Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Despite Its Success, McGaughey Wants to Avoid the No. 1 Post

ELMONT, N.Y. —  Although post positions in a 1 1/2-mile race with only 10 starters would not figure to be a factor, and even though No. 1 has been the most popular post for winners of the Belmont Stakes in the last 81 runnings, trainer Shug McGaughey says that the rail is the only spot he doesn’t want Easy Goer to get when the draw for Saturday’s race is held today.

Trainer Charlie Whittingham, whose Sunday Silence will try to beat Easy Goer for the third time in the Triple Crown races and become the 12th horse to sweep the series, doesn’t seem to be concerned about post positions. That McGaughey would mention them is an indicator that Easy Goer’s camp is more concerned about Belmont strategy than Whittingham is.

“Post positions could have something to do with the race,” McGaughey said Wednesday. “If we would draw the No. 1 spot and Sunday Silence winds up someplace on the outside, they could force our hand. They could keep us down there the entire race, and maybe make my rider (Pat Day) take up in order to get out.”

After winning the Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths, Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by a nose in the Preakness, the second Triple Crown race, with the winner’s jockey, Pat Valenzuela, trapping McGaughey’s colt on the fence during the stretch run.

Since 1905, 20 Belmont winners have broken from the No. 1 post, although no horse starting on the fence has won since Secretariat in 1973. The next best post during this period has been the No. 3 hole, which has accounted for 12 winners. Only six horses from outside the No. 7 post have won.

Maybe Whittingham would like the No. 1 post for Sunday Silence if McGaughey doesn’t want it. Six of the Triple Crown champions--Sir Barton in 1919, Gallant Fox in 1930, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946, Citation in 1948, and Secretariat in 1973--started on the rail. Omaha in 1935, Whirlaway in 1941 and Affirmed in 1978 all won from the third spot. Seattle Slew in 1977 was No. 5, and War Admiral in 1937 was No. 7.

Of the 10 expected starters in the Belmont, only one, Le Voyageur, has run the stake distance of 1 1/2 miles, and the French import, who will be making his first start on dirt and first appearance in America, will probably be the longest price on the board.

Le Voyageur--which means the traveler--led for 1 1/8 miles and then finished last in a six-horse, 1 1/2-mile minor stake on April 18. Le Voyageur, who will be ridden Saturday by Randy Romero for the first time because trainer Patrick Biancone figures that an American jockey will help, has won only one of six starts and is winless this year in three tries.

Biancone, who says that Le Voyageur has trained well on dirt surfaces in France, is a top international trainer who worked briefly as an assistant for Le Roy Jolley here in 1974. Jolley is starting Irish Actor in the Belmont. When All Along, a 4-year-old filly, won the American horse-of-the-year title for Biancone in 1983, she won the Turf Classic at Belmont.

No defections are expected in the Belmont should the track come up muddy. There has been heavy rain here for two days and the track was sloppy Wednesday. Clearing is expected today, with temperatures in the 70s. It is supposed to be in the 80s Friday and Saturday, with a 30% chance of showers both days. Four of the Belmonts run this decade have been on off tracks.

Besides Sunday Silence, Le Voyageur and the entry of Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring, the other starters will be Fire Maker, Hawkster, Imbibe, Irish Actor, Rock Point and Triple Buck.

For those with more arcane tastes in handicapping, Easy Goer is a real longshot because a horse whose name started with an E hasn’t won the Belmont since Eric in 1889. Alphabetically, Sunday Silence is the favorite because 18 Belmont winners had names that started with S. Only the letter C has produced more winners, 20.

If there are omens, Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring are in trouble. Dinny Phipps, the owner of Awe Inspiring and the son of the owner of Easy Goer, was on jury duty in Brooklyn on Monday when his home in the exclusive suburb of Old Westbury, N.Y., was seriously damaged by fire.

The fire occurred near mid-day and considerable furniture, paintings and horse trophies were removed in time, but there was also much damage. The fire apparently was started by sparks from a soldering iron that was being used to repair a roof.

This will be the sixth time that the Belmont matches horses who ran 1-2 in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

In 1937, War Admiral won the Triple Crown with Pompoon fading to sixth in the Belmont after second-place finishes in the first two races. Arts and Letters, a runner-up in the Derby and Preakness, reversed the order of finish when Majestic Prince tried to sweep the Triple Crown in 1969.

In 1973, Sham ran fifth, beaten by 45 1/2 lengths, in the Belmont after unsuccessfully chasing Secretariat to the wire in the Derby and Preakness. Affirmed and Alydar ran 1-2 in all three races in 1978, and in 1987, Alysheba, Alydar’s son, twice beat Bet Twice before running fourth as Bet Twice won the Belmont.

Horse Racing Notes

Sunday Silence paid $8.20 to win at Churchill Downs in the Derby and $6.20 at Pimlico in winning the Preakness. The best payoffs on Sunday Silence in off-track betting were $11.80 for the Derby, at Marquis Downs in Canada, and $9 for the Preakness, at Connecticut’s OTB. Sunday Silence’s low payoffs both were at Hollywood Park--$6 for the Derby and $4.60 for the Preakness. . . . Fans watching the Belmont here Saturday might have to pay attention. The sound system at Belmont Park might be the worst in the country at a major track and the new matrix board in the infield is a jumble of closely positioned numbers that is difficult to read.

Open Mind, the best 3-year-old filly in the country, runs Sunday at Belmont in the Mother Goose, the second leg in New York’s three-race series for distaffers. Open Mind has already won the Acorn and probably will be opposed by only four horses. One of them is Gorgeous, who has won four straight. . . . Banker’s Lady, a 4-year-old filly who has never lost on dirt, will run Saturday in the Hempstead Handicap, a supporting stake on the Belmont card. Is It True, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile over Easy Goer, is scheduled to run in another stake at Belmont on Saturday. . . . Bayakoa, the standout 4-year-old filly on the West Coast, will run in the Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 17. “I’m trying to spot her races about a month apart,” said trainer Ron McAnally, who will saddle Hawkster in the Belmont.