2003 ‘Cup to Santa Anita

Santa Anita, where the biggest Breeders’ Cup upset occurred in 1993, has been officially tapped to host the one-day glut of million-dollar races next year.

Twice in recent years the Breeders’ Cup planned to return to Santa Anita, but the event went elsewhere because of ongoing construction at the Arcadia track.

“After two false starts in the last three years, it’s with particular pleasure to learn of this selection for 2003,” said Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. Oak Tree, a not-for-profit group that leases the track for an annual fall meet.

The Breeders’ Cup made a tentative commitment to Santa Anita in September, but didn’t confirm the selection, the third for the track, until Friday.

The 20th Breeders’ Cup--eight races worth $13 million--will be run on Oct. 25, 2003. On almost that same day in 1993, Arcangues, a sore-backed longshot from France, won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at a whopping 133-1 and paid $269.20 for a $2 bet, still the series record.

The first Santa Anita Breeders’ Cup came in 1986.

The other three Breeders’ Cups in California were run at Hollywood Park, most recently in 1997. This year’s races will be run on Oct. 26 at a new Breeders’ Cup venue, Arlington Park.

While the Breeders’ Cup appreciates the virtual guarantee of good weather in California--temperatures were in the 80s at Santa Anita in 1993--European trainers would generally prefer the shorter trips and the cooler weather that the tracks in New York and Kentucky can offer their horses. Dancing Brave, the English colt who was one of the biggest Breeders’ Cup favorites, went down to defeat at 1-2 odds in the Turf Stakes at Santa Anita in 1986.

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Officer’s problematic career took another backward turn Friday, when trainer Bob Baffert said that he was scratching the 3-year-old colt from today’s $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland.

Officer, the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Lexington, was found to have a swelling in the tendon area of his lower left foreleg after a routine morning gallop at Churchill Downs on Thursday. Baffert, saying that the injury wasn’t career-ending, said Officer would be returned to California, where after a three-month rest he’s expected to resume training.

Baffert, who won consecutive Derbys with Silver Charm and Real Quiet in 1997-98, will have a starter in the race this year, on May 4, because Prince Ahmed Salman’s Thoroughbred Corp., which also races Officer, last week bought 90% of War Emblem, the Illinois Derby winner, for an estimated $1million.

With Officer out, the post-time Lexington favorite will be either Ethan Man or Easyfromthegitgo. Steve Asmussen, who trains Easyfromthegitgo, said this week that he would prefer to zero in on the Derby with two other colts, Private Emblem and Windward Passage, and Patrick Byrne, who trains Ethan Man, said it would take a big effort today for that colt to run back at Churchill.

But Wayne Lukas, who missed the Derby last year for the first time since 1981, probably would consider the Derby if his Proud Citizen scored an upset in the Lexington. Proud Citizen beat only one horse in the Santa Anita Derby and is 8-1 on the morning line.

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Jorge Chavez, who has been riding Booklet, has the Kentucky Derby assignment on Easy Grades, the runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby.... Saarland, who suffered a breathing problem while running fourth in the Wood Memorial, underwent corrective surgery Wednesday. He’s still expected to run in the Derby.... Unless Mick Kinane fights a seven-day suspension in England, he won’t be available to ride Johannesburg in the Derby. Kinane received the suspension after one of his mounts was disqualified from first to fifth in a stake at Newmarket on Thursday. Jerry Bailey will likely ride Johannesburg in Kinane’s place. Right now Bailey has the mount on Johannesburg’s stablemate, Castle Gandolfo.