OAK TREE : Missionary Ridge and Desormeaux Winners Again

The first time Kent Desormeaux rode him, Missionary Ridge gave the 22-year-old jockey a victory at 24-1 in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar in August.

Horse and jockey traveled to New York after that, for a sixth-place misadventure in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, but Missionary Ridge was back in California, back on grass and back on his game Monday. Desormeaux rode him to a one-length victory in the $165,500 Carleton Burke Handicap, the closing-day feature for the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita.

The Burke was another milestone on Desormeaux’s road to the national riding title, a possible record for purses and perhaps an Eclipse Award. About 30 minutes later, however, Desormeaux had a win taken away from him in a $20,000 claiming race when the stewards disqualified his mount and placed him last for interference on the far turn. The infraction could lead to a five-day suspension for Desormeaux. That would ground him for the first weekend at Hollywood Park and beyond.

Desormeaux is approaching the $13-million mark in purses. The record of $14.4 million, set by Chris McCarron last year, is in sight, but Desormeaux can ill afford suspensions or missing out on the few rich races that are left on the schedule. Desormeaux’s agent, Gene Short, had been angling for the mount aboard Quest for Fame in the $2.9-million Japan Cup in Tokyo on Nov. 29, but Desormeaux said Monday that the assignment will go to another California-based jockey, Corey Nakatani.

“That’s not so bad,� Desormeaux said. “That’s the same weekend that Hollywood Park is running all those big races.�

With that, Desormeaux started reciting the schedule, from the $400,000 Matriarch to four other stakes worth $200,000 or more.

“They’re all there,� Desormeaux said. “Of course you have to win them.�

He will have one of the favorites in the Matriarch, the result of Super Staff’s front-running victory Sunday in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita. Missionary Ridge won virtually the same way Monday, racing just ahead of Carnival Baby for almost the entire 1 1/4 miles, then pulling away in the last eighth of a mile. Carnival Baby beat Myrakalu by a head for second place, with Golden Pheasant, the second betting choice, running fourth and favored Tel Quel, the French colt, finishing seventh in his second start in the United States.

Desormeaux won’t work any harder on a horse than he does with Missionary Ridge, a 5-year-old English-bred who is generally impervious to encouragement. “You can strap (whip) him all you want, and he doesn’t care,� Desormeaux said. “I started really riding him at the half-mile pole, and he really didn’t give me that spurt until we reached the eighth pole. Trevor (Denman, Santa Anita’s track announcer) has this thing about horses shouldn’t be whipped, but I’ll tell you: If you hadn’t whipped Missionary Ridge, you would have never heard of him.�

Trainer Bobby Frankel, on behalf of his Vancouver client, Peter Wall, bought Missionary Ridge at the end of his 3-year-old year for $650,000. In the United States, the horse has won only four of 18 starts, but he practically paid for himself in the Pacific Classic, earning $550,000. His other U.S. victories have all come at the close of Santa Anita meetings--Monday’s Burke, and the San Jacinto Handicaps in 1991 and 1992.

Monday’s victory was worth $98,000, with Missionary Ridge paying $7.40 for $2 after being timed in 2:00 4/5.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Gary Jones said Kostroma, unable to run in the Yellow Ribbon because of a lung infection, has recovered nicely and could run in the Japan Cup. . . . Kent Desormeaux finished with 42 victories for the 27-day meet, winning the Oak Tree title for the third consecutive year. Corey Nakatani and Gary Stevens finished second with 22 victories each. . . . With 12 victories, Jones won his second consecutive training title and fourth overall. He finished two ahead of Bob Hess Jr. . . . The area trend continued with Oak Tree’s on-track per-capita betting average dropping more than 8%. Almost as many people are attending the races, but they are betting less. Overall, counting off-track patronage, Oak Tree was down less than 1% in attendance with an average of 30,217. On-track crowds averaged 15,769, about the same as last year. The overall handle averaged $6.4 million, a drop of 0.7%. The on-track handle of $2.9 million was down 8.7%.