Breeders Cup Sprint

Amid the blur of nearly 1,700 starters this season and approaching a nation-leading 400 victories, Scott Lake vividly recalls last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Lake saddled Thunderello, a 48-1 outsider that few observers gave a second look, and the colt came within a half-length of winning the race at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago. "I still think about it a lot," Lake, a 38-year-old native of Harrisburg, said by phone from Santa Anita, the site of this year's 20th renewal of the World Thoroughbred Championships.

Groovy, a Texas-bred horse and leading candidate for the 1987 thoroughbred sprint championship, has a fractured splint bone and will be retired to stud. Groovy had won his first six starts this year in New York stakes races, but was a well-beaten second as the odds-on favorite in the $1 million Breeders Cup Sprint at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21.

Carlos Martin was only 18 when the horse his father, Jose, trained, the freaky-fast Groovy, was trying to win the 1987 Breeders' Cup Sprint. Carlos was as high-strung as his dad was low-key during the week of the race at Hollywood Park. Groovy was going to be favored, but you couldn't be sure about him. There was that California speed that had overwhelmed him the year before. There was no doubt about Carlos. He wanted to be a trainer, just like his dad, just like his grandfather, Hall of Famer Frank "Pancho" Martin.

Blushing Julian became the first local runner ever to capture Philadelphia Park's richest sprint when he outdueled Thelastcrusade, a fellow home-town runner, in yesterday's $154,400 Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap. In a special performance that stopped the timer in 1:09 3/5 after six furlongs, Blushing Julian gave indications that he may someday belong in the company of Gallant Bob, My Juliet, Dainty Dotsy and Mr. Nickerson as the best sprinters ever stabled at the Bensalem track.

Scott Lake won No. 5,000 as he won so many of the races that got him to a milestone that had been reached only five times in horse racing history. Communicator went right to the front in the first race at Laurel Park yesterday and never looked back, winning by 4 lengths. With that Lake, the all-time leading trainer at Parx Racing and a force at tracks all over the East for the last decade, became the sixth trainer to win 5,000 races. And just to make sure nobody missed the point, the Lake-trained Flight to Eden went wire to wire to win the second race for No. 5,001.

Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. knows some smart guys are touting his horse, Wildcat Heir, as a possibility to upset heavy favorite Lost In The Fog in tomorrow's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Perkins also knows Wildcat Heir, a 5-year-old colt, raced only once this year. "It's kind of like the backup quarterback," Perkins said yesterday morning at Belmont Park. "They all love him. It's kind of like when A.J. Feeley was with the Eagles. They all loved him. " Perkins isn't doubting his horse, who torched the field his last time out, winning the six-furlong Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 7 by 5 3/4 lengths.

The ninth Breeders' Cup on Saturday showed itself to be more than just a fantastic display of expensive horseflesh. It featured the potential Horse of the Year in A.P. Indy, who posted a commanding two-length victory over Pleasant Tap in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic. It showcased the disappointing Arazi, a beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby and a beaten favorite in the Breeders' Cup Mile on the turf, where he finished ninth. "He will go back to Europe and go to stud," co-owner Allen Paulson said yesterday.

Every racing fan remembers the last time an American racing card had as much promise as today's card at Belmont Park. And every fan remembers what happened last Oct. 27 - the Breeders' Cup Day that will live in infamy. Mark Reid remembers only too well. Mr. Nickerson, the wonderful sprinter he trained, died on the Belmont Park backstretch while competing in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. It set the tone for the longest and saddest day in racing history. The racing stage today returns to Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. (Channel 6, 4:30 p.m.)

Lester Piggott, considered by many to be the greatest jockey of all time, was injured and hospitalized yesterday, after a Breeders' Cup spill that cost his horse's life. Riding on the rail in the $1 million Sprint, the first of seven races in the ninth Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream Park, Pigott was thrown to the ground when his mount, Mr Brooks, shattered his right front cannon bone as he approached the quarter pole. Before a national television audience and more than 45,000 racing fans at the track, many there to see the legendary Piggott ride, the jockey lay still on the track, his body curled in a fetal position near the backstretch rail.

Earlier this year, back when he was serving a 60-day suspension after one of his horses tested positive for a banned drug, Richard Dutrow Jr. couldn't have predicted this would turn out to be his greatest year as a trainer. It took just one day to make that happen. Dutrow's entry in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Saint Liam, finished off his own dominating year by winning a stretch duel over Flower Alley to take the Classic by a length in front of 54,289 people at Belmont Park.

