CAVONNIER MIGHT RECEIVE EXPERIMENTAL DRUG.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Cavonnier will be vanned Monday or Tuesday to his retirement home at breeder-owners Robert and Barbara Walter's farm in Sebastapol, Calif., and may receive an experimental medicine for his bowed tendon.

The California-bred gelding, who won the Santa Anita Derby and was nosed out by Grindstone in the Kentucky Derby, injured his right foreleg in the Belmont Stakes a week ago. He has been at Santa Anita since Monday, being treated with ice and pressure bandages.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Cavonnier's move north was delayed because of an attack of colic.

Baffert said there are no plans for Cavonnier to race again. But the experimental treatment with an injected drug called beta-aminopropionitrile fumarate, or BAPN-F, could improve his life in the pasture.

``If they do it, it will be at (UC) Davis,'' Baffert said.

FDA approval is being sought for BAPB-F, which may allow the tendon to return to nearer normal with exercise. One proponent, a human vascular surgeon, Bill Davis, was quoted by The Blood-Horse magazine saying, ``In excess of 75 percent of the horses who suffer medium to severe bows will come back and perform at the same level as before their injuries in at least four races.''

A bowed tendon, a common racehorse injury, gets its name from the shape the swelling gives the rear of the lower leg.

A live one: Fanjica, who nearly died in February from an undisclosed illness, will go for her second straight victory when she faces seven fillies and mares today in the $100,000 Estrapade Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Alex Solis will ride the 4-year-old, Irish-bred filly, who won the Yerba Buena Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in a delayed 1996 debut last month.

The 1-1/2-mile Estrapade will include Nimble Mind and Dynatar, second and third in the Yerba Buena.

Fanjica will carry 121 pounds, two more than Magic Feeling, a former hurdler from Ireland who won her U.S. debut at Santa Anita.

Short prices: Corey Nakatani, already the leading jockey at Hollywood Park, will ride heavy favorites Sunday in both the $700,000 Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile and the $100,000 Princess Stakes.

The Shoemaker finds six turf horses willing to face Fastness, the 1995 Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up who came back with an impressive victory in the Inglewood Handicap.

The Princess drew just four opponents for Pike Place Dancer, winner of the Kentucky Oaks, the nation's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies so far in '96.

Shoemaker entries were taken Thursday, Princess entries Friday.

Pike Place Dancer will carry 121 pounds, six more than Karakorum, Heptathlon, Najecam and Listening.

Judgment Day: In a surprise move, the Kentucky Racing Commission ignored the recommendation of its own advisory committee and overturned a five-day suspension of jockey Pat Day for careless riding May 12 at Churchill Downs.

Day, who in 23 years of riding had never appealed a suspension, said he was not appealing the disqualification.

Commissioner James Squires said the commission essentially agreed with Day's interpretation.

Getting ready: Two of trainer Richard Mandella's Hollywood Gold Cup hopefuls shared the track for a Friday morning workout, Soul of the Matter going 7 furlongs in 1:24 4/5 and Siphon a mile in 1:36 1/5.

Mandella is also considering Dare and Go for the June 30 race. Dare and Go worked a mile on turf in 1:42 2/5 on Thursday.

Equals: Northern Spur and Sandpit were made co-highweights, assigned 122 pounds each, for the Caesars International Handicap June 22 at Atlantic City. That's four pounds more than their closest rival among 49 horses weighted.

Good start: Trainer Ron McAnally and owners Sidney and Jenny Craig showed off their latest Argentine import Thursday at Hollywood Park.

A 4-year-old filly named Different won the allowance feature by five lengths with Chris McCarron riding. Different won five of six starts in Argentina.

McAnally and the Craigs won championships with Argentine-bred Bayakoa and Paseana.

Diversifying: Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, took a step toward offering nonracing gambling in order to compete with a recently approved Caesars World riverboat casino in Harrison County, Ind.

The Churchill Downs board of directors directed company management to ``aggressively pursue legislation'' permitting ``alternative gaming'' at the track.

The $228 million Caesars World complex would be one of five Indiana riverboats within a two-hour drive of Churchill.