Racing at Hollywood Park : Bel Air a Breeze for Cutlass Reality

As Craig Lewis talked with reporters just outside the winner’s circle after Saturday’s $158,700 Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park, another trainer, Roger Stein, walked by.

Stein, on his way to the paddock to saddle a horse in the next race, said to Lewis in passing: “Great, Craig. And you did it without the stuff, too, huh?”

In just a few words, Stein had congratulated Lewis for sending out Cutlass Reality to another victory, and had taken a dig at the California Horse Racing Board, which had stationed several investigators at a dozen trainers’ barns last week. Lewis and Stein were among the trainers under surveillance.

Lewis and owners Howard Crash and Jim Hankoff debated about scratching Cutlass Reality from the Bel Air. They felt they had been unduly targeted by the investigators, who are concerned about illegal drug use.

By Saturday, the investigators had left Lewis’ barn and moved on to other trainers.

“I guess they have weekends off,” Lewis said. “They weren’t obnoxious when they were around. They called it monitoring, and I guess I’ll have to go for that. In the end, my judgment (to run) was based on what was best for the horse. I wanted to see the (California) fans who have supported him see him run one more time.”

The only scratching Lewis did in the Bel Air was to remove Aly Khan from the field, which shrank to five starters with the scratching of Roi Normand and Variety Road. Aly Khan, who would have been coupled in the betting with Cutlass Reality, is a sprinter who had won only once in 16 starts.

“I entered the other horse in case Precisionist ran,” Lewis said. “I wanted to make sure the pace was right. It never hurts to have another tool.”

Precisionist, who would have carried 122 pounds, 2 more than Cutlass Reality, had he run, went to Belmont Park, finishing last Saturday in the Tom Fool Stakes. Cutlass Reality became the starting high-weight.

The only tool Lewis needed in the Bel Air was Cutlass Reality, who sawed off his four opponents with a steady, authoritative move from last place toward the end of the backstretch. Cutlass Reality, with Gary Stevens aboard, passed Masterful Advocate on the turn for home and won by 3 1/2 lengths in an excellent time of 1:41, which missed Judge Angelucci’s stakes and track record for 1 1/16 miles by two-fifths of a second.

Masterful Advocate easily held on for second, 4 1/2 lengths in front of Candi’s Gold, with Foreign Legion and Midwest Gold completing the order of finish. The payoffs were $2.80, $2.40 and $2.10 for Cutlass Reality, $3.60 and $2.10 for Masterful Advocate and $2.10 for Candi’s Gold.

Cutlass Reality, a horse who had frequently met top horses but seldom beat them until this year, won his fourth straight, a streak that started with an allowance race at Hollywood in late May and continued with upsets in the Californian and Hollywood Gold Cup. His win Saturday, the 11th in 60 starts, was good for $91,200 and increased the Cutlass-Landera 6-year-old’s total to $1,046,630.

“I felt that Craig was as confident in the horse as I was,” Stevens said. “Any time you run for that much money--let’s just put it this way, I would have felt really bad if he would have been withdrawn from the race. To tell you the truth, I don’t think Craig had any intention of not running. I think he was trying to make a point that he shouldn’t have been singled out. And I agree with him, not just him but all six trainers involved. He had some power to speak his piece, and I think that’s what he was doing.”

Before the Bel Air, Len Foote, secretary of the California Horse Racing Board, said that 7 of the 12 trainers selected for surveillance were picked because they were among the leaders in the Hollywood Park standings this season. Lewis leads the list with 21 wins.

Foote indicated that his investigators would be moving on to other tracks. “We found one unlicensed person working at a barn at Hollywood,” Foote said. “There were no serious violations.”

Masterful Advocate had held a slight lead over Foreign Legion, with Candi’s Gold holding third place, before Cutlass Reality gobbled everyone up.

“I thought we had a good shot, but Cutlass Reality ran as expected and ran a super race,” said Aaron Gryder, who rode Masterful Advocate. “That horse is sharp right now, and ours seems to be just coming back to his old form. So maybe somewhere down the road we’ll hook up again and maybe it’ll be different.”