Three hours before the big race on Saturday, the crowd that jammed the expansive apron of Belmont Park opened up with the kind of full-throated roar that can only be produced when alcohol and greed are mixed in equal and voluminous proportions. There were more than 85,000 people on the grounds. Most were in the clubhouse and grandstand and spread out across the sloped apron, but thousands more picnicked in the shaded area behind the grandstand near the paddock and only watched the races on televisions.

Scott Lake won No. 5,000 as he won so many of the races that got him to a milestone that had been reached only five times in horse racing history. Communicator went right to the front in the first race at Laurel Park yesterday and never looked back, winning by 4 lengths. With that Lake, the all-time leading trainer at Parx Racing and a force at tracks all over the East for the last decade, became the sixth trainer to win 5,000 races. And just to make sure nobody missed the point, the Lake-trained Flight to Eden went wire to wire to win the second race for No. 5,001.

Earlier this year, back when he was serving a 60-day suspension after one of his horses tested positive for a banned drug, Richard Dutrow Jr. couldn't have predicted this would turn out to be his greatest year as a trainer. It took just one day to make that happen. Dutrow's entry in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Saint Liam, finished off his own dominating year by winning a stretch duel over Flower Alley to take the Classic by a length in front of 54,289 people at Belmont Park.

Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. knows some smart guys are touting his horse, Wildcat Heir, as a possibility to upset heavy favorite Lost In The Fog in tomorrow's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Perkins also knows Wildcat Heir, a 5-year-old colt, raced only once this year. "It's kind of like the backup quarterback," Perkins said yesterday morning at Belmont Park. "They all love him. It's kind of like when A.J. Feeley was with the Eagles. They all loved him. " Perkins isn't doubting his horse, who torched the field his last time out, winning the six-furlong Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 7 by 5 3/4 lengths.

Amid the blur of nearly 1,700 starters this season and approaching a nation-leading 400 victories, Scott Lake vividly recalls last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Lake saddled Thunderello, a 48-1 outsider that few observers gave a second look, and the colt came within a half-length of winning the race at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago. "I still think about it a lot," Lake, a 38-year-old native of Harrisburg, said by phone from Santa Anita, the site of this year's 20th renewal of the World Thoroughbred Championships.

The amazing $4,000 purchase Xtra Heat could push her earnings above $1 million and earn a spot in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Belmont Park on Oct. 27 with a victory in tomorrow's $100,000 Sweet & Sassy Stakes at Delaware Park. Xtra Heat, owned by Kenneth Taylor and partners and trained by John Salzman Sr., heads a field of seven in the Sweet & Sassy. She is undefeated in nine attempts at the race's six-furlong distance. She will be the odds-on favorite after an impressive victory in the Endine Stakes (Grade III)

Louis Albertrani, who was mucking his own stalls and racing nothing but cheap claiming horses at Philadelphia Park three years ago, so broke he hired out as a groom for other trainers, is now the trainer of the fastest thoroughbred in the world. And he has that horse here for the $13-million Breeders' Cup day of racing, the Super Bowl of racing, in the million-dollar Sprint at Gulfstream Park tomorrow. And he's the favorite. "It just shows that if this is really what you want to do, and you work hard and take care of your horses, it can happen," Albertrani said yesterday outside Barn 16, watching the fastest horse in the world have his bath.

Horse racing, perhaps more than any other sport, is passed on from generation to generation. Once your family is in the sport, you are in it. In the summer of 1947, Boots (only in racing are people named Boots) Gilchrist had a string of horses at Longacres in Seattle. He had his wife, Rowena, a 13-year-old daughter and their horses. Figured that was about it. Let Greg Gilchrist finish the story. Seems Rowena went up to Longacres from California to spend some time with her husband.

Blushing Julian became the first local runner ever to capture Philadelphia Park's richest sprint when he outdueled Thelastcrusade, a fellow home-town runner, in yesterday's $154,400 Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap. In a special performance that stopped the timer in 1:09 3/5 after six furlongs, Blushing Julian gave indications that he may someday belong in the company of Gallant Bob, My Juliet, Dainty Dotsy and Mr. Nickerson as the best sprinters ever stabled at the Bensalem track.

The ninth Breeders' Cup on Saturday showed itself to be more than just a fantastic display of expensive horseflesh. It featured the potential Horse of the Year in A.P. Indy, who posted a commanding two-length victory over Pleasant Tap in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic. It showcased the disappointing Arazi, a beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby and a beaten favorite in the Breeders' Cup Mile on the turf, where he finished ninth. "He will go back to Europe and go to stud," co-owner Allen Paulson said yesterday.