Hovdey: Eurton, Core Beliefs dine happy in New Orleans

Believe it or not, in the shadow of a darkened Santa Anita Park there is still racehorse training going on in Southern California, evidence of which was apparent last Saturday when Core Beliefs emerged from a six-month hiatus to win the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap for owner Gary Broad and trainer Pete Eurton by three-quarters of a length over a stubborn Silver Dust.

Core Beliefs won the Ohio Derby last year in a dogfight with Lone Sailor and was second in the Peter Pan, but in two subsequent starts at the top of the division he was nowhere to be found. Eurton got the message and kicked him out to the high desert oasis of Broad’s farm, where 45 days of being a nothing but a lazy so-and-so was enough to convince his people that 2019 could be a good year.

Dodging raindrops and dicey tracks this winter at Santa Anita, Eurton was able to get Core Beliefs fit enough to look at races like the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn as well as the New Orleans. When the barn ended up sending Giant Expectations to the Essex, Eurton’s decision was easy – as in Big Easy.

“We were in New Orleans for four days,” the trainer said. “We ate, and ate, and ate. Music every night. I even held a baby alligator. And then we got the money.”

Oh, that life should be so simple. But a horse like Core Beliefs helps make it so. As a $350,000 sales 2-year-old he is supposed to be this good, and Eurton treated him that way, tossing him into the 2018 Santa Anita Derby off a maiden win around two turns. Under the circumstances, finishing a distant third to Justify and Bolt d’Oro was no embarrassment.

“The program for 3-year-old dirt horses is on the road, so that’s what we did,” Eurton said. “He’s great about traveling – he takes everything in stride – but after four trips east he needed a break.”

At 4, the son of Quality Road looks pretty much like he did as a 3-year-old, perhaps a tad taller, with his classic bay coat trimmed with black leggings, tail, and mane, and a daub of white between his eyes.

“Every step he took coming back was absolutely perfect,” Eurton said. “The only hiccup was having to be sent over to Los Alamitos while the Santa Anita main track was closed. The track over there is kind of a freeway, so it was hard to know how much he got out of those last two works. I just had to hope he was fit enough.”

He was, and if nothing else, working down the long Los Alamitos stretch prepared Core Beliefs for the endgame of the New Orleans Handicap, during which Florent Geroux, riding his horse for the first time, had his hands full keeping the colt going forward in a straight line down the 450-yard straightaway.

As the field reached the final straight, Core Beliefs found himself on the lead. Geroux went to the whip and hit his colt left-handed, to which Core Beliefs responded by veering right. Geroux switched hands, and Core Beliefs danced to the left. Back to the left hand went Geroux with two shots, another course correction, and then a hand ride to the finish.

“He’s a free-running kind of horse who doesn’t like the whip a lot,” Eurton said, offering the obvious. “He won’t ever work real fast unless there’s someone with him.”

Now that he is back in the mix, it will be interesting to see where Core Beliefs fits with the rest of the older main-track runners. In the meantime, Eurton will turn his attention to Friday’s scheduled reopening of Santa Anita. He has one horse entered, in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at a mile and one-half on the grass, and what a horse he is.

Now 8, Ashleyluvssugar has become a local institution in Eurton’s hands for owner Sharon Alesia and her partners. Those who remember his first race as a 2-year-old going 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar in August of 2013 – simpler times – will also be hip to the trivia that the son of Game Plan never won a maiden race. After losing that debut by a nose, he finished third in a small stakes event, then won for the first time beating winners in his fifth start.

That was then. Now, Ashleyluvssugar, a winner of $1.4 million, is coming off a second in the Cal Cup Turf Classic two months ago. His training, like everyone’s, has been impacted by weather and track closures. But like all cool dudes, Ashley abides.

“I was holding him out in the sun this afternoon and he didn’t want to go back in,” Eurton said. “Sometimes he’ll get a little body sore behind, which is why I like to train him on the tighter training track here. And his last work at Los Alamitos was race was real nice, very fluid.”

Ashleyluvssugar hasn’t won since the 2017 Charles Whittingham, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried. He was beaten only half a length last November by Liam the Charmer in the John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita.

“He’s pretty fresh, but then, we spoil him rotten,” Eurton added. “At 8, he’s like, what, a 32-year-old guy? So he’s still pretty young at heart.”