Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Seven Are Expected to Challenge Goodbye Halo

Goodbye Halo, a filly who could have been bought for $60,000 before she ever ran a race, can reach almost $1.6 million in earnings Sunday if she wins the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

Seeking her third stakes victory in less than a month, the 4-year-old filly is expected to be challenged by seven distaffers, including a couple--Seattle Smooth and No Review--who were unable to beat Goodbye Halo on a sloppy track in the La Canada two weeks ago.

Only five females--Lady’s Secret, All Along, Triptych, Trinycarol and Life’s Magic--won $2 million or more in their careers, and Goodbye Halo, with only 17 starts, seems headed in that direction. Lady’s Secret, who heads the list with $3 million, and Life’s Magic are the only members of that quintet who did all their running in the United States.

When Lady’s Secret was horse of the year in 1986 she began the season with wins in the El Encino, the La Canada and the Santa Margarita. Goodbye Halo could sweep those three races with another victory Sunday.

Goodbye Halo may be shadowing Lady’s Secret and her accomplishments all year. When Lady’s Secret, who ran 45 times in her career, was retired, she had won 11 major stakes. Goodbye Halo has already won seven, starting with the Demoiselle for 2-year-olds at Aqueduct in November of 1987.

Earlier that year, John Ballis, Goodbye Halo’s owner, was offering the filly around for $60,000. Jim Hankoff, a New York money manager, and his partner, Howard Crash, considered buying Goodbye Halo but their advisers didn’t like the small filly that much. Hankoff and Crash later bought Cutlass Reality, for about eight times Goodbye Halo’s price, and he earned $1.4 million before an ankle injury forced his retirement this week.

Goodbye Halo was sold for a relatively cheap price as a yearling, considering that her sire was Halo, who has accounted for champions in both the United States (Devil’s Bag) and Canada (Glorious Song and Rainbow Connection). Sunny’s Halo, a son of Halo, won the Kentucky Derby in 1983.

Ten yearling fillies sired by Halo were sold at auction in 1986, and Goodbye Halo brought the lowest price, $47,000. A Halo colt sold for more than $1 million that year, and the average price for 21 Halo offspring in 1986 was $180,000.

Halo, who is 20, belongs to a syndicate and stands at Arthur Hancock’s farm in Paris, Ky. Hancock, who seldom buys horses after they have begun racing, bought Goodbye Halo shortly after the win in the Demoiselle, which was her third start. Hancock won’t say what he paid, but when Goodbye Halo’s earnings reached the $500,000 mark, he said he still hadn’t broken even. Later, Hancock sold an interest in Goodbye Halo to Alex Campbell.

Goodbye Halo will carry 125 pounds in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Margarita, which is four to 11 pounds less than the opposition. Goodbye Halo actually drops a pound off of her win in the La Canada, a race in which the weights were based on earnings. Here is Sunday’s field, in post-position order with jockeys and weights:

Carita Tostada, Pat Valenzuela, 115 pounds; Goodbye Halo, Pat Day, 125; Seattle Smooth, Gary Stevens, 115; No Review, Rafael Meza, 117; Flying Julia, Frank Olivares, 114; T.V. of Crystal, Chris McCarron, 116; Bayakoa, Laffit Pincay, 118; and Miss Brio, Eddie Delahoussaye, 121.

Annoconnor, a stakes-winning mare who had been a possibility for the Santa Margarita, will be saved for the Santa Ana Handicap on March 18. That race is half as rich as the Santa Margarita, but it is on grass, the one surface that Goodbye Halo hasn’t been able to handle.

Horse Racing Notes

Sandy Hawley, who would have ridden Carita Tostada Sunday, has been sidelined since last Saturday, when he suffered cracked ribs after being stepped on by a horse that fell while being pulled up after crossing the finish line. . . . Gary Stevens, who returned to action Friday after being shaken up in a Thursday spill, will be reunited with Stocks Up today in the Las Virgenes, a race that Goodbye Halo won after a stretch duel with Winning Colors a year ago.

Great Communicator, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf and runner-up to Sunshine Forever in the Eclipse Awards voting for best male grass horse, makes his 1989 debut on Monday in the San Luis Obispo Handicap, a race he won last year. . . . Pat Valenzuela will be at Laurel Monday to ride Very Subtle, who’ll run against colts in the $200,000 General George Stakes. Very Subtle recently finished second in a stake at Laurel and there is a possibility that she might be bred this season. . . . Oraibi, who won the Malibu at Santa Anita, is also scheduled to run in the General George, with the favorite likely to be High Brite.

The next start for Flying Continental is the San Felipe Handicap on March 19 at Santa Anita. . . . Houston, still one of the winter-book favorites for the Kentucky Derby off his two wins as a 2-year-old, is up to a half-mile in workouts at Hollywood Park and is expected to make his first start as a 3-year-old in mid-March.