Not a Perfect Finish for Pleasantly Perfect

Pleasantly Perfect, injured in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Lone Star Park, has been retired, less than a month before he was scheduled to run his last race.

Trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday at Hollywood Park that Pleasantly Perfect might have been injured when he kicked the starting gate as he was being loaded for the Classic, a race he won last year at Santa Anita. The 6-year-old injured his left rear ankle.

“It’s not all that serious, but to run in the [Japan Cup Dirt], he’d have to leave in a couple of weeks,” Mandella said. “That’s an awfully long way to go with a horse who has a problem.”

Pleasantly Perfect, who finished third at Lone Star, behind Ghostzapper and Roses In May, was to have made his final start in the $2.25-million race in Tokyo on Nov. 28.

Pleasantly Perfect broke slowly, had a wide trip and then was left with too much to do as he tried to overhaul Ghostzapper.

“It’s hard to say how much the injury hindered him,” Mandella said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Ghostzapper, who ran a fantastic race. But for whatever reasons, my horse didn’t run his race.”

Pleasantly Perfect, a son of Pleasant Colony, the 1981 Kentucky Derby winner, had nine wins, three seconds and two thirds in 18 starts. He earned $7,789,880. The only horses ahead of him on the money list are Cigar, at $9,999,815, and Skip Away, at $9,616,360.

Owned by Gerald J. Ford, a Dallas businessman, Pleasantly Perfect was bought as a yearling for $725,000. A heart virus slowed his development, and at one time Mandella questioned whether he would ever be a racehorse. As a 4-year-old, however, he won the Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita. The next year, 2003, he repeated in the Goodwood, and three weeks later, at 14-1, he won the Classic to give Mandella his fourth Breeders’ Cup win of the day.

This year, after winning the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, Pleasantly Perfect won the Dubai World Cup, a $6-million race, and the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

“You know how fortunate you are if you have a horse like Pleasantly Perfect,” Ford said. “I know how rare it is.”

Plans for Pleasantly Perfect’s first year at stud were announced before he ran at Lone Star. Starting in February, he will stand at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. Ford has retained a 50% ownership. The stallion’s stud fee will be $40,000.

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Birdstone, who ran seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, has been retired after chipping his left front ankle. The 3-year-old colt had been scheduled to race next year.

Birdstone, whose sire, Grindstone, won the Kentucky Derby in 1996, was bred and owned by Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito. He ran only nine times, but won five and earned $1.5 million. He won the Champagne last year and the Belmont Stakes and Travers this year. A 36-1 longshot in the Belmont, he finished a length ahead of Smarty Jones, who missed out on a $5-million Triple Crown bonus after winning the Derby and the Preakness. Birdstone finished eighth in the Derby.

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Wilko, the 28-1 winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and Declan’s Moon, the Del Mar Futurity winner, may hook up in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18. In a division with no dominant horse, the Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old male may be on the line.

The English-raced Wilko had never run in the U.S. until his shocker at Lone Star Park. Craig Dollase has become Wilko’s trainer after Jeremy Noseda saddled him in the Breeders’ Cup.

According to trainer Ron Ellis, Declan’s Moon, idle since his victory at Del Mar on Sept. 8, will use the Hollywood Prevue Stakes as his tuneup for the Futurity.

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Belleski, winner of the feature race Wednesday as Hollywood Park opened its 36-day season before 4,636 in Inglewood, is expected to run later in the meet, in either the Matriarch on Nov. 28 or the Dahlia Handicap on closing day, Dec. 20. Belleski, who finished last in last year’s Matriarch, has won three of four starts since returning to the races in July.

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An administrative law judge will hear jockey Pat Valenzuela’s appeal on Nov. 12. The Del Mar stewards on Aug. 6 suspended Valenzuela for the rest of the year.... Azeri, fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is scheduled to run in the Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25.