Ruhlmann Wins Swift Camino Real : Feverish Purdue King Is a Late Scratch at Bay Meadows

SAN MATEO — Purdue King ran a fever, and then Ruhlmann ran a race. For Purdue King’s sake, it might have been just as well that the heavy favorite in Sunday’s $250,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows was scratched about two hours before post time.

Ruhlmann, a Hollywood Park-based horse by way of France, may not have beaten any potential winners of the Triple Crown, but he still established himself as one of the bright new 3-year-olds of 1988 by winning the Camino Real by a devastating six lengths and, more importantly, running 1 1/16 miles in a time that was only a second off the world record.

The numbers on the tote board were stunning--1:39 2/5, which was a second slower than what Hoedown’s Day, as a 5-year-old, ran 1 1/16 miles here in 1983.

The day Hoedown’s Day set the world record, the Bay Meadows racing surface was better suited for the Indianapolis 500 than horses, so it may be more significant that Ruhlmann came within two-fifths of a second of the previous world record, Swaps’ 1:39 clocking under 130 pounds in the Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park in 1956.

Older horses ran 1:40 1/5 at Bay Meadows Saturday, and cheap horses were running in 1:42 4/5 and 1:44 3/5 earlier on Sunday’s program. What made Ruhlmann’s final time more compelling was that he ran the first mile in 1:33 2/5, which was a fifth of a second faster than the Bay Meadows record for that distance.

Pat Day, winner of the Eclipse Award for top national jockey three of the last four years, has won races at a lot of tracks, but this was his first victory at Bay Meadows, and the first time he ever rode Ruhlmann.

“This horse ducked in through the stretch, and he started looking up at the grandstand,” Day said. “I know what he did, but I think he’s capable of a much better finish. I think he had another gear left if somebody had run with him.”

The Camino Real, run before 13,597 fans, turned into a free-for-all after Purdue King, who was 8-5 on the morning line, came up with a 102.5-degree fever following a quarter-mile blowout Sunday morning. A four-time stakes winner in Southern California as a 2-year-old, Purdue King had his temperature taken hourly from about 9:30 in the morning on, and when it didn’t drop by early afternoon, owner John Valpredo made the decision to scratch.

Walter Greenman, a Bay Meadows trainer who would have saddled Purdue King Sunday, said that the colt is under medication and will remain here under observation for at least another day. Depending on how soon Purdue King bounces back, Valpredo would like to run him in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 5.

Bobby Frankel, the trainer of Ruhlmann, put blinkers on the Mr. Leader-Indian Maiden colt for the first time, and visited the Bay Meadows shoeshine stand a couple of hours before the race. Frankel wanted to be at his winner’s-circle best in case he made the trip.

“I’m not saying we would have beaten Purdue King, or we wouldn’t have beaten him,” Frankel said. “Who knows?”

Sight unseen, Frankel bought Ruhlmann for $40,000 as a yearling on behalf of Jerry Moss, the Los Angeles recording executive, and Moss’ wife, Ann. The horse is named after a German interior designer from the 1930s and 1940s, whose furniture the Mosses have admired.

Carrying 117 pounds, five pounds less than the top-weighted Antiqua, Ruhlmann went off at 7-2 and paid $9.20, $5.40 and $3.60. Havanaffair, a $50,000 claim by trainer Mel Stute at Santa Anita last October, placed in the first stake of his life, taking second by 2 1/2 lengths and at 15-1 paid $12.40 and $5.20. Chinese Gold, who was six lengths in front of the fourth-place finisher, Seeker’s Journey, finished third and paid $3.20.

Ron Warren, riding Seeker’s Journey, claimed foul against Havanaffair and Dave Patton for interference at the top of the stretch, but the stewards said it had no merit.

Blue Guy finished fifth, and trailing him across the finish line were Greager, Antiqua, Chillon and Blade of the Ball.

Seeker’s Journey was the early leader, followed by Havanaffair and Ruhlmann.

Seeker’s Journey was squeezed on the rail by Havanaffair just inside the quarter pole, but that was when Ruhlmann was making his bold, winning move.

“This horse was washy (sweaty) in the post parade, but he was kind and cooperative in the race,” Day said. “At the half-mile pole, he was virtually coming out of his bridle. He did that when I chirped to him. Next time, I’ll wait a little longer before I do my chirping.”

Corey Black rode Ruhlmann in his American debut, a seven-length win over maidens at Hollywood Park last Nov. 20. In his first race on dirt, Ruhlmann ran a mile in 1:35 4/5, only three-fifths of a second slower than what Success Express did in winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the next day.

Black was again aboard when Ruhlmann ran second at Hollywood on Dec. 2, and Gary Stevens rode the colt to a third-place finish there three weeks later, on a day when Frankel resisted the inclination to add blinkers. Day, who is not considered a strong whip rider, was picked by Frankel to ride Sunday because Ruhlmann is a horse who doesn’t like to be hit.

The Mosses sent Ruhlmann to France last year, because his breeding indicated grass. Andre Fabre, a leading French trainer, kept saying that Ruhlmann was the best of more than 100 2-year-olds in his care, but the horse was unimpressive in three starts, with a second and two sevenths.

Fabre had guaranteed a win by the horse in his second start. Frustrated after the third race, Fabre was talking about gelding Ruhlmann, and that’s when Frankel asked that the horse be sent to California and tried on the dirt.

This was about the sixth time that Day, a Midwestern jockey, had ridden at Bay Meadows. Not only had he never won here before Sunday, but he was also the victim of an unusual ruling by the stewards in the Camino Real in 1985.

“I finished third with Skywalker, and then I claimed foul against the entry, which included Tank’s Prospect, the winner of the race,” Day said. “The stewards looked at the replay, didn’t do anything about Tank’s Prospect and disqualified me , to fourth place.”

On Sunday, there was a foul claim, but it didn’t involve Day and Ruhlmann. They went straight to the winner’s circle, where Bobby Frankel was waiting with his new shoeshine.

Horse Racing Notes

Plans for Ruhlmann are indefinite. Bobby Frankel would like to run him once a month between now and the Kentucky Derby on May 7. . . . Russell Baze finished eighth on Antiqua in the El Camino Real Derby, but won his eighth straight Bay Meadows riding title by an 82-78 margin over Tim Doocy. . . . Great Communicator, upset winner of the San Marcos Handicap Sunday at Santa Anita, paid $32.20 from betting on the race at Bay Meadows, and combined with another longshot, Schiller, for a $1,363 payoff on a $2 exacta. . . . Success Express, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, makes his first appearance since his sixth-place finish in the Hollywood Futurity, running Wednesday in the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita. Also in the eight-horse field are Mi Preferido and Lively One.