Racing at Hollywood Park : By Land By Sea Has Second Throat Operation

By Land By Sea, the winner of four straight stakes and one of the best older fillies or mares in the country, has had a second throat operation and her handlers will be closely monitoring her condition in the next few weeks.

The second operation, done last week by veterinarian Scott Merrell at Hollywood Park, was for the same entrapped epiglottis that necessitated surgery for By Land By Sea last October.

This time, however, the operation didn’t go as smoothly.

“The trouble with horses is that you can’t tell them that you’re working on them,” Merrell said. “By Land By Sea jerked her head on me, and I nicked the soft palate. She was bleeding badly, and I had to stop when I still needed an incision of about a sixteenth of an inch more in order to make the job perfect. I didn’t want to jump off a big mountain when it happened, but if there had been a small building handy, I might have gone for that.”

The epiglottis consists of fleshy tissue that covers the windpipe when a horse swallows, preventing food from entering the lungs. Because the area in which Merrell was working is difficult to reach, the veterinarian hopes that the cut will heal naturally.

“We should know about that in about two weeks,” Merrell said. “Even if it doesn’t heal on its own, I would think that the filly still would be able to train and race. But she would require extra care. You would have to flush her out in the mornings and put a muzzle on her to make sure she doesn’t eat before she does her work. You wouldn’t want her to eat until after she was cooled out.”

Although By Land By Sea won the Milady Handicap at Hollywood on June 18 for her fifth win in six starts this year and 10th in 13 overall, trainer Gary Jones was disturbed by the way she ran.

“She wasn’t within 10 lengths of being herself,” Jones said. “I thought maybe she had bled in the race.”

Both Jones and Merrell knew that By Land By Sea’s first epiglottis operation had not been completed because the filly started to bleed excessively.

“Scott did it right, but he just wasn’t able to finish it,” Jones said. “He got about 95% of what he was after. But he had to have done something right, because before that the filly was having trouble breathing, and she’s come back to earn something like $500,000.”

Merrell, 31, is the same veterinarian who operated on Alysheba’s entrapped epiglottis in March of 1987, about six weeks before the colt won the Kentucky Derby. Epiglottis surgery also helped Tank’s Prospect win the Preakness in 1985.

Jones, who calls Merrell “the earl of epiglottis,” regards By Land By Sea as the best older filly or mare in the country, although the handlers of Personal Ensign would want equal time in that debate. Personal Ensign, who has never raced By Land By Sea, is undefeated in nine starts, including three stakes this year.

“People back East are making Personal Ensign the pro tem leader of the division, but she’s been a home-court horse so far,” Jones said.

Personal Ensign, a 4-year-old, won her first eight races at Belmont Park before winning the Molly Pitcher Handicap at nearby Monmouth Park last Monday.

“My filly’s gone everywhere to run,” Jones said. “Personal Ensign has made a career out of beating that filly Clabber Girl. I’d like to run in races where I only had to worry about beating Clabber Girl every week.”

By Land By Sea has won her five races this year at different race tracks--Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park, Churchill Downs and Hollywood Park. Her only loss as a 4-year-old was by a neck to Hollywood Glitter on Feb. 6 in the La Canada at Santa Anita.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Jacque Fulton, who got her license three years ago, has never saddled a horse in a major race but will have two starters Sunday--Clean Lines and Super Avie--in the $150,000 Hollywood Oaks. Clean Lines and Super Avie ran first and third, respectively, in the Princess at Hollywood on June 25, with Clean Lines paying $51.20 to win.

Clean Lines will break from the inside post in the eight-horse field Sunday, with Frank Olivares riding. Outside her, in order, come Flying Countess with Eddie Delahoussaye; Pattern Step, Chris McCarron; River Sue, Luis Ortega; Comedy Court, Ray Sibille; Renaissance Lady, Gary Stevens; Super Avie, Bill Shoemaker; and Nifty Melissa, Aaron Gryder.

Regal Classic and stablemate Regal Intention are the 3-5 favorites in Sunday’s Queen’s Plate at Woodbine near Toronto. Julie Krone, the American jockey with more than 1,100 wins, will be the first woman to ride in the stake, which was first run in 1860. Krone will be aboard No Malice, a longshot. The race is expected to be a two-horse affair between Regal Classic and Grancus.