Azeri Has the Secret Formula

Wayne Lukas, who has been on the winning end of the horse-of-the-year vote three times, can relate to Azeri’s bid for the national title this year. The last time a filly was voted top honors -- Lady’s Secret in 1986 -- Lukas was the trainer.

There are some parallels that Lady’s Secret and Azeri share, but a notable exception is that while Lady’s Secret beat males in her title year, Azeri hasn’t even run against them. When results of the vote are announced at the Eclipse Awards dinner on Jan. 27 in Beverly Hills, the winner is likely to be Azeri, winner of Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff, or War Emblem, the tarnished Kentucky Derby winner who was eighth in the Classic, although Bob Baffert, War Emblem’s trainer, is also throwing the name of Vindication into the mix. Vindication remained undefeated with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, effectively becoming the favorite for the 2003 Derby.

The way the voting works is that an estimated 250 representatives from the National Turf Writers’ Assn., the Daily Racing Form and National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. tracks cast ballots. To win, a candidate must pile up a plurality from at least two of the organizations. Sometimes, the outcome can be widely split. Besides Lady’s Secret, Lukas also won the title with Charismatic in 1999 and Criminal Type in 1990, and in Charismatic’s year the winner received only 55 1/2 of the 209 votes.

“Voting this year is not going to be an easy job,” Lukas said Sunday. “I’m glad I don’t have a vote. But usually the horse-of-the-year winner needs to be charismatic. The horse that comes out on top is the one that caps the [Breeders’ Cup)] day.”

In 1986, Lady’s Secret, who was owned by Gene and Joyce Klein, began running in January at Santa Anita and never got a breather. By the time she had won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita in November, there were 10 wins, three seconds and two thirds next to her name. She never finished worse than third, and most importantly she left the older-filly-and-mare division in August to beat males in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. Unable to beat them again, Lady’s Secret ran four times in all, but a month after the Whitney a second-place finish behind Precisionist in the Woodward at Belmont Park still added to her luster.

Just like last Saturday, the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Classic was expected to solve the horse-of-the-year enigma. Turkoman and Precisionist were the favorites, but they ran second and third as Skywalker, at 10-1, won the race.

Lukas said the same thing happened Saturday with horse-of-the-year contenders Medaglia d’Oro, Evening Attire, War Emblem and Came Home, who finished second, fourth, eighth and 11th in the Classic.

“It just laid there for all of them,” Lukas said. “All any of them had to do was grab it.”

Instead, Volponi, longest shot on the board at 43-1, won the Classic. The 4-year-old colt had finished seventh, fourth and third in his only three previous Grade I starts.

Azeri, winning for the eighth time in nine starts this year, won the Distaff by five lengths. Michael Paulson said that he wanted to run the filly in the Classic, but trainer Laura de Seroux, talked him out of it. De Seroux said Sunday that Azeri would continue running next year and would probably face the males.

Charismatic didn’t run after June in 1999, because he was injured running for a Triple Crown sweep in the Belmont. This year, War Emblem won only one of four starts after winning the Derby and Preakness, the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

“He was a big disappointment,” Baffert said. “He trained well, but maybe there was something in his mind. [Jockey Victor Espinoza] had to nudge him along early in the Classic, and that wasn’t a good sign. He still gave us a lot of thrills.”

Kenny Rice, host of a post-Breeders’ Cup news conference Sunday morning at Arlington Park, plunged right into the horse-of-the-year issue when De Seroux stepped to the microphone.

“Am I supposed to start politicking now?” De Seroux said.

“You’re in Chicago,” Rice said.

“Who else is there?” De Seroux said. “But I don’t want to be too pushy.”

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As early as the first turn, jockey Mike Smith sensed that Came Home wasn’t traveling well in the Classic. The colt, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and Pacific Classic, suffered a knee injury as he finished 10th, and has been retired to stud.... Take Charge Lady, who ran sixth as the second choice in the Distaff, was diagnosed with a stomach infection after the race.... Overall betting of $115 million on the eight Breeders’ Cup races broke the record of $108 million, set in 2000.

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Claimed for $12,500 about five months earlier, Special Matter became a graded stakes winner when scoring a 9-1 surprise in the $150,000 Carleton F. Burke Handicap Sunday at Santa Anita.

Owned by a partnership and trained by Rafael Becerra, the 4-year-old River Special gelding and jockey Tyler Baze sat off the pedestrian pace (24 2/5, 48 4/5, 1:14 4/5 and 1:41 for the mile) set by 6-1 shot Alyzig, then took over in the stretch to win by nearly two lengths. He completed the 1 1/2 miles on the turf in 2:28 2/5.

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Fircroft, the 2-1 second choice, won the $84,000 Miss Grillo Stakes by a length over 3-1 third choice Marc’s Rainbow at Aqueduct.

Two races later, One Colony, the longest shot in the field of five at 19-1, beat 5-1 outsider Celtic Memories by a head in the $82,950 Pilgrim Stakes. Both races were moved from the turf to the dirt.

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Staff writer Bob Mieszerski contributed to this report.