GOLDEN GLIMPSES #330

September 12, 2000

By ED GOLDEN

DESPITE PEAKS AND VALLEYS, McANALLY RIDES HIGH

Ron McAnally paid his dues in horse racing more than four decades ago, when he walked hots for his uncle, trainer Reggie Cornell.

Despite being assigned menial tasks, McAnally was the first to tell his uncle about the talents of an unraced 2-year-old in their barn.

"Every time we worked this horse, he would easily outrun all the others," McAnally remembered. "So I asked my uncle what to do. He said, �Give the other horses a head start.�"

McAnally followed orders, but the strategy proved futile. The horse still beat his work mates.

That horse was Silky Sullivan, who became a household word in thoroughbred racing, thanks to his fantastic finishes. Making up 20 lengths in a six furlong race with only three-eighths of a mile remaining was routine for Silky Sullivan.

"What people didn�t realize about Silky Sullivan was that he was basically a sprinter," McAnally said. "But because he closed from so far back, everyone thought he�d make an ideal router. That wasn�t the case. He won the (1958) Santa Anita Derby, and was 2-1 in the Kentucky Derby, but finished far back." He ran 12th in a field of 14. One of the horses he beat was eased.

Respect and patience for the breed are but two reasons McAnally was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990. At age 68 and with 42 years in the business, the soft-spoken trainer has yet to win a Triple Crown race, but his perspective and philosophy keep him ever hopeful. He realizes that in horse racing, there is much more disappointment than gratification, and he experienced that during the 2000 Del Mar meeting.

McAnally won a division of the Oceanside Stakes with Duke of Green on opening day, July 26. But from that point, he started 50 consecutive horses without winning until Jimmy Z ended the skid on Sept. 3. Jimmy Z�s victory gave McAnally two wins from 54 starters. He had 13 seconds during that span.

"That�s the way this game is," reasoned McAnally, who numbers champions John Henry, Bayakoa, Paseana, Tight Spot and Northern Spur among the legion of outstanding horses he has trained. "It�s a game of peaks and valleys. Some days you�re on top, some days you�re not. It doesn�t bother me. I still come to work seven days a week."

And when McAnally says seven, he means seven. With Fairplex Park in Pomona beginning its annual 18-day jaunt on Sept. 14, some horsemen are looking forward to a break. Not McAnally.

"I�ll be working harder during that time than ever," McAnally said. "I�m going to the Keeneland sales where they�ll have 5,000 yearlings to look over, and then I�ll be going overseas to see if I can find some champions."

Traveling to Europe and South America is standard fare for McAnally and his entourage, Murray Friedlander and Emmanuel De Seroux, Ron�s resident experts on horse flesh.

McAnally�s most productive discoveries were in Argentina, where he found Bayakoa and Paseana. But McAnally is best known as trainer of the legendary John Henry, who rose from the claiming ranks to become Horse of the Year in 1981 and 1984.

"He wasn�t the kindest horse to be around," McAnally says of the hard-driving warrior. "But he was all business on the race track. He just wanted to beat you."

John Henry had been a productive horse when McAnally got him late in his 4-year-old season, with 12 wins from 38 starts and earnings of $239,613.

But he thrived under McAnally, winning 27 of 45 starts over the next five years, earning $6,358,334. John Henry won 18 stakes races in Southern California, but the one fans remember is the inaugural Arlington Million in 1984, when John Henry nosed out The Bart in a pulsating finish under Bill Shoemaker.

It�s a cherished memory for McAnally, too. Raised in a Kentucky orphanage with two younger brothers and two sisters, McAnally early on gained an accurate sense of life�s important values.

In the big picture, a little losing streak is nothing.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Laffit Pincay Jr., recovering from elective surgery on his eyelids, is visiting Panama where his native country is honoring him with "a day" at Panama City�s Presidente Remon race track where he won his first race in 1964. The world�s winningest jockey with 8,979 victories will return to the United States after the trip to Panama, then leave for a brief tour of Japan. "My eyelids were sagging and they were getting in my eyes, blocking my view," said the 53-year-old Hall of Fame rider. "I had been wanting to do the surgery for a long time and felt this was the best time, at the end of Del Mar and with a three-week break for Pomona coming up. I�ll be ready for Oak Tree (Oct. 4)." Pincay needs but 21 wins to reach 9,000. "It�s coming faster than I thought," said Pincay, who was joined on the South American junket by fellow Panamanian Alex Solis . . . Richard Mandella says Haskell winner and beaten Travers favorite Dixie Union "looks a little tired, and we�ll give him some rest." Dixie Union lost a shoe in the Travers. "We�ve patched the foot up but we�re not sure what we�re going to do next." . . . Unbridled Dignity, the $2 million son of Unbridled trained by Bob Hess Jr., was scheduled to start at Del Mar but didn�t. Hess says the 2-year-old will start at Oak Tree "for sure." . . . Blueprint, fifth as the 3-2 favorite in the Del Mar Handicap, "had no excuses, not even the torn up turf course," Hess said. "He kind of lost touch with field on the turn. I might try blinkers on him in his next start." . . . Simon Bray says Astra, winner of the Grade I Gamely Handicap, will be given the rest of the year off. "She did not like the Del Mar turf course," the trainer said. Another filly who didn�t is Kumari Continent, who was eased in the Del Mar Oaks. "She hated the track and just stumbled all over it," said co-owner John Toffan. Toffan said Bienamado suffered a slight muscle pull in the Arlington Million and is pointing to the Oct. 8 Clement L. Hirsch at 1 1/4 miles on the turf at Santa Anita, while Elaborate is gunning for the Oct. 14 Ancient Title. Look for Bagshot in the Ralph Hinds Memorial at Fairplex Park on closing day, Oct. 1.

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