Surgery Puts Surfside on the Sidelines

Surfside, winner of the Santa Anita Oaks and probable favorite for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5, will be sidelined for two to three months after having surgery Thursday to remove a bone chip from her left front ankle.

Speaking from his barn at Churchill Downs, trainer Wayne Lukas said that the chip was discovered when the filly was X-rayed Tuesday.

“You could have blown me over with a feather,� Lukas said, “because this was the soundest filly you could have asked for. She got a routine checkup several weeks back and everything was perfect. I was very surprised to see the chip turn up.�

The Santa Anita Oaks, in March, was Surfside’s seventh victory in nine starts and her breeder and owner, William T. Young of Overbrook Farm, wanted badly to run the filly in the Kentucky Derby on May 6. But in her first start against males--in the Santa Anita Derby on April 8--Surfside couldn’t protect an early lead and finished fifth in a six-horse field. After the race, Young changed his mind about the Kentucky Derby and was hoping to run her against fillies in the Kentucky Oaks.

Shawnee Country, another top filly owned by Young and trained by Lukas, won the Fair Grounds Oaks, but also suffered a bone chip and has been retired.

Lukas said that he expected to have at least two and possibly three starters in the Kentucky Derby, a race he won for the fourth time last year when Charismatic delivered an upset win.

Definite for the Derby are High Yield, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, and Exchange Rate, who was ninth in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Another possibility for Lukas is Commendable, who’ll run Saturday in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. The Lexington was Charismatic’s springboard into the Derby.

Exchange Rate, who was fourth in the Louisiana Derby in his race before the Wood, burned his heels at Aqueduct.

“It’s nothing serious, but he did run down,� Lukas said. “So did several other horses, and when that happens, it’s a sign that a horse doesn’t like the track. For that reason, I think Exchange Rate deserves another chance.�

Another Lukas 3-year-old, True Confidence, ran next to last in the Arkansas Derby last Saturday. He’ll run in the Derby Trial on April 29 at Churchill Downs.

The Lexington drew eight horses. In post-position order, they are: Hades, Rollin With Nolan, Cocky, Commendable, Harlan Traveler, Ben The Man, Unshaded and Globalize, the probable favorite after his win in the Turfway Park Spiral Stakes.

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Marshall Naify, whose net worth was once estimated at $385 million, died Tuesday in a San Francisco hospital. Naify, 80, and his brother Robert assumed control of the United Artists Theater Circuit in the 1960s after it merged with the United California Theaters, which the Naifys’ father had founded in the 1920s. United Artists Theater Circuit was sold to Tele-Communications Inc. in 1986.

Under 505 Farms, Naify campaigned some top horses, including Bertrando, who won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar and the Woodward at Belmont Park before retiring in 1995 with purses of $3.1 million; and Manistique, whose win in February in the Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita increased her earnings to $1.3 million. In 1993 at Santa Anita, Bertrando ran second to longshot Arcangues in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, a defeat that cost him the horse-of-the-year title. Instead he was voted the Eclipse Award for best older male.

Naify was also board chairman of Todd-AO, the motion-picture sound company, and in Carlsbad ran a company that worked on theater-projection technology.

Horse Racing Notes

The Kentucky Oaks might be upstaged this year by the Louisville Breeders’ Cup Stakes, which will be run the same day. Among the probables are Keeper Hill and Silverbulletday, winners of the Oaks the last two years, and Beautiful Pleasure, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last year. Silverbulletday, who hadn’t run since finishing sixth in the Distaff, beat Roza Robata by a neck Wednesday in the Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland. . . . When Single Empire tries to win the San Juan Capistrano Handicap for the second consecutive year, he will not have to beat Dark Moondancer, the San Luis Rey winner, who is ill. Six horses are entered for Saturday’s $400,000 race, the others being Chelsea Barricks, Star Performance, Jack Grandi, Sunshine Street and Company Approval.