Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

DEPUTED TESTAMONY WINS PREAKNESS AND PAYS $31

DEPUTED TESTAMONY WINS PREAKNESS AND PAYS $31
Credit...The New York Times Archives
See the article in its original context from
May 22, 1983, Section 5, Page 1Buy Reprints
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.
About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

Good spellers and serious horseplayers both received a jolt today when a colt misnamed Deputed Testamony scored a 2 3/4-length victory in the 108th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course and Sunny's Halo finished sixth as the 11-to-10 favorite.

Deputed Testamony hugged the rail from start to finish under Donald A. Miller Jr. and kept going when all the others floundered on the sloppy track in the stretch. Desert Wine, who led for the first mile, finished second, 4 lengths ahead of High Honors. Marfa finished another 1 3/4 lengths back in fourth and a head in front of Play Fellow. It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to Sunny's Halo, who won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago but lost today by more than 11 lengths.

Deputed Testamony, coupled in the betting with Parfaitement, a stablemate who faded to finish eighth, paid $31 for $2 to win at the mutuel windows and covered the mile and three-sixteenths in 1:55 2/5. At New York City Offtrack Betting shops, where Deputed Testamony ran as a single betting interest, $2 bettors reaped $75.60 on the winner.

This was not an artful Preakness. Instead it was an uninspiring race in which Deputed Testamony appeared to win through racing luck and by default over a track made messy by rain that hampered most of the runners.

Deputed Testamony is owned in partnership by Francis P. Sears, a Boston stockbroker, and Bonita Farm, a breeding operation near here that is owned by the Boniface family, which includes J. William Boniface, the winning trainer.

Boniface's father, William, was a longtime horse-racing reporter and editor with the Baltimore Sunpapers. Deputed Testamony was born at Bonita and, in fact, spent all week stabled there instead of at the track. He was vanned to Pimlico at 11:30 this morning, only six hours before post time.

The younger Boniface has acknowledged privately that someone at the farm made a couple of spelling mistakes in filling out the colt's foal application. Sears, however, has maintained with a straight face that it is a deliberate misnomer and even ''more poetic'' than Disputed Testimony. That presumably intended name follows from Deputed Testamony's breeding - he is by Traffic Cop out of Proof Requested.

That is as obscure and unfashionable a pedigree as has ever resulted in a Preakness winner. Traffic Cop stands at Bonita for a fee of only $1,000, virtual carfare in thoroughbred breeding circles. Deputed Testamony is the first Maryland-bred to win the Preakness since Bee Bee Bee in 1972.

Deputed Testamony's victory was his seventh in 12 starts but his first in a quality stakes race. He was 4 for 7 as a 2-year-old, including a victory in a minor event called the Play Palace Stakes at the Meadowlands, and did not start as a 3-year-old until April. Six weeks ago, he won the Federico Tesio, a stakes restricted to Maryland-breds, and was considered for a start in the Derby. But he then finished a poor eighth in the Blue Grass Stakes and was sent back to Bonita for some freshening.

Sunny's Halo was the heaviest Preakness favorite since Spectacular Bid in 1979 and came up to the race training superbly. But everything went wrong for him the instant the gate opened.

He came out of the stall sideways, then lost his footing when he collided almost immediately with Common Sense. He rushed back into contention and got within a half-length of the lead down the backstretch. But he was wide all the way, seemed to have trouble getting a hold of the track and was boxed in twice around the far turn, when he was ready to pack it in.

''I think the bump killed off his momentum and his confidence right away,'' said David Cross, Sunny's Halo's trainer. ''I've ridden horses and I know how important that is. With everything that happened, he just didn't want to run his best.''

Cross said that a recurring rash suffered by Sunny's Halo in the week before the Preakness did not appear to affect the colt's performance today. High Honors Finishes Well

Sunny's Halo's sixth-place finish was the worst by a Derby winner in the Preakness since Dust Commander was ninth in 1970. Cross said that the colt appeared to come out of the race unhurt and would probably run next in either the Belmont Stakes June 11 or the Queen's Plate in Toronto June 26. Deputed Testamony is definitely being pointed for the Belmont, as is High Honors, who ran best of all in the stretch and moved up from 12th to third in the last half-mile.

Desert Wine ran almost the same race that he did in the Kentucky Derby, where he also finished second after leading for most of the race. This time, however, his pace was faster. Today, he and Chris McCarron set fractions of 0:23 1/5 for the first quarter, 0:46 4/5 for the half and 1:10 3/5 for six furlongs, all about a full second faster than the Derby pace.

Parfaitement took up the chase early and was second until he tired after six furlongs. That was when Sunny's Halo suddenly loomed up on the outside for a moment, then dropped back. Bet Big rushed up and looked like a threat for a few strides, and Marfa and Play Fellow got within three lengths of the lead as the field turned into the stretch.

