Battle of Midway 4-5 favorite in Affirmed

Like Collected in the Precisionist Stakes, morning line odds maker Jon White has Battle of Midway the 4-5 choice in Saturday’s Grade III, $100,000 Affirmed Stakes for three-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

A Smart Strike colt, Battle of Midway more than outran his odds of 40-1 when he finished third in the Kentucky Derby on May 6, beaten nearly eight lengths by Always Dreaming but holding his position through the stretch to earn $200,000.

Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Battle of Midway was second in the Santa Anita Derby prior to the Run for the Roses and has a 2-1-2 mark from five starts with earnings of $490,000.

The field for the Affirmed, named for the 1978 Triple Crown winner trained by Laz Barrera: B Squared, Mario Gutierrez, 6-1; Battle of Midway, Flavien Prat, 4-5; $2,000supplemental nominee Quiet Dude, Tiago Pereira, 20-1; Term of Art, Tyler Baze, 9-2; and Arms Runner, Norberto Arroyo Jr., 9-5.

A treasured piece of racing history moved on to that Great Race Track in the Sky when Ivan Puhich died peacefully in his sleep Monday night in San Diego at the age of 89.

The longtime jockey’s agent would have been 90 on Dec. 22.

Stories abound about the long and lanky former Marine who fought on Okinawa in 1945, but perhaps none captures the essence of the man as the following excerpt recounted by one-time exercise rider and current assistant starter Huey Barnes, from the August-October 2016 issue of North American Trainer Magazine, written by yours truly:

“Ivan saved my life in a dice game at WashingtonPark in Chicago in the early 70s. I was working for a trainer called Buddy Hirsch at that time, and Ivan had jockey Bill Mahorney and we was just gambling, and I was winning probably 17, 18 hundred dollars.

“Those guys who were losing wanted me to keep gambling. They didn’t have nothing but nickels, dimes and quarters, but they wanted me to keep gambling so they could get their money back, but I said, ‘I’m not going to gamble here. You ain’t got no money to gamble with.’

“So one guy got mad at me and told me I couldn’t leave and he drew a straight razor on me. They were from East St. Louis and I knew they meant business. I saw Ivan and hollered for him and he came over, found out I was winning with their dice, grabbed a gun from his jacket and shot down in the ground and they all backed up . . . That’s how Ivan saved my life.”

Added Barnes Friday morning at Clockers’ Corner: “Everybody that I know loved Ivan. He treated everybody nice, he respected people, and that’s how Ivan was, but if you did something wrong to him, you lost a good friend, because he didn’t want to be around you no more. That’s just the kind of man he was, and I respected him for that.

“He never did anything to hurt anybody. Everything he tried to do, he tried to help people. He was a wonderful man as far as I know. If I asked him for something, he would do it, and if he asked me, I’d give him my opinion, and that’s the way it went.

“I feel sorry for Ivan, but he’s in a better place now.”

Trainer John Sadler said Friday morning that a remembrance for Puhich will be held at a date to be announced during the upcoming Del Mar meet which starts July 19.

The Southern California racing community continued to mourn upon the news of veteran jockey agent Ivan Puhich’s passing on Monday at age 89. “Big Ivan” as he was affectionately known from his early days at Longacres Race Course near Seattle to Agua Caliente south of the border, had been retired for several years and was living with his daughter in San Diego.

Born Dec. 22, 1927 in St. Helena, CA, and raised in Renton, WA, Ivan followed older brothers Nick and Stan to the track as a youngster, selling newspapers, mucking stalls and walking hots. With the outbreak of WW II, Ivan enlisted in the Marine Corps and saw combat in the South Pacific and later, in China.

Following the war and upon his return to base in San Diego, he obtained permission from his commanding officer to take leave in order to attend the 1948 Kentucky Derby.

“I’ll never forget it,” Puhich said in an interview 23 years ago at HollywoodPark. “I hitch hiked back there, in uniform and got in free. Calumet (Farm) ran one-two with Citation and Coaltown.”

Physically fit and an imposing figure at 6’5” and 220 to 230 pounds, it was no secret that Puhich, who was gregarious by nature, was as adept with his oversized fists as he was with a condition book.

“When I got out of the service, I decided to box at Gonzaga (College, in Spokane, WA),” Puhich once related. “They had a really good boxing program there and I did well, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do.” (A photo of a pugilistic Ivan Puhich, a member of the 1951 Zags Boxing Team, currently adorns the walls of the Gonzaga University Athletic Department).

A member of the starting gate team at Agua Caliente for a time in the early 1960s, Puhich unquestionably made his professional mark as a top agent for riders such as William Mahorney, Marco Casteneda, Tyler Baze (who Puhich guided to an Eclipse Award as America’s Champion Apprentice Jockey in 2000), and miraculously, 25-year-old Mario Gutierrez, with whom he won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes aboard the Doug O’Neill-trained I’ll Have Another.

A dyed in the wool San Francisco 49ers fan, Puhich was a regular attendee, rain or shine, at both Kezar Stadium and CandlestickPark, where his all-time favorite “Niner,” Joe Montana, took the team to unprecedented heights, winning four Super Bowls following his graduation from Notre Dame in 1979.

“The greatest quarterback of all-time,” Puhich would readily testify on behalf of the irrepressible Montana.

Puhich was pre-deceased by his infant son, Ivan, Jr. and another son, Steven. He is survived by his daughter, Robin Freeman and three grandchildren, Jeanie Freeman, Kevin Freeman and Brad Puhich. Ivan is also survived by extended family that includes a nephew, trainer Michael Puhich.

FINISH LINES: There will be no simulcast wagering available at Santa Anita next Thursday, July 29. After this Sunday’s races, Santa Anita will resume live racing with a five-day week on Friday, June 30, and race through Tuesday, July 4 when the Spring portion of the current meet ends . . . Beholder Mile winner Stellar Wind is scheduled to work Sunday for the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 30, trainer John Sadler said . . . Champion Finest City, prepping for the Grade II, $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos July 8 worked four furlongs for Ian Kruljac Friday in 48.20. “She’s doing well,” the trainer said. The Great Lady M will be decided at 6 ½ furlongs. . . . Laz Barrera winner American Anthem worked four furlongs in company for Bob Baffert in 48.60 with Uninvited, who was clocked in 48.40 . . . Jockey Danny Vergara, closing in on 2,000 wins, will be represented by agent Craig Stephen, who plans to have Vergara ready to ride at Los Alamitos when the Orange County meet starts on July 5 . . . Indygo Bo, 2-1 morning line chance in today’s second race, has been claimed from his last three races and four of his last five . . . There is a single ticket Pick Six Jackpot carryover Friday of $176,727 . . . Suspensions aplenty: Rafael Bejarano has waived his appeal of a suspension issued April 29 and will serve four days, June 23, 24, 25 and 30. Likewise, Flavien Prat has withdrawn his appeal of May 25 and will serve three days June 23, 24 and 25. The meet’s leading rider also has been handed four additional days (July 1, 2, 3 and 4) for causing interference on Spooky Woods in last Saturday’s ninth race, resulting in the disqualification of his mount from third to fifth. Additionally, Kent Desormeaux is serving a four-day ban (June 24, 25, 30 and July 1) for causing interference shortly after the start of last Saturday’s fifth race on Supreme Venture . . . Ed Golden, author of Santa Anita’s widely read Stable Notes, will be Tom Quigley’s guest handicapper Saturday 11:50 a.m. in the East Paddock Gardens.