the trainer’s other Breeders’ Cup hopefuls, Perfect Sting in the Filly & Mare Turf and Macho Uno in the Juvenile. Bailey rode Perfect Sting during her four-race winning streak, but they were upended by Tout Charmant a week ago in the Winstar Galaxy Stakes at Keeneland. Macho Uno, one of the leading East Coast contenders for the Juvenile, is a half-brother of Awesome Again.

Among the other probables for the Classic are Tiznow, Captain Steve, Albert The Great, Gander, Agol Lack, Giant’s Causeway and Cat Thief. Running Stag, the globe-trotting 6-year-old who ran seventh in the 1998 Classic, has had a training setback and won’t run.

Cat Thief, winless in 10 starts since his 19-1 upset in last year’s Classic, is listed at a conservative 20-1 on the Racing Form’s line. Trainer Wayne Lukas said that Cat Thief flipped his palate--a stress-induced condition that causes a breathing problem and sometimes results in internal bleeding--in his last race, but the colt seems to have run out of excuses.

The Racing Form’s other early Breeders’ Cup favorites are Kalanisi, 3-1 in the Turf; Ladies Din and Indian Lodge, both 5-1 in the Mile; Petrushka, 3-1 in the Filly & Mare Turf; Riboletta, 4-5 in the Distaff; Kona Gold, 2-1 in the Sprint; Flame Thrower, 3-1 in the Juvenile; and Raging Fever, 3-1 in the Juvenile Fillies.

*

J.T. Lundy, former president of storied Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for his role in a scheme that defrauded a Houston bank of $65 million.

Sim Lake, a Texas federal judge, said that although the 1991 death of Alydar, Calumet’s premier stallion, was suspicious, he could not say with certainty that Lundy was responsible.

Prosecutors, saying that Lundy had conspired to kill Alydar so that payment of an insurance policy would help bail out cash-starved Calumet, asked for a more severe penalty.

Calumet, $120 million in debt, went bankrupt in 1991 and the bank Lundy did business with was closed in 1992.

Another Calumet official, chief financial officer Gary Matthews, received a 21-month sentence. Attorneys for both men said they would appeal.

Horse Racing Notes

Laffit Pincay got Win No. 8,994 with the Bill Spawr-trained Bafferta in Friday’s sixth race at Santa Anita. . . . Tony’s Royalty, another Spawr horse and Pincay’s mount in the $84,375 Sunny Slope Stakes, finished second, a length behind Our Shining Hour, who was ridden by Kent Desormeaux for trainer Howard Zucker. Another Spawr runner, King La Boo, finished third. Pincay, who will be 54 on Dec. 29, has six mounts today.