THOROUGHBRED RACING : East Now Has Monopoly on Breeders’ Cup

The Breeders’ Cup started out being as California as the skateboard. Three of the first four $10-million race days were held at either Hollywood Park or Santa Anita.

In the last three years, however, the races have been held at Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park and Belmont Park. They will return to Churchill Nov. 2 and will be going back to Gulfstream next year.

Five years without the Breeders’ Cup in California. Five years that racing’s biggest day has skipped the state with tracks that perennially lead the country in daily average attendance and handle.

And although the new management at Hollywood Park would like to hold the Breeders’ Cup in 1993, Del Mar’s John Mabee doesn’t expect the races to return to California in the immediate future.

Mabee is chairman of the board at Del Mar and, when he sat on the Breeders’ Cup board, was part of the five-member site committee that in effect determined where the races would be held.

“The Breeders’ Cup is slanted toward the East now,” Mabee said. “Most of the votes are in the East. It’s going to be tougher and tougher to get the races in California anymore. This was proven the last time, when Santa Anita was unable to get the races.”

Santa Anita came within an eyelash of getting the 1992 Breeders’ Cup--this writer even mistakenly reported that the date was in the bag--before uneasy negotiations broke off and the races were returned to Gulfstream Park, where they were held in 1989.

The current Breeders’ Cup board has more than 60 directors. At best, there might be seven voters with West Coast ties.

“The first year of the Breeders’ Cup (1984), we were determined to hold the races someplace where there wouldn’t be any mud,” Mabee said.

“So Hollywood Park was a natural spot. “The first few years, we wanted to make sure television would be able to present the races over fast tracks in gorgeous weather, so we kept going back to California. Now, however, weather doesn’t seem to be as much of a consideration.”

The temperature has been 50 degrees or lower for the Breeders’ Cup twice in seven years. Last year, it was 43 at Belmont Park. On a raw day at Churchill Downs in 1988, the Breeders’ Cup caught a muddy running surface along with the foul weather.

The weather will always be a gamble in Kentucky in the fall, yet there have been suggestions that Churchill Downs get the Breeders’ Cup every other year. Except for the weather, Churchill Downs is the best place to run the races, because:

--It has a physical plant that can handle a large crowd comfortably.

--It has a staff that is accustomed to working with crowds of more than 100,000, on Kentucky Derby day.

--Both its dirt and grass courses are fair for the horses.

One person who says that Churchill Downs should not be the dominant host of the Breeders’ Cup is Tom Meeker, president of the Louisville track.

“We’re happy getting the races every three or four years,” Meeker said. “One of the original intentions of the Breeders’ Cup was to take the sport’s climactic races to as many areas of the country as possible, to expose different fans to a great racing experience. That focus shouldn’t be changed. The races should continue to be shared by several tracks, including a few that haven’t had the chance yet.”

Meeker said it was unfortunate that Santa Anita and the Breeders’ Cup couldn’t hammer out an agreement last time.

“I know the number of VIP seats that Santa Anita would have had to give up, at the expense of their season box-holders, was one of the bones of contention,” Meeker said. “It’s something that should have been worked out. We’re lucky at our track; we have enough room to take care of both the VIPs and our regular fans.”

New York doubtless will want the Breeders’ Cup again, a negative for racing because the state requires trainers to play under different rules. Horses that suffer from pulmonary bleeding, and run all year elsewhere with Lasix medication, are forced to compete without the treatment at Belmont and Aqueduct because of New York’s no-medication policy.

This year’s Woodward Stakes at Belmont was billed as the definitive race of the year for older horses, and In Excess ran so well that he probably would have won no matter what the circumstances. But the outcome was clouded because two of the starters, Festin and Jolie’s Halo, bled during the race.

New York’s attitude toward medication will not change, but the Breeders’ Cup should at least insist that horses be allowed to race on Lasix when its lucrative races are run there. This is a consideration that is infinitely more important than the box-seat allocation for VIPs who go to the races.

Horse Racing Notes

Elegant Bargain, winner of the Pomona Invitational Handicap last year, will return in the $150,000 Fairplex Park stake Sunday, the next-to-last day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting. Elegant Bargain, who will be ridden by Gary Stevens, has drawn the difficult outside post in an 11-horse field. From the rail out, the other starters for the distance of about 1 1/8 miles are Royal Assignment, Cool Gold Mood, Cobra Classic, Real Cash, Stylish Winner, Stop The Stage, Habastar, Due To The King, Putting and Jovial. The high weights, at 120 pounds apiece, are Elegant Bargain and Real Cash.

David Flores, who broke Paco Mena’s 10-year-old fair record when he rode his 39th winner Thursday, will ride Real Cash on Sunday for trainer Wayne Lukas, who will have three starters--Border Run, Medium Cool and Heavy Rain--in today’s 10-horse, $100,000 Pomona Derby. Flores has the mount on Doc Of The Day in the derby.

Lite Light, a disappointment in last Sunday’s Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, bled despite having been treated with Lasix before the race. The filly also bled twice in New York, where Lasix is banned. Lite Light is still scheduled to run in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2. . . . Olympio, another victim of the longshot winner, Free Spirit’s Joy, in the Super Derby, came back with a filling in one of his knees. Best Pal apparently had no excuse in the race.