Francisco Tries to Turn Back the Clock

Thirty years ago, trainer Dan Francisco won the Champion of Champions quarter horse race at Los Alamitos with Don Guerro, a horse owned by actor Robert Mitchum.

Mitchum, who died in 1997, was ill and unable to watch Don Guerro’s win, Francisco recalled.

“He was happy when I called him that night to tell him he had won,” Francisco said, “but the main thing he wanted to know was what the horse paid. He had made a nice bet on his horse.”

Don Guerro paid $40 to win, the second-highest mutuel in the 32-year history of the Champion of Champions, which usually determines the sport’s world champion, or horse of the year. The Champion of Champions has grown from a $50,000 race, when Don Guerro won it, to a $500,000 event, and Francisco will be seeking his second win when he saddles Be A Bono, one of three 3-year-olds who’ll be trying to beat their elders in the 440-yard sprint Saturday night.

There are parallels between Don Guerro and Be A Bono, who is the lightest-raced entrant in the 10-horse field but has won eight of his nine starts. Francisco took over the training of Don Guerro several races before the Champion of Champions, after Earl Holmes retired. Francisco began training for Spencer Childers, the breeder-owner of Be A Bono, after Bob Gilbert, Childers’ previous trainer, was severely beaten at the track in an apparent early-morning robbery attempt in 2001 and forced from the game.

Also, Be A Bono is like Don Guerro in that he has overcome physical problems to reach the Champion of Champions. Don Guerro had a leg injury that threatened his career; for a while, he was not expected to run in the Champion of Champions, which prompted his jockey, Charlie Smith, to retire. Don Guerro sprung the upset with Bob Adair on his back.

Be A Bono was injured in winning his first start, in April 2003, but recovered from knee surgery to return six months later. This year, Be A Bono underwent throat surgery to correct an epiglottis problem. Sidelined for a month and a half, he recuperated at Childers’ farm near Fresno and rejoined Francisco at the barn in early October.

Childers, who’ll be 93 on Dec. 21, remembers visiting Los Alamitos in 1953, when there was no clubhouse and the racing oval was located on the opposite side of the railroad tracks on the racetrack grounds. Childers, who has been in racing for more than 50 years, has run one previous horse in the Champion of Champions, finishing third with Black Sable in 1979.

“It’s the old story,” Childers said, “of whether a 3-year-old can beat the older horses. When 3-year-olds run against older horses, the older horses usually win, because they come home stronger, but running tough at the end is also my horse’s forte.”

Be A Bono’s only loss, after seven wins, came when A Regal Choice beat him by a head in the Super Derby Trials on Oct. 23. But in the Super Derby on Nov. 5, it was Be A Bono’s head that was the difference as A Regal Choice finished second. A Regal Choice has also qualified for the Champion of Champions. The other 3-year-old in the field is Cash For Kas, who is trying to become the first filly to win the race since Dashing Folly in 1996.

Be A Bono will be ridden by the veteran G.R. Carter, who has been aboard for the horse’s last six starts.

“We were still behind A Regal Choice about 75 yards before the wire” in the Super Derby, Carter said. “That’s when Be A Bono started to mow them down. He is so much fun to ride. You have to be patient with this horse, and I think that’s where my experience comes into play.”

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Be A Bono, at 3-1, and SLM Snowman are the co-second choices on oddsmaker Ed Burgart’s morning line for the Champion of Champions. The 2-1 favorite is Catchmeinyourdreams. Wednesday’s post-position draw produced this lineup, starting at the rail: Brookstone Bay, A Regal Choice, Mongoose Jet Eye, Cash For Kas, SLM Snowman, Buccaneer Beach, Whosleavingwho, Be A Bono, Catchmeinyourdreams and Silent Overdrive.