BREEDERS’ CUP : A.P. Indy Gets Classic Ride From Delahoussaye, Wins : Horse racing: Jockey overcomes trouble as 3-year-old shows no respect for elders in $3-million race.

HALLANDALE, Fla. —  Returning to the form with which he won the Santa Anita Derby and Belmont Stakes and getting a perfect ride from Eddie Delahoussaye, A.P. Indy stormed to a two-length victory in the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, apparently clinching the horse-of-the-year title.

Before a crowd of 45,415, Delahoussaye brought A.P. Indy between horses at the top of the stretch after they had settled in along the rail in ninth place earlier. Once they made the lead in mid-stretch, the rest was anticlimactic.

Pleasant Tap, who probably wouldn’t have won, even with smoother sailing, closed along the rail for second place. He was a half-length in front of Jolypha, one of two third-place finishers for the frustrated Europeans, who sent 22 horses into the seven races and won none.

The heat probably was a factor. Foreign horses also wilted on another muggy Breeders’ Cup day here three years ago, yet between visits to Gulfstream they won five races in 1990-91 in New York and Kentucky.

Worse still for the British, Lester Piggott, a national treasure despite his conviction on tax charges a few years ago, was seriously injured in a spill that resulted in the death of his mount, Mr Brooks, in the Sprint.

Thirty Slews, the 4-year-old gelding who has survived a delicate throat operation and admitted mismanagement by his trainer, Bob Baffert, won the Sprint and paid $39.40 at Gulfstream. The rest of the day was a mixture of winning favorites and upsets: Fraise ($30.00) in the Turf; Paseana ($7.40) in the Distaff; Gilded Time ($6.00) in the Juvenile; Eliza ($4.40) in the Juvenile Fillies and Lure ($12.80) in the Mile. Thirty Slews and Eliza set Breeders’ Cup records; Gilded Time tied the record for his stake and Lure, timed in 1:32 4/5 on the grass, broke a track record that was set in 1976.

A.P. Indy, owned in partnership by Tomonori Tsurumaki, the Japanese businessman who got him for $2.9 million as a yearling, and William Farish, William Kilroy and Harold Goodman, who bought in after the Belmont in June, earned $1.56 million, slightly more than his pre-Classic purse total.

This was A.P. Indy’s eighth victory in 11 starts. All of the losses come with footnotes. He was uncomfortable for his first race at Del Mar, a fourth-place finish in August of 1991, and then went on seven-race winning streak after a testicle was surgically removed.

After he was scratched the morning of the Kentucky Derby because of a cracked hoof, A.P. Indy’s injury was successfully patched for him to win the Belmont five weeks later. But then trainer Neil Drysdale gave him all summer for the hoof to grow out.

In September, A.P. Indy ran fifth in the Molson Million in his first race back, on a Woodbine track that he didn’t like, and three weeks ago he was a late-running third, despite throwing a shoe, stumbling and getting squeezed by other horses at the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. Pleasant Tap won that race, beating A.P. Indy by 6 3/4 lengths.

Delahoussaye retained his confidence in A.P. Indy, picking Drysdale’s horse rather than Pleasant Tap to ride at Belmont.

“I’ve ridden a lot of good horses, including Risen Star and several others,” Delahoussaye said Saturday, “but I’ve got to put this horse at the top of the list.”

On a day when many reluctant foreign horses had to be shoehorned into the starting gate, A.P. Indy loaded quickly.

“He was calmer today than he has been,” said Delahoussaye, winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1982-83 with Gato Del Sol and Sunny’s Halo. “But we didn’t have an altogether clean trip. We broke all right, but I lost my position in the middle of the first turn.

“At the half-mile pole, I really hustled him. Then when we came to the top of the stretch, the horse outside us (Jolie’s Halo) was dying and not holding us in.”

Delahoussaye came off the fence, squeezing between Jolie’s Halo and Defensive Play, who was on the lead.

“My horse had the guts to get through, but I don’t know if I did,” Delahoussaye said. “At the eighth pole, I knew he was a winner. I didn’t see Pleasant Tap on the inside. Once I got in front, I knew it would take a good one to beat us. From the time A.P. Indy got that breather after the Belmont, I had been waiting for this day. This was a horse I’ve always believed in. I knew he was this kind of horse.”

