Inglewood Handicap : Shoe Kicks Losing Streak on Le Belvedere

Since the day Temperate Sil caught a virus at Churchill Downs and was forced to miss the Kentucky Derby, not much had gone right for trainer Charlie Whittingham and his designated jockey, Bill Shoemaker.

Shoemaker won a small stake on April 22, opening day at Hollywood Park, but quit winning races on May 15 and was 0 for 33 going into Sunday’s $110,100 Inglewood Handicap.

Before the Inglewood, Whittingham hadn’t won a stake all season and had saddled just 4 winners of 53 starters in all races.

Whittingham, 74, and Shoemaker, 55, have been through enough slumps that neither of them had lost any color in the cheeks. And experience pays, because they didn’t need a road map to find the winner’s circle Sunday, after Le Belvedere overhauled Barbery inside the eighth pole and survived a charge by Sharrood along the rail to win the Inglewood by a neck before 27,667 fans.

Le Belvedere made a bi-coastal winner out of owner Allen Paulson, whose Theatrical, with favored Manila scratched because of the intense heat in New York, won the Red Smith Handicap on Saturday at Belmont Park.

Coupled in the betting with Bob Back, who finished last in the eight-horse Inglewood, Le Belvedere was the fourth betting choice and paid $14, $5.40 and $4. Sharrood, who was second by a neck, paid $4.20 and $4.20 and Barbery, a 6-year-old running in his 62nd race, paid $5.

Thrill Show, the 5-2 favorite, raced in the middle of the field going down the backstretch, then came wide into the stretch and couldn’t make up any ground, finishing fifth. The slow early fractions, set by Barbery with Le Belvedere not far behind, didn’t help Thrill Show, Whittingham said.

Le Belvedere’s time for the 1 1/16 miles on grass was 1:40 2/5, which was 1 3/5 seconds slower than the track record that Clever Song set last year. Clever Song, who had won the Premiere Handicap on April 26, finishing 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Le Belvedere, ran sixth Sunday.

Le Belvedere, a 4-year-old son of Miswaki and Louisville, raced in Europe until last fall. After one American start, he reeled off a three-race winning streak, then was 11th in the All American Handicap at Golden Gate Fields and third, behind Clever Song and Al Mamoon, in the Premiere.

“He had no chance in that Golden Gate race,” Whittingham said. “He had the 10 post in a 12-horse field, got carried out and was way back early.”

Shoemaker had ridden both Le Belvedere and Thrill Show, and before the Inglewood, Whittingham gave him the choice of horses to ride.

“I’ll probably pick the wrong one, so you make the decision,” Shoemaker said to the trainer.

Whittingham assigned Shoemaker to Le Belvedere, mainly because the rider was capable of making the 113-pound weight, and gave the call to Eddie Delahoussaye on Thrill Show, who won a division of the Hollywood Derby in his only start on the track and was carrying high weight of 121 pounds.

“There was only one speed horse (Barbery) in the race,” Shoemaker said. “I figured I’d be second or third early, and that’s what happened.

“I knew I was going to win turning for home, because he was still full of run. He ran a big race, one of his better races.”

Shoemaker can remember, in his heyday, when just going three or four days without a winner was a conversation piece.

“In those days, if I went two weeks without a winner, there’d be a big hoo-rah,” Shoemaker said. “Harry (Silbert, the jockey’s recently deceased agent) would chew his cigars in two.”

Sharrood was winless in eight starts last year, taking on some of Europe’s best runners. In his first American start, on May 14, he rallied to win by a nose at Hollywood.

“It took a while to get through on the rail,” said jockey Laffit Pincay, who was riding Sharrood Sunday. “I thought he was going to go by the others easily, but he just didn’t quite run on as I thought he would.”

Trainer Hal King was pleased with the way Barbery ran, as he sent his career earnings over the $500,000 mark.

“He tried like hell,” King said. “He’s as honest as a horse could be. I was thinking about resting him, but the jockey (Sam Maple) said that he’s so good now, and I know he can run farther, that maybe I’ll keep going on with him.”

Le Belvedere, who earned $65,100 and sent his career purses over the $200,000 mark, had run once on the dirt, in his American debut, and Whittingham said that he would remain on grass.

As for his personal slump, Whittingham issued a blanket denial.

“I really haven’t been running that many horses in stakes, because of the way this grass course has been,” Whittingham said. “You can’t have a slump if you don’t run. And the meet ain’t over, is it?”

Horse Racing Notes

Snow Chief, preparing for his ninth meeting with Ferdinand in the $300,000 Californian Stakes next Sunday, worked a mile Sunday in 1:38 4/5. Snow Chief has won four times and Ferdinand has won two. Broad Brush, the horse who beat them both in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap, will not leave his Maryland base to run in the Californian. . . . Buryyourbelief, winner of the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in her last start, will be flown to New York today, to run in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park next Saturday. The 3-year-old filly worked five furlongs in :59 2/5 Sunday. . . . Hidden Light, a top 3-year-old filly who has been a disappointment this year, has trainer Charlie Whittingham puzzled after her seventh-place finish in Saturday’s A Gleam Handicap. “She didn’t run hard enough to get hurt,” Whittingham said. “The way she ran, she couldn’t have beaten an alligator on a slippery road.” . . . Candi’s Gold, making his first start since running eighth in the Kentucky Derby, won Sunday’s last race easily and is on the road to the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood on July 26. . . . Laffit Pincay leads the jockey standings with 36 wins, two more than Eddie Delahoussaye. Next come Chris McCarron with 25 and apprentice Dave Patton with 24. . . . Dick Mandella is the leading trainer with 14 wins, 3 more than John Gosden and Mel Stute.