Reid Putting Together Nice Package Deals

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  Bobby Frankel and Edmund Gann wouldn’t know Mark Reid if they stumbled over him. But almost every time Gann calls Frankel to discuss their horses, the Rancho Santa Fe businessman asks: “How about that guy Reid? Has he got any more to sell?”

Reid, a 51-year-old former leading trainer on the Philadelphia-New Jersey circuit, is a bloodstock agent now, and the three horses he has sold Gann and his trainer Frankel in the last eight months all have hit home runs. You, a 3-year-old filly, is a Grade I winner who’ll be one of the favorites at Churchill Downs Friday in the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks; Labamta Babe was a stakes-winning colt before a minor leg injury derailed him from the Triple Crown trail; and Medaglia d’Oro, winner of the San Felipe at Santa Anita and second in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, probably will be the second or third betting choice in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby here.

Interviewed on the phone from his New Jersey home, Reid said he’d be traveling to Kentucky in time for the Derby. When he shows up at Frankel’s barn at Churchill, he’ll probably get a rousing cheer instead of the perfunctory handshake. He did sell Frankel one horse that never won a race, but the three Frankel trains for Gann would be a bargain at any price.

Frankel won’t say how much Medaglia d’Oro, You and Labamta Babe cost, but he will concede that all three were bought for less than $1 million. Many horsemen seek out quality by spending freely at rich public auctions, but Frankel prefers the prepackaged route.

“There’s less risk this way,” the 60-year-old Hall of Fame trainer said. “But let’s face it, we’ve been lucky. What’s going to happen happens. But it’s sure nice to have three of the top 3-year-olds in the country.”

Labamta Babe’s injury, not serious enough to prevent him from returning to training last week in California, came after he beat Siphonic, one of the early Derby favorites before he was sidelined, at Santa Anita. That sent Frankel back into the 3-year-old market for the 78-year-old Gann, whose only Derby starter, Burnt Hills, finished next to last in 1990, when Unbridled won the race.

At the same time, Reid had been tipped off by an old training friend, David Vance, that Medaglia d’Oro’s owners were entertaining offers for their colt. In two races for Vance, Medaglia d’Oro had finished second as a 2-year-old and broken his maiden in February with a convincing win at Oaklawn Park. After Reid called Frankel, Gann’s trainer watched Medaglia d’Oro’s win on tape.

Frankel, as he usually does with his owners, waited until Medaglia d’Oro had been thoroughly examined before he contacted Gann. There was a little back and forth with the colt’s owners and breeders, Albert and Joyce Bell of Great Falls, Mont., but Gann’s second offer was accepted and the horse was sent from Arkansas to Frankel’s barn at Hollywood Park.

Kent Desormeaux, who won the Derby with Real Quiet in 1998 and Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000 (and who’s one of the jockey nominees this year for the Racing Hall of Fame, with the announcement due here Tuesday), rides a lot of Frankel’s horses, but he was unavailable, being tied up with U S S Tinosa, another leading 3-year-old. So when Medaglia d’Oro was ready to run for the first time with Gann’s red, white and blue colors, Frankel tapped Laffit Pincay, the ageless veteran.

On March 17 in the San Felipe at Santa Anita, Pincay gave the colt a vintage daredevil ride, not unlike the heroics that produced a Belmont Stakes win with Caveat 19 years ago. Cutting a wicked corner, Pincay just missed bouncing off the fence, got through and beat U S S Tinosa by 21/2 lengths. Siphonic, the 2-5 favorite, finished third.

The Santa Anita Derby, on April 6, might have been next for Medaglia d’Oro, but instead Frankel flew him across the country to run a week later in the Wood in New York. Medaglia d’Oro would have had to beat Came Home, the eventual winner at Santa Anita, but actually Frankel chose a spot against a field that top to bottom was more fully packed.

It would have cost Gann a $15,000 penalty to run at Santa Anita. Medaglia d’Oro could have been nominated for $2,500 by Feb. 28, a week after Gann bought him, but because of an oversight, the payment wasn’t made.

“The rules for the Santa Anita Derby are a joke,” Frankel said. “For the Wood you can nominate as late as a couple of weeks before the race. It wasn’t the extra money that stopped us from running at Santa Anita. I sent the colt to New York to make a statement to the Santa Anita racing office more than anything else.”

With Pincay aboard again, Medaglia d’Oro was outfinished by Buddha after a long stretch drive, losing the Wood by a head. That was only Medaglia d’Oro’s fourth career race, a reality that concerns Frankel going into the 11/4-mile Derby. A horse with only four starts hasn’t won the Derby since Exterminator in 1918.

“If I had been training him earlier, I probably would have tried putting one more race into him,” said Frankel, whose best Derby finish from three starters has been Aptitude’s second to Fusaichi Pegasus two years ago. “Medaglia d’Oro’s a big, strong horse, but it’s hard to say if he would have needed that one more race.”

Pincay, 55, will be riding in his 21st Derby, which will tie the late Eddie Arcaro for second place on the appearance list. Bill Shoemaker, who won four Derbys, rode in 26. Pincay, whose only Derby win came with Swale in 1984, hadn’t ridden in the race in six years when he finished 11th with Millennium Wind last year.

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On a sloppy Belmont Park track, Buddha worked six furlongs in 1:133/5. The Wood Memorial winner will be taken from New York to Louisville today.... It’sallinthechase worked five furlongs in 1:013/5 on a packed-down but muddy track at Churchill Downs. Wild Horses also worked there in 1:011/5.... The forecast includes a chance of showers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday and Saturday are expected to be partly cloudy, with no rain and temperatures in the low 70s.... The last off track for a Derby was when Go For Gin won in sloppy going in 1994.

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*--* Derby Contenders The following horses are being considered for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Horses are listed according to graded stakes earnings, the determining factor if more than the race’s limit of 20 horses are entered. The Derby field will be determined Wednesday Horse Jockey Graded Purses Essence Of Dubai David Flores $1,518,000 Harlan’s Holiday Edgar Prado $1,286,060 Johannesburg Jerry Bailey or Gary Stevens $1,006,489 Came Home Chris McCarron $844,440 Buddha Pat Day $450,000 Medaglia d’Oro Laffit Pincay $300,000 Perfect Drift Eddie Delahoussaye $300,000 Private Emblem Donnie Meche $300,000 War Emblem Victor Espinoza $300,000 Saarland John Velazquez $235,000 Blue Burner Corey Nakatani $234,500 Proud Citizen Mike Smith $229,317 Mayakovsky Undecided $205,000 Easy Grades Jorge Chavez $190,000 Castle Gandolfo Jerry Bailey or Gary Stevens $130,035 Request For Parole Robby Albarado $129,672 Lusty Latin Glenn Corbett $120,000 It’sallinthechase Eddie Martin Jr $117,000 Ocean Sound Alex Solis $107,000 Wild Horses Rene Douglas $100,000 Windward Passage Undecided $100,000 Crimson Undecided $95,650 U S S Tinosa Kent Desormeaux $83,750 Sunday Break Gary Stevens $82,500 Straight Gin Undecided $52,500 Red Masque Undecided $0

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