He’s Their Horse and Best Bud Too

Almost every evening, the ritual is the same in the Sengara home in Vancouver, Canada.

Before Jeffrey heads in to work, Kevin, his 2-year-old son, takes his hand and walks him over to the VCR, eager to again watch tapes he has seen countless times.

Every now and then, Kevin will want to see something from Disney, but his preferred choice, while featuring animals, isn’t animated.

What he wants to watch are race replays of Budroyale, a 6-year-old Cee’s Tizzy gelding and one of the finest claims in racing history.

Taken by Jeffrey Sengara for $50,000 on Feb. 15, 1998, Budroyale has won six times in 14 starts since, finishing worse than third only twice and earning $692,150.

Winner of the Mervyn LeRoy and Super Diamond handicaps at the Hollywood Park meet, Budroyale--who is trained by Ted West Jr. while his father serves a 90-day suspension after eight of his horses tested positive for clenbuterol--will try for the biggest win in his career Sunday when he takes on Puerto Madero, Malek and 1998 Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet in the $1-million Sempra Energy Hollywood Gold Cup.

Of course, Kevin, who is nicknamed Bud, and the rest of his family--mother Naseem and Anita, his 6-month old sister who was named after Santa Anita--will be in Inglewood to cheer on Budroyale, who finished fifth, beaten by almost 14 lengths by Skip Away, in the 1998 Gold Cup.

“We were sitting in the box seats at Santa Anita last fall for the California Cup [Classic, a race Budroyale won],” Jeffrey Sengara said by phone Wednesday. “As soon as the gates opened, Kevin started screaming, ‘Go, Bud, go,’ and he did that the entire race. Everybody sitting around there got the biggest kick out of watching him cheering so intently for his horse.

“At home, he’ll sit there and cheer watching the tapes of all his races and the races of some of the other horses we’ve had. We’ve really bonded with it and it’s become a real father-son deal.”

Winning the Gold Cup with a former claimer that already has won five stakes for his current owner would be quite a coup, but there is another race that Sengara, 29, would really like to win.

The $250,000 Longacres Mile, which will be run Aug. 22 at Emerald Downs in Seattle, is a race Sengara’s father, Sardara, who died in 1997, always dreamed of winning, but never could.

Budroyale will try again after finishing seventh at 4-1 last year.

“[The Longacres Mile] has always been our main goal,” Sengara said. “Sentimentally, it would mean so much to me. The Wests have become like my family and they know what it would mean to win that race and it would be great to have that opportunity again.”

But first comes the Gold Cup, which lost its favorite Tuesday when a fever knocked out Old Trieste, who beat Budroyale by seven lengths in the Californian on May 29. His declaration probably helped Budroyale more than any horse in the race because he now figures to set the pace without much pressure.

“I can’t help but feel a little bit relieved we won’t have to run against Old Trieste because he might be the best horse in the world right now, but I feel sorry for his owner [Gary Biszantz] and [trainer] Mike [Puype],” Sengara said. “I know how hard Mike worked to get that horse back to the races.

“I feel Budroyale belongs with these horses. He’s a different horse than he was last year. He’s feeling better and he’s better looking and he proved himself in the LeRoy. He beat Event Of The Year and I know that horse got hurt [and had to be retired], but he still won.”

Sengara’s interest in racing comes from his father, who had horses with the late Buster Millerick, including Mr. Prime Minister, a stakes winner who was purchased for $25,000 Canadian and whose victories included the 1983 Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood Park. Millerick won the Gold Cup a record three consecutive years (1965-67) with another California-bred gelding, Native Diver.

Financial reasons forced the family out of the game for several years, but Sengara got involved again in the fall of 1997 when he claimed some horses with West and had some immediate success.

Early last year, the opportunity arose to claim Budroyale, who was entered for $50,000 after finishing ninth of 10 on turf in his previous start.

Sengara had some interest in two others in the race--Zanie Reality and Strategist, who he eventually also claimed--but the Wests liked Budroyale and the owner is quick to credit them.

Ted West Sr. was confident when he went for the gelding, who has been claimed three times, had six trainers and been ridden by 12 jockeys. Garrett Gomez, who will be riding in his first Gold Cup, has been his partner for his last eight starts.

What helped sell Sengara on Budroyale, who will be trying to become the first California-bred to win the Gold Cup since Best Pal in 1993, was a race two years earlier. Vacationing at Santa Anita, he saw the 3-year-old defeat Grindstone, who went on to win the Kentucky Derby less than three months later, in an allowance race.

“He reminded me a lot of Mr. Prime Minister,” he said. “When we claimed him, we thought he had the potential to be a solid $80,000 horse and maybe win the odd allowance race. We had no idea he would become the horse that he has become.

“He has a heart the size of him. He’s given my family a real tie to everything. My son’s affection for horses is largely because of him and he’s always been a pillar of strength for all of us.”

With a win Sunday, Budroyale would earn $600,000, pushing him into seventh on the all-time earnings list among Cal-breds with $1,577,310.

Given the success of Charismatic in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, things do bode well for Sengara’s pride and joy because this might be the year of the former claimer.