BIG 'CAP MAY COME DOWN TO HORSE SENSE BUDROYALE HAS EDGE IN HEART.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

ARCADIA - It's a $1 million clash of personalities.

The Santa Anita Handicap favorites, Budroyale, General Challenge and Cat Thief, are well-matched according to recent results, and Malek, Puerto Madero and Dixie Dot Com have run races that would be good enough to win this one.

So, what will decide this unusually contentious edition of the 1 1/4-mile Big 'Cap today? Possibly the qualities that don't show up on paper.

When it comes to maturity, intelligence and determination, the differences in this field of eight horses are as great as you'll ever see.

``I'd have to say Bud has as big a heart as any horse I've seen in a long time,'' said Bill Morey, trainer of Dixie Dot Com, speaking affectionately of Budroyale, the 7-year-old gelding who will try to be the first ex-claimer to win the Big 'Cap since the great John Henry in 1981-82.

General Challenge, the Santa Anita Derby and Strub Stakes winner, ``is a big goof,'' said his trainer, Bob Baffert.

Cat Thief, the Breeders' Cup Classic upsetter, ``wimped on me,'' said jockey Pat Day, when he lost close decisions in several big 3-year-old races in 1999 and established his reputation for chicken-heartedness.

Malek, the 1998 Big 'Cap winner, is a consistent ``trier,'' said his trainer, Richard Mandella.

But Mandella's other Big 'Cap entrant, Puerto Madero, has appeared so uninterested in four races since briefly reigning as the nation's top older horse in 1999, the trainer fears the 6-year-old has ``gone senile.''

Mandella has made changes in Puerto Madero's training and switched jockeys from Kent Desormeaux to Laffit Pincay, the five-time winner who'll ride his first Big 'Cap horse since 1996. Mandella understands if handicappers are skeptical.

``I'm skeptical,'' he said of the lackadaisical half of his Chile-bred odd couple. ``He wants to go to the breeding shed instead of the racetrack.''

What makes horses so different?

``Same thing that makes people different,'' Mandella said. ``You've got murderers, you've got thieves, you've got Boy Scouts, you've got choirboys. . . . Believe it or not, the most important thing in getting them into a race is calming them down. The Puerto Madero thing is a rare case.''

Budroyale is a rare case too. He has won the last four times he has finished in a photo, and he has held off his challengers the last 10 times he held the lead in midstretch.

``Budroyale, he's tough, and if you make a mistake, he's going to beat you,'' Baffert said.

Baffert-trained General Challenge is the opposite, a still-immature 4-year-old who wilts at the slightest adversity.

``I really think General Challenge is the most impressive horse in the morning (workouts) I've ever seen,'' said Ted H. West, trainer of Budroyale. ``But I don't think he knows what his job is. He's a free-running horse who doesn't know he's in a race.

``You can only do so much as a trainer. A lot of that is the intelligence of the horse. You're not going to convert a General Challenge into a Budroyale.''

General Challenge and jockey Corey Nakatani are 9-5 on the morning line, Budroyale and Garrett Gomez second at 5-2. If they're that close coming down the stretch, Budroyale will become the favorite.

This is the 63rd running of the Big 'Cap, born in the Depression with the then-astonishing purse of $100,000.

It's the first in which horses will wear the so-called nasal strips, breathing aids that became legal in California racing on Wednesday. The trainers of every Big 'Cap entrant except General Challenge and Bagshot have chosen to use the adhesive strips. Cat Thief won the Breeders' Cup Classic at 19-1 the only other time any of these horses wore one.

Mandella, like many horsemen, wonders if the strips have any effect. He mused that ``if they do make a difference, we'll be breeding a bunch of horses who've got to have nasal strips.''

``I may be a little corny, but I think it's a shame to see those funny- looking things on their noses,'' Mandella said, just as Malek walked by, a black strip obscuring his white blaze. ``Look at that beautiful face he's got - isn't that a shame?

``But for a million-dollar race, I'll be damned if I'm going to hold back (and not use the strips).''

It's a clash of personalities, not a beauty contest.

BIG 'CAP AT A GLANCE

--The race: The Santa Anita Handicap, 1 1/4 miles on the dirt track, for 4-year-olds and up.

--At stake: A $1 million purse ($600,000 to the winner), the points lead in the NTRA Champions on Fox series, and a place in history alongside Big 'Cap winners like thoroughbred greats Seabiscuit, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid and John Henry.

--When: It's scheduled for 2:40 p.m., the fifth race on a noon card of 11 races, including the San Rafael Stakes for 3-year-olds.

--TV coverage: 2 p.m. on Channel 11.

--Daily News picks: See Bob Ike's and Terry Turrell's handicaps on Page 7.

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Box: BIG 'CAP AT A GLANCE (see text)