That's when almost everyone began to slow down badly - except for Deputed Testamony, who was never worse than sixth while staying close to the rail and saving every inch of ground. Deputed Testamony finally passed Desert Wine with a furlong to go, and only High Honors made any kind of move through the stretch.

Lou Rondinello, High Honors's trainer, was delighted with the way his colt finished. He may end up saddling three horses in the Belmont because he also trains Wild Chorus, an impressive winner of the Aloma's Ruler Handicap for 3-year-olds earlier on today's card, and Country Pine, who won the Withers at Aqueduct a week ago.

Miller, the winning Preakness jockey, was Boniface's third choice for the mount on Deputed Testamony and did not get a definite call until Thursday, when Laffit Pincay Jr. and Jean-Luc Samyn both turned the trainer down. Miller, a 19-year-old Maryland native, was the leading apprentice rider in the country in 1981 and was third in the national jockey standing last year with 367 winners.

''I've dreamed about being in the Preakness,'' he said today, clearly as shocked at the result as most of the rain-drenched Pimlico fans. ''But I never expected to ride in it. Or win it.'' Preakness Chart Copyright 1983 by Daily Racing Form, Inc. EIGHTH RACE AT PIMLICO-The Preakness Stakes, $346,200, 3YOs, 1-3/16M. Start good, won ridden out. Off, 5:42. Winner, b.c. by Traffic CopProof Requested, by Prove It. Trainer, J. William Boniface. Value to winner, $251,200; second, $50,000; third, $30,000; fourth, $15,000. Times - 23 1/5, 46 4/5, 1:10 3/5, 1:36 1/5, 1:55 2/5. MutuelsDollar OTB StartersWt.P.P. 1/4 1/2 3/4MileStr.Fin.JockeysSt.Pl.Sh.Odds *C-DptdTestamny1263 54151621 1/212 3/4Miller31.0010.006.4014.50 G-Desert Wine126721111 1/21 1/22324CMcCarron...4.804.209.60 B-High Honors1262611 1/21211 1/26 1/231 3/4Rivera......9.6015.70 F-Marfa126689 1/26 1/25-31 1/24-Velasquez.........4.50 A-Play Fellow126177 1/27 1/28 1/27252 3/4Cruguet.........8.30 K-Sunny's Halo12611123 1/22-214163 1/2Dlhoussye.........1.10 E-Bet Big1265151 1/24 1/231 1/25-71Velez.........20.40 *I-Parfaitement1269321 1/23241838 3/4McCauley.........14.50 J-Common Sense1261091211110-10394Penny........ .47.10 L-Flag Admiral1261211101 1/2103949 1/2101 1/4Day.........26.10 D-Chas Conerly1264106-817-116117Skinner....... ..68.20 H-Paris Prince1268481 1/291121212Lipham.........47.80 ScratchedCurrent Hope. *CoupledDeputed Testamony, Parfaitement. OTB Payoffs-(C) 75.60, 28.20, 13.40; (G) 7.00, 4.80; (B) 5.20. Exacta (G-G) paid $1,115.00. Quinella (C-G & G-C) paid $528.30. Triple (C-G-B) paid $8,520.40. Deputed Testamony, never far back while saving ground, commenced to rally soon after going six furlongs, moved through inside Desert Wine to reach the front nearing the final furlong, drew clear quickly when roused and increased his advantage while being ridden out. Desert Wine had speed from the outset, made the pace while racing well out from the rail, turned back a bid from Bet Big leaving the far turn but wasn't able to withstand the winner while besting the others. High Honors, outrun for more than six furlongs, rallied entering the stretch and continued on with good energy while working his way between horses. Marfa, taken up sharply between horses at the first turn, was steadied again while moving up just after entering the backstretch, made a run from the outside leaving the far turn but lacked a further response. Play Fellow saved ground for six furlongs, swung out while attempting to rally midway through the far turn and lacked a further response. Sunny's Halo failed to break alertly, but quickly reached contention from the outside, made a run at Desert Wine approaching the end of the backstretch, but was finished leaving the far turn. Bet Big, never far back while racing well out in the track, moved around horses to reach almost even terms with Desert Wine with 5/16ths remaining, but tired badly during the drive.Parfaitement raced forwardly until near the far turn and had nothing left. Common Sense was outrun. Flag Admiral raced very wide. Chas Conerly tired badly. Paris Prince was finished early.

Owners-1, F.B. Sears; 2, Cardiff Stud & T90 Ranch; 3, Daniel M. Galbreath; 4, L. Robert French Jr., Barry A. Beal and D. Wayne Lukas; 5, Nancy Vanier, Carl Lauer and Robert Victor; 6, David J. Foster Racing Stable; 7, E.N. Cohen; 8, B.J. Danley; 9, J. & L. Stable; 10, Jimmy Carter and Tom Gentry; 11, Daniel Lavezzo Jr.; 12, Dolly Green.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section 5, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: DEPUTED TESTAMONY WINS PREAKNESS AND PAYS $31. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT