Credit: Associated Press
DD 08/06/89
SO STAR TRIBUNE Mpls.-St. Paul Newspaper of the Twin
Cities (MSP)
Edition: ST. PAUL
Section: SPORTS
Page: 14C
LP A New York family captured a racing double Saturday when Awe Inspiring won the $207,500 American Derby at Arlington International Racecourse in Illinois about a half-hour after Easy Goer had captured the $250,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga in New York. Both won as odds-on favorites. Easy Goer, a 3-year-old, defeated older horses in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney, with owner Ogden Phipps on hand.
TX Awe Inspiring whipped seven other 3-year-olds in the 77th running of the American Derby, Chicago's oldest stakes race. Awe Inspiring, far behind Caesar down the backstretch, finished determinedly under Craig Perret the final sixteenth to win by a half-length in a close finish. Dispersal, who came alongside Caesar in midstretch, battled to the wire to defeat Caesar by a head for second money. Western Playboy was fourth. "I wasn't too worried early, even though I was some 13 or 14 lengths behind down the backstretch," Perret said. "But with three furlongs to go, I started to worry and I got into my horse. At the furlong pole, he shifted into gear and I knew we were on our way." Awe Inspiring paid $3, $2.60 and $2.40 and carried 126 pounds home in 2:02 2/5. Dispersal paid $5 and $4, and Caesar paid $7.60. It was Awe Inspiring's first race since finishing a distant fourth behind stablemate Easy Goer in the Belmont Stakes on June 10. "The Belmont just wrung him out," said Dinny Phipps, Ogden Phipps' son. The American Derby marked Awe Inspiring's fourth stakes success of the season. Shoemaker wins at Philadelphia Bill Shoemaker, the winningest jockey in history, rode Drone's Dash from 25 lengths behind to win in his final race yesterday at Philadelphia Park. Yesterday's races were part of Shoemaker's farewell tour, which is scheduled to end Feb. 4 at Santa Anita Park. Drone's Dash was listed as the 4-5 favorite among the 10 horses in the ninth race. Before yesterday, Shoemaker had ridden only one horse at Philadelphia Park, but he told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he could not remember when the race took place. "All I remember is that is was a cold day, and that my horse didn't win," he said. Shoemaker said he plans to train horses when he retires. "I bought five yearlings - four fillies and a colt - last month," he said. Second Kahn horse fails test * A second horse owned by the Aga Khan, the world's most successful breeder, has failed a drug test and faces disqualification. The 3-year-old filly Rifada, trained by Fulke Johnson Houghton, failed a routine test after winning the Warwick Oaks on June 24 and faces disqualification. Chemists found traces of the illegal substance Naproxen, used as a muscle relaxant, in Rifada. The filly * Aliysa, who had won the Oaks at Epsom two weeks earlier for the Aga Khan, also faces disqualification after traces of camphor were found in a drug test. Ruidoso fans win record in trifecta Fans from Albuquerque and Santa Fe teamed up Saturday to win a state record $792,446.40 in the twin trifecta at Ruidoso Downs, as the track also set a single-day handle record of more than $1.5 million. The group of bettors who shared in the twin trifecta payoff combined their betting money to pick the first, second and third place horses in the third race and the top three horses in similar order in fourth race. The first three horses in the third race were Sherri's Ego, which paid $5.40, $4.00 and $3.00; Jerrice's Envoy, $10.00 and $5.80 and I'm Your Gal, which paid $3.60. There were were 4,345 tickets that successfully picked the first three horses. The second-half combination of Gallant Pass, $7.20, $4.60, $4.00; Its Peanuts $14.80, $7.80 and Curve, $14.80, was picked on only one ticket, that held by Pacheco's group. Long shot wins Sorority Stakes Fuerza scored an upset in the $200,000 Sorority Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Monmouth Park. Fuerza, with Robert Colton in the irons, earned $120,000 and returned $94.40, $38.40 and $20.80. Icy Folly finished second and completed an exacta combination worth $758.80.
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