A.P. Indy, a 3-year-old son of Seattle Slew, ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:00 1/5. Pleasant Tap, carrying five more pounds because he is two years older that A.P. Indy, has earned more than $2.7 million, but his ability to race around two turns is questionable. He has won one time in 13 starts around two turns on dirt. He has won eight of 16 one-turn races.

Jockey Gary Stevens said it was Pleasant Tap’s trip, more than anything else, that hurt him Saturday. Pleasant Tap was in 10th in the 14-horse field for six furlongs, and at the quarter pole he was still ninth, six lengths behind Thunder Rumble, who was fading after setting a brisk pace.

“At the three-eighths pole, nightmares happened,” Stevens said. “There were two horses outside us, and I never got loose until we were inside the eighth pole. My horse never hit his full stride. He was as good today as he was in the last race, but traffic was a big factor this time.”

Delahoussaye also rode Thirty Slews to his victory, giving him five Breeders’ Cup victories lifetime. Three of those--Princess Rooney and Prized, along with A.P. Indy--have been trained by Drysdale, who first hired the jockey to ride some of his horses 14 years ago.

“I saw that Delahoussaye had a lot of horse going into the final turn,” Drysdale said. “He gave him just a lovely ride. This is the ultimate.”

Delahoussaye didn’t touch A.P. Indy with his whip, a hands-off style that he found would work the first few times he rode the horse. Delahoussaye substituted vocals for muscle through the stretch Saturday, a rare instance of a jockey screaming his horse across the finish line.

Horse Racing Notes

A preliminary report on the national Pick Seven betting said that there were four tickets sold with all seven Breeders’ Cup winners. The tickets were sold at Santa Anita, Keeneland, Calder and in the Montana state-wide betting system. The payoff was not available, but the pool totaled just over $5 million, about $3 million less than last year, when the Pick Seven was offered for the first time. . . . Allen Paulson might have won two races for the second consecutive year, but the victory he most wanted didn’t materialize when Arazi, the 3-2 favorite, finished 11th. “He got bumped on the turn, but that was no excuse. . . “ Jockey Pat Valenzuela said. “He flattened out, kind of like a horse who bleeds. Today he made no move at all, compared to the (Kentucky) Derby. At least he made a big move in the Derby (only to finish eighth).”

Paulson said that Arazi would be examined to see if he experienced pulmonary bleeding, but there was no immediate report of the result.

Leading the Way

The jockeys with the most Breeders’ Cup victories:

JOCKEY: VICTORIES Pat Valenzuela: 6 Pay Day: 6 Laffit Pincay: 6 Eddie Delahoussaye: 5 Jose Santos: 5 Angel Cordero: 4 Chris McCarron: 4 Craig Perret: 3 Randy Romero: 3

Past Winners

SPRINT 1984: Eillo 1985: Precisionist 1986: Smile 1987: Very Subtle 1988: Gulch 1989: Dancing Spree 1990. Safely Kept 1991: Sheikh Albadou 1992: Thirty Slews

JUVENILE FILLIES 1984: Outstandingly 1985: Twilight Ridge 1986: Brave Raj 1987: Epitome 1988: Open Mind 1989: Go For Wand 1990: Meadow Star 1991: Pleasant Stage 1992: Eliza

DISTAFF 1984: Princess Rooney 1985: Life’s Magic 1986: Lady’s Secret 1987: Sacahuista 1988: Personal Ensign 1989: Bayakoa 1990: Bayakoa 1991: Dance Smartly 1992: Paseana

MILE 1984: Royal Heroine 1985: Cozzene 1986: Last Tycoon 1987: Miesque 1988: Miesque 1989: Steinlen 1990: Royal Academy 1991: Opening Verse 1992: Lure

JUVENILE 1984: Chief’s Crown 1985: Tasso 1986: Capote 1987: Success Express 1988: Is It True 1989: Rhythm 1990: Fly So Free 1991: Arazi 1992: Gilded Time

TURF 1984: Lashkari 1985: Pebbles 1986: Manila 1987: Theatrical 1988: Great Communicator 1989: Prized 1990: In the Wings 1991: Miss Alleged 1992: Fraise

CLASSIC 1984: Wild Again 1985: Proud Truth 1986: Skywalker 1987: Ferdinand 1988: Alysheba 1989: Sunday Silence 1990: Unbridled 1991: Black Tie Affair 1992: A.P. Indy