CAVONNIER'S ABSENCE WON'T SPOIL THE PARTY.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Saturday's California Cup races at Santa Anita lost their marquee horse Thursday when Cavonnier was withdrawn from the Classic because of an injury.

The absence of one star is unlikely to affect the popularity of the Cal Cup, the 10-race card for Cal-bred horses that has drawn between 28,000 and 40,000 every year since its 1990 debut.

Cavonnier's injury is described as minor and in the left hind leg, not the right foreleg, where he suffered the tendon injury that has sidelined him for nearly 2-1/2 years.

``We noticed it when we schooled him in the paddock (Wednesday),'' said Eoin Harty, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert. ``We jogged him this morning and he was definitely off.''

The '96 Santa Anita Derby winner, second to Grindstone in the closest Kentucky Derby in 28 years, was pulled up in the Belmont Stakes and has undergone a new tendon treatment at owners Bob and Barbara Walter's ranch in Sebastapol, Calif.

This leaves the $250,000 Classic with six horses and handicappers with a harder job now that they can't bet against 9-5 morning-line favorite Cavonnier. The new favorite is likely to be Budroyale, but the field includes Pacificbounty (third in the Pacific Classic), Bagshot (second in the Santa Anita Handicap) and tough old Kingdom Found.

A better bet is that the Cal Cup will be one of the highlights of the local racing year, relying as usual on full fields (five races have 10 horses or more), familiar faces (five Cal Cup winners return) and a party atmosphere. And this year, the attraction includes a track-guaranteed $2 million pool in the pick-six.

The card starts at noon with three starter-handicap races for Cal-breds. Here's a look at the other Cal Cup stakes, each with a $125,000 purse, except for the $175,000 Mile:

Matron: The 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares will be run as the fourth race, keeping odds-on favorite Magical Allure out of the pick-six, which starts with the fifth. Magical Allure is unbeaten in six starts and could have faced Sharp Cat and Banshee Breeze in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs. Instead, she'll tower over Supercillious and rusty Belle's Flag.

Distaff: There are no Magical Allures in the fillies and mares turf sprint. Instead, there's a deep list of contenders, including Seattle Carla, seeking her first victory since the '97 Distaff; Career Collection, seeking her first victory since the '97 Juvenile Fillies, and Spirited Jacklyn, assigned a race-high 120 pounds after getting over her seconditis.

Juvenile: The 2-year-old males' race, won by Cavonnier in '95, provides little competition for nine-length Cal Sires Stakes winner Proud Louie now that Daring General has been pointed for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Sprint: Red hasn't won since his '97 Sprint victory, and he's in for a rough one against Big Jag, Crimson Look and Devoted Pirate, the 1-2-5 finishers in the fast Cal Sprint Championship up north, and Surachai, in the money in 8 of 9 at Santa Anita.

Mile: Gimpy-kneed Uncaged Fury will try the turf Mile and is co-highweight (120) with Native Desert. ``I know it's a big field (14 horses) in the Mile and a lot can happen,'' trainer Lewis Cenicola said. ``But he's a little older (7) now, and going a mile he'll have a little more time to regroup if he makes a mistake.'' Native Desert is a typical Cal Cup story, a former $32,000 claimer who's won six stakes in the past two years.

Juvenile Fillies: Gary Stevens, who rides 6-for-6 Magical Allure in the Matron, also has 3-for-3 Controlled for trainer Eddie Gregson in this race. The daughter of In Excess already has shown the ability to win from on and off the pace.

The weekend: Sunday's Oak Tree Derby is expected to match Ladies Din, the Del Mar Derby winner, and Dr Fong, a European reported to have been sold for $8 million before coming to Neil Drysdale's barn here.

Series announced: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association unveiled a 10-race series for handicap-division horses that will debut in 1999 and be televised by Fox. It'll start with the Jan. 30 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Florida and end with the Aug. 29 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and include the March 6 Santa Anita Handicap and June 27 Hollywood Gold Cup.

Points will be assigned to top-three finishers and a cash prize of yet-to-be-determined size awarded to the owners of the series winner. The series will visit six states and the schedule will make it difficult for any horse to enter more than half the races. ``It doesn't purport to be the Horse of the Year (contest) or the championship of the division,'' said NTRA commissioner Tim Smith.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Oak Tree standings: Jockeys (through Wednesday): Alex Solis, 24 winners; Laffit Pincay, 16; Kent Desormeaux, 15; Chris McCarron, 13; David Flores, 11. Trainers: Bob Baffert, 15; Ron McAnally, 9; Neil Drysdale, 8; Mike Mitchell and Jenine Sahadi, 6.

Handicapper helper: A few historical notes on the California Cup races, to be held for the ninth time Saturday at Santa Anita: Most successful humans have been jockeys Gary Stevens and Alex Solis (10 wins each), trainers Bob Baffert (7) and David Hofmans (6), and owners John and Betty Mabee of Golden Eagle Farm (6). Favorites have won 38 percent of the races. Horses whose latest race was at a Northern California track have won at a low 8.6 percent rate but produced three of the five biggest Cal Cup payoffs.

Upcoming stakes: At Oak Tree: Saturday, $250,000 California Cup Classic, 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/8 miles, and nine other races for Cal-bred horses; Sunday, $250,000 Oak Tree Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles on turf. At Aqueduct: Saturday, $100,000 Knickerbocker Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/8 miles on turf. At Calder: Saturday, $200,000 Calder Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles on turf. At Churchill Downs: Sunday, $100,000 Ack Ack, 3-year-olds and up, 7-1/2 furlongs. At Laurel: Saturday, $100,000 Laurel Futurity, 2-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles; Sunday, $100,000 Selima, 2-year-old fillies, 1-1/8 miles.

Mileposts: Silver Charm, preparing to challenge Skip Away in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, worked 5 furlongs in :59 3/5 on the Louisville, Ky., track Tuesday. Trainer Bob Baffert was quoted calling it ``a super-Viagra move.'' . . . Score Quick, who finished third, five lengths behind winner Silver Charm, in the Goodwood Handicap two weeks back, has a sesamoid-suspensory injury to his left foreleg and went to owner Bill Thomas' farm in San Miguel for R&R. . . . Northern California jockey Russell Baze began the week needing four winners to move past Carl Gambardella (6,349) and into 10th on the all-time list. . . . The Daily Racing Form has begun listing the tracks that are open, as well as first-post times, in each day's editions. It only took 104 years to think of that. . . . Thoroughbred Owners of California indicated it will try to negotiate the end of 2-year-old racing at the winter Santa Anita meet as part of the 1998-99 purse agreement. Santa Anita began holding quarter-mile baby races again in 1996. . . . California track executives met last Friday to talk about how they'll handle the out-of-state simulcast signals that will become available Jan. 1 under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson. It appears we'll get to wager on full cards from Gulfstream Park and one other track. . . . Santa Anita promoted Craig Dado from director of marketing to vice president, marketing. . . . Kevin Burns, a minor official at the local tracks, was suspended through April for rules violations that included wagering and drug possession. . . . Aqueduct racetrack in New York opened a 44-day season Wednesday.

- Kevin Modesti

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Box: A WEEK AT THE RACES (See Text)