Ferdinand to Skip Today’s Yankee Valor : Whittingham Decides to Enter Him in Goodwood Handicap, Instead

Two of the last three winners of the Kentucky Derby will be running in New York today. The third, Ferdinand, the winner in 1986 at Churchill Downs, will not be running--in New York or anywhere else.

Ferdinand is bypassing the Yankee Valor Handicap at Santa Anita. Instead, he will run 2 weeks from today in the Goodwood Handicap, the race he won just before winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic and clinching horse-of-the-year honors in 1987.

Alysheba, winner of last year’s Derby and the leading candidate for horse of the year in 1988, actually has more to lose than gain when he runs today in the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. Thirty minutes before the Gold Cup, Winning Colors, who became only the third filly to win the Kentucky Derby when she triumphed in the race last May, faces seven apparently overmatched opponents in Belmont’s Rare Perfume Stakes.

All three Kentucky Derby winners will return to the scene of those triumphs when Churchill Downs holds the seven Breeders’ Cup races Nov. 5. Ferdinand and Alysheba, who finished a nose apart in the Classic at Hollywood Park last year, will run in the same race this time, and Winning Colors’ goal is to spoil undefeated Personal Ensign’s horse-of-the-year aspirations in the Distaff for fillies and mares.

The absence of Ferdinand today and an uninspiring field of grass runners Sunday in the $400,000 Oak Tree Tree Invitational mean that Santa Anita’s most appealing race of the weekend has been left to Monday’s $200,000 Oak Leaf for 2-year-old fillies. The hot action is at Belmont, where, besides the appearances of Alysheba and Winning Colors, there will be two other stakes involving leading Breeders’ Cup candidates--Sunday’s $600,000 Turf Classic and a companion feature, the $200,000 Vosburgh for sprinters.

Sunshine Forever, who has been third in the Arlington Million and first in the Man o’ War in his last two starts, is favored in the Turf Classic against eight rivals, among them the horses that ran 2-3-4 in the Man o’ War--Pay the Butler, My Big Boy and Anka Germania.

There will be only five starters in the 7-furlong Vosburgh, but two of them--Gulch and the undefeated Mining, both sons of Mr. Prospector--are among the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

With Ferdinand out of the Yankee Valor, the 1 1/16-mile race becomes little more than an exercise to see whether Nostalgia’s Star, the persistent 6-year-old, can become only the second California-bred to earn more than $2 million. A finish of third or higher would push Nostalgia’s Star over the mark. Snow Chief is atop the list with $3.3 million.

Ferdinand, winless since the Breeders’ Cup and unraced since June 26, would have carried 126 pounds, 10 more than Speeding Light, who’s next in the weights, and 11 more than Nostalgia’s Star and Mi Preferido, but that apparently was not a consideration.

“The weights will be about the same for the next race,” trainer Charlie Whittingham said. “The Goodwood’s a mile and an eighth, and that distance should suit him better.”

Great Communicator, the expected favorite in the 1 1/2-mile Oak Tree Invitational, has been beaten in his last two races, running seventh in the Arlington Million and losing by 2 lengths to Sword Dance in the Del Mar Handicap. Three of Great Communicator’s four wins this year have been at Santa Anita, including the San Luis Rey and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap.

Here’s the field for the Oak Tree, in post-position order:

Baba Karam, Eddie Delahoussaye riding; Circus Prince, Chris McCarron; Nasr el Arab, Gary Stevens; Great Communicator, Ray Sibille; Uptothehilt, Corey Black; Putting, Fernando Toro; Rivlia, Pat Valenzuela, and Love the Groom, Bill Shoemaker. Nasr el Arab carries 121 pounds, the rest 126 pounds apiece.

Alysheba is a 4-5 favorite in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but the 1 1/2-mile race has not been kind to odds-on choices in recent years. John Henry lost to Temperence Hill in 1980, and Creme Fraiche, one of five horses running today, shocked Turkoman in 1986 and repeated at the expense of Java Gold last year. The only heavy favorite who won during this period was Slew o’ Gold in 1984.

After Alysheba won the Woodward Handicap last month at Belmont in track-record time for 1 miles, the Scharbauer family, which owns the colt, and trainer Jack Van Berg might have played it safe with their horse-of-the-year campaign and waited for the Breeders’ Cup. A loss today could damage those title chances and a win will only re-establish Alysheba’s superiority over Waquoit and Personal Flag, whom he beat in the Woodward.

The Scharbauers, however, have long coveted the earnings record of $6.5 million held by John Henry, and if Alysheba doesn’t run beyond this year, he needs victories today and in the Breeders’ Cup to break the record.

“If you’re scared of getting beat, you might as well go home and retire,” Van Berg said.

Horse Racing Notes

A field of eight is likely for the Oak Leaf, including Approved To Fly, who finished first by a neck in the Del Mar Debutante and then was disqualified by the stewards for interference. Lea Lucinda, declared the winner, is also expected to run Monday, along with her stablemate, One of a Klein, and Dancing Lindsay, Formidable Lady, Lady Lister, Stocks Up and Beware of the Cat. . . . Affordable Price, second in the Louisiana Downs Oaks, suffered a tendon injury and has been retired.

Bruho, who finished second to Music Merci in the Del Mar Futurity, has suffered a shin fracture that will sideline him for about 2 months. . . . Santa Anita will take bets today on the telecast of the California Jockey Club Handicap from Bay Meadows. Pen Bal Lady, who has won three major stakes this year, is in the field.

Gary Stevens, battling New York jockey Jose Santos for the national money title, will ride Winning Colors in the Rare Perfume and Steinlen in the Kelso Handicap, which is also on today’s Belmont card. . . . Laffit Pincay, who won last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup with Creme Fraiche, rides him again today. . . . Chris McCarron rides Alysheba for the 15th straight time. The last time another jockey rode him was when Pat Day was aboard 6 weeks before the Kentucky Derby. . . . The weekend rain in New York could be a factor in the Gold Cup. Alysheba ran one of the worst races of his career on an off track in last year’s Travers and Creme Fraiche is a superior runner in the mud.