Racing at Del Mar : Judge Angelucci Caught in Speed Trap; Good Command Wins

DEL MAR — When it happens, newspapers carry cute headlines and people who’ve been on the wrong side of the court bench smile. It happened at Del Mar--a judge got caught speeding.

Judge Angelucci, the 4-5 favorite in the $153,750 Del Mar Budweiser Breeders’ Cup, was able to carry his speed in four wire-to-wire stakes wins this year.

But Saturday, before 22,627 fans on a chilly, overcast afternoon, the Judge didn’t have the pace to himself. Bold Smoocher, a 5-year-old with a long history of leg problems, matched strides with the leader through the first six furlongs of the mile race.

At the quarter pole, after running the half-mile in :45 and six furlongs in a swift 1:09 1/5, Judge Angelucci and Bold Smoocher had nothing left for the stretch. Good Command, a 4-year-old colt who hadn’t won a race in more than a year, passed the pooped front-runners to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

Stop the Fighting finished second, a head in front of Candi’s Gold, the only 3-year-old in the field of older horses, and it was another 1 lengths back to Show Dancer in fourth place. Bold Smoocher and Judge Angelucci were also together at the end--they finished next to last and last, respectively, in the six-horse race.

Continuing the pattern that held most of the day--the fifth-race winner paid $73.20--Good Command paid $21, $8.60 and $4. Stop the Fighting, an Irish-bred horse making only his third start on dirt, paid $6 and $3.80, and Candi’s Gold returned $3.80.

Carrying 114 pounds, nine less than Judge Angelucci, Good Command was timed in 1:34 4/5. He earned $86,250 for his breeders and owners, the Preston brothers from Houston. The summer has been a big harvest for Jack, J.R. and Art Preston. At Saratoga last month, they bought Groovy, the best sprinter in the country, for a reported $2 million and he immediately won a stake for them.

Saturday’s win was the first for Good Command since the son of Top Command and Gioconda won three straight races at Louisiana Downs last summer. Good Command was fourth in the Super Derby last September, but two races after he came to Hollywood Park, he developed chips in a knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery that sidelined him for seven months.

Returning to action this summer at Hollywood under trainer Gary Jones, Top Command was third in his first start back, and he ran third at 30-1 behind Super Diamond and Nostalgia’s Star in the San Diego Handicap here a month ago.

Jones was the first of Judge Angelucci’s three trainers, and Charlie Whittingham, who has the Judge now, once had Good Command.

“Isn’t it ironic how this game works out sometimes?” Jones said.

Chris McCarron, who rode Good Command for the jockey’s sixth stakes win of the season, was told by Jones to be close to the speed. But McCarron’s horse broke in a tangle, and Good Command was in front of only one horse after a half-mile.

On the turn for home, Good Command was in the middle of the track and charging.

“Man, he was a little bit the best,” McCarron said with exaggeration. “I sent him for about 70 yards and then when I realized that I wasn’t going to be on the pace, I took a little hold of him.

“He climbed quite a bit the first part, but once he got used to the dirt hitting him in the face, he tolerated it well. When I saw the Judge wasn’t shaking loose and Gary (Baze) was asking him, I thought we were going to be tough.”

Baze had ridden Judge Angelucci to three wins in his last four starts.

“It was probably a combination of weight and getting hooked and not being able to get a breather,” Baze said. “No breaks today.”

Candi’s Gold, winner of the Silver Screen Handicap and second in the Swaps at Hollywood Park in his last two starts, was third going down the backstretch.

Candi’s Gold got through on the rail under Bill Shoemaker but had no rally at the end.

“I didn’t have enough horse,” Shoemaker said.

When the race didn’t set up like Jones planned, the trainer had little reason to believe that Good Command would win.

“Was I surprised when he opened up on them at the quarter pole?” Jones said. “No, I was flabbergasted. I didn’t think he could do that. But he sure enough did.”

Good Command will be sent to Kentucky for the Keeneland Breeders’ Cup Oct. 23. That’s another $150,000 race at a mile. For this colt, both the distance and the price seem right.

Horse Racing Notes

Ron McAnally, who will try to win the Ramona Handicap for the second straight time with Auspiciante, is bemoaning the fact that there’s not much early speed in today’s nine-horse field. Jack Kent Cooke, who owns Auspiciante, will be the same place he was on Ramona day last year--rooting for his Washington Redskins against the Philadelphia Eagles. Last year, Cooke hit the daily double with the Redskins and the mare. . . . The Wayne Lukas barn won Saturday’s Maskette Stakes at Belmont Park when North Sider hit the wire a neck in front of Wisla, and for a few minutes it looked as if another Lukas runner, Sacahuista, was a winner in the Cotillion Handicap at Philadelphia Park. But Sacahuista was disqualified for interference and placed second, with the victory going to Silent Turn, who had run second. . . . Contempt will not run in Wednesday’s closing-day Del Mar Futurity, but the Lukas barn will still have two starters--the fillies Lost Kitty and Raised in Song. . . . Sandy Hawley, after a successful tour of Midwestern tracks, will ride during the Oak Tree meeting, which opens Oct. 7 at Santa Anita. . . . Darrel McHargue will ride at Bay Meadows when Del Mar closes.