DEL MAR : When Festin Wins, So Does Charity

DEL MAR —  The Girls and Boys Club of Tucson and the Community Food Bank in that Arizona city have more than a casual interest in the $1-million Pacific Classic Saturday at Del Mar.

Festin, the Argentine-bred 5-year-old, is one of the favorites in the richest race ever run at the resort track, and the horse’s owners, Burt and Nancy Kinerk, will donate 5% of whatever he wins to those groups. At 7-2 on the morning line, Festin is the second choice after Farma Way, a horse he beat the last time they met.

This will be the fifth race in which the Kinerks have apportioned some of Festin’s earnings to charity. Should the horse not finish in the top five out of eight starters Saturday, the Kinerks will still give $1,000 to their designated causes. First place in the Classic is worth $550,000, and the purses for the next four positions are $200,000, $150,000, $75,000 and $25,000.

Festin, who was bought by the Kinerks for $18,000 at an auction in Argentina, has already earned more than $20,000 for a variety of charities. Since his owners made their commitment, the horse has won the Oaklawn Handicap and the Nassau County Handicap, finished fourth in the Pimlico Special and run second in the New England Classic.

When Festin won the Nassau County at Belmont Park, one of the beneficiaries was the Sportsmen’s Fund, which received $7,500 for 40 underprivileged children to attend a summer camp. Tom Foust, golf and outdoor reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, is the chairman of the Sportsmen’s Fund, which his newspaper established in 1947. “When (Festin) took the lead in that race, I was jumping up and down in my living room,” Foust said. “We’ve had a lot of support from a variety of athletes over the years, but this was like getting a check with a hoof mark instead of a signature.”

Technically, Festin’s name should be pronounced fess-TEEN. “It means a real good party,” said Burt Kinerk, 56, a Tucson trial lawyer. “Not just a belly-rub cocktail party, but a full-blast party. The kind of party we’re hoping to have after Festin wins the Breeders’ Cup.”

Ron McAnally, who trains Festin, has a corner on the market of winning Breeders’ Cup races with Argentine-breds. He has won the Distaff the last two years with Bayakoa, and his success with that mare was one of the reasons Festin wound up in his barn. The goal for Festin is the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 2.

“Ron gives South American horses the special kind of attention that they need,” Kinerk said. “Some trainers get horses from down there and they try to Americanize them. One of the things that’s completely different for a horse is that back there they exercise them bareback. So anytime you put a saddle on them, they think you’re expecting a hard workout or they figure they’re going to be running in a race.”

To prepare Festin for American tactics, which include a saddle for a horse whenever it goes to the track, the Kinerks brought him to Arizona in the beginning and tutored him at a half-mile county fair track near Tucson. His South American trainer and exercise rider came along to help with the transition.

Festin’s two victories over Farma Way, at Oaklawn Park and at Belmont, have been belittled in some quarters because of the conditions that set them up. The Oaklawn race was run on a sloppy track, which Farma Way didn’t like, and Festin’s come-from-behind victory in the Nassau County came after Farma Way and Jolie’s Halo had raced themselves into mutual destruction by running the first half-mile in a suicidal :44 2/5. Farma Way hung on for third place, beaten by more than seven lengths, and Jolie’s Halo bled from the lungs and finished last.

Festin is a closing, one-run horse who needs a reasonable early pace. There will be some pace in the Pacific Classic, because both Farma Way and Twilight Agenda have good speed, but since both horses are trained by Wayne Lukas, the chances of them running each other into defeat are remote.

“I’d love to see a half in :44 2/5,” McAnally said, “But I’m sure that won’t happen again. But I’m glad those speed horses are in there. The track should be fair for everybody. There’s no speed bias here.”

Trying to give the horse his due, Burt Kinerk recalled Festin’s race at Oaklawn. “We clocked him off the tape of the race,” he said. “(Festin) covered the last three-eighths of a mile in :34 1/5 and handled the last quarter in :22 4/5. Those are tremendous finishing times. I think our horse has been overlooked by a lot of people. He’s very honest. He’s run a couple of bad races, but those were on grass.”

Festin’s dirt record is eight victories, four seconds and three thirds in 18 starts. And the Kinerks are planning a life for him after the Breeders’ Cup, hoping to run him two more years. “Too many good horses are hurried off to stud--that’s something that hurts racing,” Burt Kinerk said.

Should Festin indeed run in 1992-93, charity around Tucson will get another big boost.

Horse Racing Notes

Dennis Hutcheson, executive secretary of the California Horse Racing Board, said the stewards at Del Mar have issued a second ruling involving trainer Greg Martin. Wednesday, Martin received a 90-day suspension and a $1,000 fine because his horse, Port Washington, tested positive for cocaine after a fourth-place finish at Hollywood Park last November. Hutcheson said the stewards also have given Martin another 60 days, concurrent with the time to be served under the first suspension, because the trainer himself tested positive for cocaine. Martin also will be on probation through October 1992 and is required to undergo rehabilitation. Hutcheson said the stewards told him that Martin is currently in rehab. Martin is the son of Pancho Martin, the Hall of Fame trainer based in New York.

Post time for the first race Saturday will be 1 p.m., an hour early, and the $1-million Pacific Classic will be the third race. . . . Another stake on the program is the $100,000 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies, which drew nine entrants. High weight in the one-mile grass race is Flawlessly, who worked three furlongs Thursday in a quick :35 4/5. Others running are Magic Sister, Miss High Blade, Paris In Spring, Gold Fleece, Joli’s Princess, Sheer Quality, Sprucory and Interclear. . . . Today’s Escondido Handicap features three horses coming off victories: Splendid Career has won four in a row; Ultrasonido was first in the Greinton Handicap at Hollywood Park, and Rudy’s Fantasy has won his only two U.S. starts.

Riding Inner Peace, Laffit Pincay finished second to Mittens and Mink, ridden by Pat Valenzuela, in Thursday’s feature for his 21st runner-up finish of the meeting. Pincay has won only four races in 86 tries. . . . Valenzuela rode two other winners, giving him a meet-high 23. . . . Meadow Star will face five opponents, including Versailles Treaty, in Saturday’s Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. . . . “Thoroughbred Nightly,” a one-hour racing talk show, has been knocked off the air because of satellite transmission trouble at XEKAM but is expected to be back next week. It airs at 8 p.m.