Spend a Buck Tires in Stretch, Loses to 35-1 Shot at Monmouth

Skip Trial, a 35-1 longshot, passed a tiring Spend a Buck in the stretch Saturday and scored a 3 3/4-length victory in the $350,000 Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Belmont Stakes and American Derby winner Creme Fraiche was third, a length behind Spend a Buck, the Kentucky Derby and Jersey Derby champion, in the 1 1/8-mile race. Encolure was fourth.

Skip Trial, finishing in 1:48 3-5, ended Spend a Buck’s four-race winning streak and chance for the $1 million Jersey Challenge bonus. The bonus required a sweep of the Jersey Derby, the Haskell and the Pegasus Stakes, the latter at the Meadowlands on Sept. 26.

The upset of Spend a Buck and Creme Fraiche, the two top-rated 3-year-olds, also left the quest for the 1985 championship to be decided later in the season, most likely in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup races at Aqueduct.

Spend a Buck, carrying top weight of 127 pounds--11 more than the winner--led most of the way and opened a three-length margin before Skip Trial began his move on the final turn.

Sitting sixth on Skip Trial at the three-eighths pole, jockey Jean-Luc Samyn split Encolure and Pancho Villa to begin his winning move and then whipped the bay colt right-handed down the stretch as he passed Spend a Buck, ridden by Laffit Pincay.

“He just got plain tired,” Pincay said of Spend a Buck, who was coming off a two-month layoff. “The fractions were good. When they came to me, he opened up. I thought we were going to win. I hit him and he responded. He just got tired. It was a lot of time off between races.”

Cam Gambolati, Spend a Buck’s trainer, said: “He just got tired with that weight and that racetrack.”

Skip Trial, whose last victory was the June 15 Ohio Derby, won $180,000 and returned $73, $20.20 and $4.40.

Spend a Buck, pushing his career earnings past the $4 million mark in winning $60,000, paid $2.80 and $2.20, and Creme Fraiche returned $2.20. After fourth-place Encolure came El Basco, Regal Count and Pancho Villa.

Petoski, ridden by Willie Carson, produced a late burst to edge favored Oh So Sharp and win the prestigious $196,000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot, England.

Oh So Sharp, ridden by American jockey Steve Cauthen and winner of the English 1,000 Guineas and Oaks races, ran out of steam in the last furlong of the 1 1/2-mile race.

Clouds Daughter, ridden by Sandy Hawley, stalked the early leaders and drove to the lead inside the final furlong to score a two-length victory in the $57,650 Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar.

Agitated Miss, ridden by Rafael Meza, prevailed in a four-horse driving finish to finish second, a neck in front of Sovereign Honey, ridden by Ray Sibille.

Clouds Daughter, clocked in 1:43 3/5 for the 1 1/16 miles, defeated 11 rivals and earned a winner’s purse of $35,150. Clouds Daughter paid $8, $5 and $3.80.

Jockey Bill Shoemaker, who injured his hip in a spill Friday at Del Mar, will not return until Monday, officials at the track said. The 53-year-old all-time winner in thoroughbred racing complained of pain after his horse, Basic Image, was caught in close quarters, clipped heels and fell in the third race.

Gate Dancer came off a four-month layoff with a near perfect race to win the $162,000 Cornhusker Handicap by two lengths over Bandwagon Harry at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, Neb.

It was the first win in five starts in 1985 for the 4-year-old bay colt. Gate Dancer’s best previous finishes were three thirds at Santa Anita before being sidelined since March by a respiratory ailment.

Gate Dancer paid $3.20, $3 and $2.40. Bandwagon Harry paid $7.60 and $3.60, while Eminency was 4 1/2 lengths back in third to pay $3.