In the parallel world that is thoroughbred racing -- a world in which most of the attention is paid to 3-year-olds on the road to the Triple Crown while at the same time, faster and more mature horses compete for big bucks in the Handicap Division -- we sometimes find a single racing card in which both worlds come together.
Saturday at Gulfstream Park, three lightly raced but highly promising 3-year-olds bid for tickets to the Triple Crown chase, while newly turned 4-year-old Skip Away makes his 1997 debut. While the trio of Pulpit, Powerful Goer and Zede have proven nothing of consequence to this point, the same cannot be said for Skip Away. That horse pulled off a pretty good trick last year: He won the 3-year-old championship without hitting the board in the Kentucky Derby, without winning the Preakness, Belmont or Travers stakes and without even showing up for the Breeders' Cup.
Skip Away, in fact goes as the prohibitive betting favorite in the $300,000 Donn Handicap Saturday against a field that shouldn't be capable of warming him up.
"I suppose he'll be odds-on (a heavy betting favorite)," said Sonny Hine who trains Skip Away for his wife Carol. "But he deserves to be. He's the best horse in the country."
HINE'S PREJUDICIAL POINT OF VIEW may be contested by the owners and trainers of the western based Gentleman and Alphabet Soup, especially after that pair ran 1-2 in last weekend's swiftly run San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita. But, Skip Away is a lot of horse who handled Cigar fair and square at Belmont last October. Should he continue to mature into his 4-year-old season, he has a genuine chance to take Cigar's place as the number one horse in the world.
"First things, first, " said Hine. "We are coming off a layoff of four months and there are a lot of things that can happen that you can never predict."
To underscore his concerns, Hine needed only to mention a race run at Gulfstream last Sunday and the recent retirement of another newly turned 4-year-old: "When you see a horse like Frisk Me Now upset Confide and Ordway in the Hutcheson (at 106-1 odds!) and you also see a terrific horse like Unbridled's Song break his leg and have to be retired, you realize how you can be shot down in a split second."
Hine also admitted that he really feared the Unbridled's Song he saw win the Olympic Handicap in that colt's final career start three weeks ago. "He looked like all his press clippings that day," Hine said. "So I stepped up my training on Skippy to get him ready... I was sorry to see him go," Hine continued. "My blood was boiling just looking forward to the challenge... it would have been a great race."
NINE HORSES ARE ENTERED against Skip Away, who has earned $2.7 million from 18 lifetime starts and will carry top weight of 123 pounds. Only a few deserve a realistic longshot chance: Mecke, a winner of $2.4 million on dirt and turf is in with 120 pounds; Crafty Friend and Diligence, 1-2 finishers in the Broward Handicap at Gulfstream who will carry 114 pounds apiece; Mt. Sassafras and Formal Gold who were fourth and fifth in last year's $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Woodbine who get in with 116 and 113.
Earlier on the strong Gulfstream card, Pulpit and Powerful Goer, who finished 1-2 in a swiftly run maiden race Jan. 11, will get a rematch as both colts try 1-1/16 miles for the first time. Derby watchers know that Pulpit won the first meeting by 7 lengths in a scorching 1:21-4/5 for seven furlongs, but they may realize that Pulpit's sky high Beyer speed Figure of 107 was one of the highest maiden race Speed Figures ever recorded.
As a son of 1992 Belmont winner A.P. Indy, Pulpit should have little trouble with the added distance, but the same is true for Powerful Goer, a son of 1989 Belmont stakes winner Easy Goer, who won his next start after his thrashing by Pulpit.
At the very least both colts deserve to be watched closely as they rev up for more important and richer Triple Crown prep races in March and April.
Zede also bears a close watch having won a fast maiden race at Belmont last June and having returned to competition with a gritty second at seven furlongs, Jan. 18.
"He had some (physical) problems last year and we've been taking it pretty slow with him, getting him stronger, one race at a time," trainer Billy Mott explained.
IN SATURDAY'S ALLOWANCE RACE at seven furlongs, Zede will meet several lightly raced colts with competitive Speed Figures. But to his credit, he already has beaten at least one horse who made a name for himself at the Gulfstream meet: Frisk Me Now, who was third behind Zede in the race the former used as a springboard towards his shocking upset in the Hutcheson last week.
"Realistically, all we want to see is another good effort," Mott said. "If Zede makes it to the Triple Crown races, he's going to drag us there. . . this is a nice colt with a lot of potential and we're not going to push him too hard to soon."
On Wednesday at Santa Anita, a moderately talented horse by the name of ISITINGOOD ran a mile on the turf course in 1:32 flat, the fastest time ever recorded by a racehorse at that distance on any surface. Unfortunately, the record is completely bogus.
In the first place, the turf course at Santa Anita was mowed to crew-cut length and has been playing as fast as a billiard table.
Secondly, horses who race one mile on the Santa Anita turf course are given a "run-up distance," or head start of more than 50 yards from the starting gate, which permits a head of steam akin to a tailwind. Indeed, whenever a human runner sets a world record with the aid of a tailwind, it is disallowed and dutifully marked by asterisk, with the notation, "wind aided."
While no such notation will be made in the Santa Anita record book, the majority of racing officials, horsemen and fans still will hold the mark established by Dr. Fager's in 1968 as the true world standard.
Twenty nine years ago, Dr Fager ran a mile in 1:32-2/5 on a dirt course at Arlington Racetrack with the usual 15 yard run-up from the starting gate. That horse did it on a track that certainly was fast, but not tricked-up to produce phony world-record clockings.
Steve Davidowitz is the author of "Betting Thoroughbreds.".
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