Tiznow Has All the Fun

Mike Cooper, en route to the postrace press-box interviews, stepped off the elevator at the fifth floor and virtually bumped into a small TV monitor.

“Wait a minute,” he said to his escort. “I want to watch this again.”

As the field hit the top of the stretch for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap, Cooper’s Tiznow began to open up his lead and track announcer Trevor Denman said:

“Chris McCarron pushes the button . . . “

“If only it were that easy, Trevor,” Cooper said into the tiny screen.

Tiznow’s five-length victory Saturday was the biggest winning margin in the Big ‘Cap since Best Pal’s 5 1/2-length victory in 1992, but for Cooper and his trainer, Jay Robbins, half the fun was certainly not in the getting there.

“I feel a lot of relief,” said Robbins, who is enough of a worrywart that in January he stayed home with his horse rather than travel to New Orleans for the announcement that Tiznow had been voted horse of the year.

After Tiznow finished second in the Strub Stakes a month ago--his first loss in five months--Robbins ran into enough daily crises to try the soul of the most unflappable trainer. The bad omens started piling up more than a week ago, the catalog including an aggravated cracked hoof, a minor bleeding problem, a loose shoe and a saddle slipping during a morning gallop.

McCarron, riding his third Big ‘Cap winner and the second in the last three years, could have been an Oscar recipient in the winner’s circle. He thanked everybody, including Buzz Fermin and Steve Rodriguez, Tiznow’s blacksmiths. It was Fermin, called in when a second hoof crack appeared early last week, who screwed, wired and patched it together.

“I hadn’t used Buzz before,” Robbins said, “but we used him because he’s very familiar with the wiring [process]. I had my doubts every day. The first two patches that were applied didn’t hold.”

By post time of the 64th Big ‘Cap, the crowd of 34,176, and off-track bettors around the country, had shown they were ignoring the Tiznow soap opera. Listed at 8-5 on the morning line, Tiznow went off at an even lower price and paid $4 to win. On a fast track, the 4-year-old California-bred ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:01 2/5 to win for the seventh time in 12 starts and earned $600,000 to push his purses over the $4-million mark. While carrying 122 pounds, not much of an impost considering some Big ‘Cap winners of yore, he was still the first high weight to win the race since Best Pal.

“[The betting support] is indicative of how much the people love this horse,” Cooper said. “Here you have a handicap race, with 12 horses, and there’s an even-money favorite.”

Wooden Phone, who had beaten Tiznow by two lengths in the shorter Strub, finished second this time, 1 1/2 lengths in front of his stablemate, Tribunal. Irisheyesareflying, the escapee from the claiming ranks, was beaten by 8 1/2 lengths, but he still pocketed fourth money, finishing one length ahead of Guided Tour. The disappointment in the race was Bienamado, a classy grass horse making his first start on dirt. Breaking from the outside post, he stumbled out of the gate, almost falling, and never reached contention in a ninth-place finish.

Speed was the way to win races most of the day, and McCarron gave Tiznow an aggressive ride.

“He got into the race quicker than the last time,” Robbins said. “Chris and I were both aware that speed had been holding in the other races.”

McCarron won two races Saturday, giving him a career total of 6,985. He first rode in the Big ‘Cap in 1978, and won with Alysheba in 1988 and Free House two years ago.

“Tiznow was the best horse in the race on paper, and he was the best horse in the race on the racetrack,” McCarron said.

While Bienamado did his nose dive on the far outside, Tiznow, breaking from the No. 5 spot, got away perfectly.

“He came away really clean and came out of there running,” McCarron said. “He wanted to show speed and I let him show speed. Speed had been holding up all day, so I wasn’t going to toy around and try to rate him. Once he had a secure position, I let him be second. I didn’t chase Wooden Phone until about the three-eighths pole. That’s when I went ahead and put the pressure on him. After that it was pretty much all over.”

Wooden Phone, ridden by Corey Nakatani, held a short lead through fractions of :46 2/5 and 1:10 3/5. Irisheyesareflying, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, raced in third place, with a good bead on the two leaders. At the finish, the only interloper among those three was Tribunal, who was in eighth place, eight lengths from the front, after six furlongs.

“The other horse was just the better horse today,” Nakatani said. “We did what we wanted to do, but we would have needed a magic wand to beat Tiznow.”

Tiznow had bled slightly in the Strub, and again during a recent workout. Robbins tried to curb his appetite and increased the dosage of Lasix, the diuretic commonly given to bleeders.

In Fermin, the trainer hired a smithy as cocksure as Robbins was uptight.

“He’s the eternal optimist,” Robbins said of Fermin.

Fermin took his first look at the problem right front hoof and tut-tutted the trainer.

“This is a piece of cake,” Fermin said. “You’ll be able to gallop him within an hour.”

The repair work required four screws, some wire and an acrylic patch.

Cooper races Tiznow with Kevin Cochrane and Pamela Ziebarth, the children of the late Cee Straub-Rubens, who bred the colt and raced him until her death three days after the victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November.

Cooper said Tiznow’s next race will probably be the $500,000 Californian at Hollywood Park on June 10.

“That should give these quarter cracks time to grow back naturally,” Cooper said.

More than Tiznow, Robbins will welcome the respite from the spotlight.

“It was a long week,” he said.

FINISH LINE

1. TIZNOW $4.00 $3.20 $2.80

Jockey Chris McCarron

2. WOODEN PHONE $5.40 $4.40

Jockey Corey Nakatani

3. TRIBUNAL $8.40

Jockey David Flores

*

CONSOLATION PRIZES

Trainer Bob Baffert’s horses--Wooden Phone and Tribunal--ran second and third behind Tiznow in Big ‘Cap. D16