ANOTHER BREEDERS' SETBACK; DOCTOR CONCERNED AS INJURIES PILE UP.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

Singspiel galloped into a thick fog at Hollywood Park at about 7:30 Thursday morning and didn't come out.

He didn't, at least, before the crowds on backstretch viewing stands realized something was wrong.

Anxious minutes passed before the western world's richest and best-traveled active racehorse reappeared from the mist, not running but walking gingerly on the turf course near the 6-furlong pole, his rider on foot leading him by the bridle.

That's how the Breeders' Cup received its latest bad news: Singspiel, the heaviest favorite on Saturday's card, had broken down 20 yards from the finish line in a half-mile workout and was out of the $2 million Turf. Canada's Chief Bearheart has become the new favorite.

``I've never seen a Breeders' Cup like this,'' Hollywood Park veterinarian Dr. Ray Baran said later, pondering the injuries and illnesses since the start of September that have stolen nearly 20 horses from the seven races.

So far, no horse has died in training for the Breeders' Cup. Singspiel's injury is not life-threatening, but he will need surgery today or Saturday to repair a displaced fracture at the base of the cannon bone.

The leg was stabilized Thursday with a cotton bandage and wrap, and the horse was soothed with ice and a tranquilizer. Singspiel was able to put weight on it in the Hollywood Park quarantine barn.

An injury like this, known as a condylar fracture, is the equine equivalent of a badly sprained ankle, Dr. Larry Bramlage said after X-rays were taken. Recovery typically takes two to four months.

``When you severely sprain an ankle, you actually break off a piece of bone and pull away the tendon,'' Bramlage said. ``It needs to be (reattached).

``This is the hardest bone in a horse's body. It might be the hardest bone in any animal on earth. When a bone becomes stiffer it also becomes brittle, and when an injury like this occurs, it tends to break like a piece of porcelain.''

Bramlage said the injury wasn't worsened by the fact rider Kevin Bradshaw - who jumped off as soon as he felt a bobble - walked the horse about three-eighths of a mile back to the barn instead of waiting for the equine ambulance.

Singspiel trainer Michael Stoute said he thought the injury was ``totally unrelated'' to a minor irritation to the opposite leg earlier in the week.

As for questions about the condition of the course, trainer Richard Mandella, head of the California Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association track committee, said the Hollywood grass ``looks fabulous to me.''

Singspiel, a 5-year-old son of 1990 Turf winner In the Wings who has earned $5.9 million racing on three continents and won the $4 million Dubai World Cup in April, was retired as soon as owner Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai was given the news by phone.

He joins an unprecedented list of Breeders' Cup dropouts in the past two months: ailing Gentlemen (Classic), Desert King (Juvenile) and Silver Maiden (Juvenile Fillies); and injured Formal Gold, Down the Aisle, Benchmark and Will's Way (Classic); Marlin, Influent, Rainbow Dancer and Expelled (Turf); Black Cash, Old Topper and Old Trieste (Juvenile); Kelly Kip, Tale of the Cat and Lakota Brave (Sprint); Twice the Vice (Distaff), and Anet (Mile).

``We're going to have to sit down after this (Breeders' Cup) and see if these injuries have anything in common,'' Bramlage said. But he noted most of the injuries were minor.

This is the fifth year that Breeders' Cup horses are receiving veterinary exams the week before the races. The vets have the power to order horses scratched. Baran said Singspiel's latest exam was clean.

The program began after the deaths of Shaker Knit, Mr. Nickerson and Go for Wand (1990), and Mr. Brooks ('92) in Breeders' Cup races.

This year, event officials are hoping all the injuries are out of the way before the NBC cameras are switched on Saturday.

FOCUS ON: TURF

One in a daily series of previews for the seven Breeders' Cup races at Hollywood Park on Saturday.

Conditions: The Turf is a 1-1/2-mile race - longest in the Breeders' Cup - for 3-year-olds and up. The winner collects $1.04 million of the $2-million purse. Each horse carries 126 pounds, 3-year-olds five pounds less, females three pounds less.

Favorite: After Singspiel's injury Thursday, Canada's Chief Bearheart is a lukewarm, 7-2 choice on the morning line. When Singspiel finished second to Pilsudski in the 1996 Turf in Toronto, Chief Bearheart was 9-3/4 lengths farther back in 11th.

Hometown horses: There are none, unless you count Awad, the New York-based 7-year-old who is winless in occasional Southern California visits; Rajpoute, a French-bred 3-year-old purchased recently by Sidney Craig and trained now by Ron McAnally; and Dance Design, the Irish filly who had a disastrous trip in the Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita.

History: The Turf usually shows off a top, foreign-dominated field in a highly tactical, close race. Five winners came from Europe, and so did Dancing Brave, whose fourth-place finish at 1-2 odds at Santa Anita in '86 made him the biggest Breeders' Cup disappointment. Six runnings went to photo finishes and 11 of 13 were decided by half a length or less.

Fastest running: 2:24, by Fraise, Gulfstream Park, 1992.

Handicapper helper: Too much speed can be a bad thing in the Turf: Nobody has led from gate to wire. The average front-runner finished ninth. The average winner rallied from seventh.

The Turf is scheduled as Saturday's seventh race (and sixth Breeders' Cup race), at 1:50 p.m. Other Breeders' Cup races: $1 million Juvenile Fillies, 2nd, 10:55 a.m.; $1 million Sprint, 3rd, 11:30; $1 million Distaff, 4th, 12:05 p.m.; $1 million Mile, 5th, 12:40; $1 million Juvenile, 6th, 1:15; $4 million Classic, 8th, 2:35.

Channel 4 coverage begins at 10:30 a.m.

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Box: FOCUS ON: TURF (See Text)