Choctaw Nation Pays Off

The first race at Santa Anita on Feb. 29 -- a 6 1/2 -furlong sprint for eight maidens running for a $40,000 claiming price -- was of special interest to trainer Jeff Mullins and Bob Bone, one of his clients. There were three horses in the field that they considered buying.

They settled on Choctaw Nation, who won the race after Mullins had put in the claim. “Good,” said Bone, a Sacramento-area automobile dealer, “we’ve got ourselves a nice allowance horse.”

Bone and Mullins have a tad more than that. Choctaw Nation has kept on winning. Remaining undefeated, he beat Pleasantly Perfect, who was emerging from a four-month breather after winning the Dubai World Cup, in the San Diego Handicap here on Aug. 1, and they’re two of the top three picks on the morning line for Sunday’s $1-million Pacific Classic. Pleasantly Perfect is favored at 6-5, Choctaw Nation is 9-2, and in between is Perfect Drift, who is running for the first time in California, at 7-2.

Mullins, who has led the last three Southern California meets -- two at Hollywood Park and one at Santa Anita -- and ranks second to Doug O’Neill in the Del Mar standings, said he had several reasons for claiming Choctaw Nation.

“[Trainer Bruce] Headley hid the horse in the box [saddling stall] before the race,” Mulllins said. “He had a blanket over him. Any time a trainer like Headley tries to hide a horse, you have to be interested. This was a good-looking horse, and besides, Headley had claimed a horse off me last year at Santa Anita. He might have thought I had forgotten about it, but I didn’t. So he claimed mine, and I claimed his, but he took the first shot.”

Headley’s claim was for $50,000, which brought him Proven Form, a filly who won for Mullins at Santa Anita on April 10, 2003.

Headley said he claimed Proven Form because a Kentucky breeder and client of his, John Stewart, wanted to use her as a broodmare. Proven Form, Headley said, ran a couple of times for him without winning.

Asked if he had been trying to hide Choctaw Nation the day he was claimed, Headley said: “Mullins covers up some of his horses too. If he’s talking about hiding horses, it’s his ideas that are reflecting on me.”

The 70-year-old Headley, who has been training for 45 years, is known as a sharp-eyed horseman who goes to auctions and spots the bargains. He has bought Silveyville, Stylish Winner, Lakota Brave, Son Of A Pistol, Kona Gold, Got Koko and Kalookan Queen, all for $50,000 or less, and molded them into stakes winners. Kona Gold, purchased for $35,000, won the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs and was voted national sprint champion.

Headley had been hoping that Choctaw Nation might be added to that formidable list. Using his own money and the funds of two partners, he bought the son of Louis Quatorze, the 1996 Preakness winner, for $35,000 at a Keeneland yearling sale in 2001. But Headley wasn’t as lucky as Wayne Lukas and other trainers who have sometimes dodged the claiming bullet. In November 1998, Lukas ran Charismatic for a $62,500 tag, but found no takers. The next year, Charismatic won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

Not happy that he lost Choctaw Nation, Headley is trying to be philosophical. “I made a mistake,” he said, “but I’d be happy if the horse went on. I like the horse. I like the breeder.”

Choctaw Nation, a 4-year-old gelding, was ridden by Alex Solis in his first win. But in his four subsequent wins for Mullins he has been ridden by Victor Espinoza, who will be in the irons Sunday.

“He did everything we expected of him until last time,” Mullins said. “Then he really surprised us. Can he do it again? I won’t know that till after the race.”

In the San Diego Handicap, Choctaw Nation carried 114 pounds, 10 less than Pleasantly Perfect. All of the starters will carry 124 pounds Sunday.

“I was thrilled to death,” Bone said after Choctaw Nation upset Pleasantly Perfect. “Jeff said that it had been a no-brainer to claim him. Our horse hasn’t figured out a way to lose yet. I hope it continues.”

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After listening to two hours of debate, the California Horse Racing Board tabled a decision about whether to allow jockeys to ride heavier. The Jockeys’ Guild, which represents more than 1,200 riders nationally and most of the jockeys in California, is asking for a minimum weight increase of 112 to 118 pounds.

The proposal before the board also would require that jockeys have a body-fat content of not less than 5%. Trainers who testified at the meeting said that horses carrying extra weight might be more susceptible to injury and fear that some clients might take their stock to other states if the rule is adopted. Guild spokesmen said extreme dieting can lead to kidney and liver disease. The next board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 16 in Pomona.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Pacific Classic

Field for Sunday’s $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Post time: 4:46 p.m. (eighth race on a 10-race card). TV: 4 p.m. on ESPN2. Distance: 1 1/4 miles.

*--* PP Horse Jockey Odds 1 El Elogiado Kent Desormeaux 30-1 2 Colonial Colony Rafael Bejarano 8-1 3 Choctaw Nation Victor Espinoza 9-2 4 Perfect Drift Pat Day 7-2 5 Pleasantly Perfect Jerry Bailey 6-5 6 Total Impact Mike Smith 6-1 7 Night Patrol Tyler Baze 20-1 8 During Corey Nakatani 12-1

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