FAILURE TO FABLED, CUB'S FOLLY HAS SEEN IT ALL.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Horse Racing 

When Richard Culberson plunked down $1,500 for Cub's Folly at a Pomona 2-year-olds auction in 1995, the semiretired jockey thought he was buying a pony, handy for racetrack chores.

Turns out he was accepting a mission.

Friends and family convinced Culberson the horse deserved a chance to race. So race he did, at tracks large and small, up and down the state, the devoted Culberson always in the saddle.

What Cub's Folly couldn't do was win. His past-performance chart listed 32 starts, not a single victory and seven in-the-money finishes. That was before he arrived at the Humboldt County Fair in scenic Ferndale last week entered in an $8,000 claiming race for maidens, a long way up the coast and down the thoroughbred class ladder from Santa Anita, where his career had begun in the winter of '96.

``It's been pretty frustrating,'' said Culberson, a 54-year-old Tennesseean who has been the gelding's unofficial caretaker while making a living exercising horses for Southern California trainers. ``It's always been mental problems with him. He didn't want to break (from the starting gate) for a while. He's kind of an aggravatin' little horse. A friend told me he likes it when I'm mad. And I said, `He sure knows how to do it to me.' ''

People wonder why hapless horses like Cub's Folly continue to race, why weathered jockeys like Culberson continue to ride and why penny-ante tracks like Ferndale continue to run. The answer is they do it for each other.

Last Saturday, on an uncommonly sunny afternoon in the logging and dairy country a 12-hour trailer ride from home, Cub's Folly finally found a race he could win. He and Culberson skimmed the rail of the half-mile oval, surged past a front-runner named Nuther Monday late in the 6-1/2-furlong sprint and pulled away to a solid victory.

In the winner's circle, Culberson grinned as if he'd won the Kentucky Derby.

``Kind of my dream was that I could win one with him at Santa Anita and get a winner's picture (from that historic track) for Jason,'' Culberson said, referring to Jason Swanson, the nephew-by-adoption who is Cub's Folly's owner. ``But I guess you can't always get what you want. You have to take what you can get.

``This is a big thrill for personal reasons. How many more races am I going to win?''

Said Swanson, a 27-year-old commercial real estate broker in Tempe, Ariz.: ``He (Culberson) definitely has a lot of affection for the horse. (Cub's Folly) puts out a lot of effort every time he runs. I was excited for Richard, excited for myself and excited for the horse.''

In his days as a full-time jockey, after coming west to work for Rex Ellsworth in 1963, Culberson won his share, riding a winner on his very first try at Seattle's Longacres Race Course in '67 and taking the '77 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita aboard Chance Dancer.

But Culberson stopped riding regularly following the '89 season at Turf Paradise in Phoenix. This year he has appeared in just nine races - seven of them with Cub's Folly.

The big surprise to him is that he bought Cub's Folly to begin with. He'd gone to the Barrett's sales pavilion at Fairplex Park with his eye on four young geldings. Each proved too expensive, though.

Culberson, glum, stood in the back of the room when a white-faced colt consigned by Cardiff Stud Farm was led into the ring.

``I said, `Well, that's a pretty little horse,' '' Culberson remembered. ``For some strange reason, I raised my program (to bid). I don't usually do things like that. They said, `Sold!' Just like that. I was the only bid.''

In some tellings of the story, Culberson recalls the auctioneer announcing, ``Sold to the fool in the back!''

Culberson, who hadn't inspected the horse before the sale, was disappointed to learn his purchase had a knot on his left knee that had scared away other buyers. But the knot was found to be a harmless calcification. The horse was sound except for a set of sensitive white feet.

Once he decided to race him, Culberson had him gelded, figuring a Washington-bred with a Ballindaggin-Pamlisa's Delight pedigree would have little value at stud anyway.

``What's his name?'' the veterinarian asked Culberson, whose nickname is ``Cub.''

``Cub's Folly, I guess,'' he replied.

That pessimism was borne out by the 32 consecutive losses - not counting a first-place finish worth a paltry $910 last spring at Huapapai Downs, a bush track in Kingman, Ariz., whose results go unrecognized by California officials.

But now Cub's Folly has escaped the ranks of the state's losingest athletes. And Culberson, who believes horses know when they've won, hopes the 6-year-old's recent success gave him confidence.

Thursday in Ferndale, Cub's Folly faced non-maidens for the first time in a $6,250 claiming race. He ran well again, closing fast to finish second by two lengths behind favored Royal Fortunada.

Culberson wasn't sure what's next. Cub's Folly might follow the Northern California fair circuit to Sacramento.

What's certain is that when the man and his horse do return to Fairplex Park, they'll come home as winners.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Del Mar leaders: Jockeys (through Wednesday): Alex Solis, 21 wins; Chris Antley, 20; David Flores, 18; Garrett Gomez, Chris McCarron and Corey Nakatani, 17. Trainers: Bob Baffert, 15; Mike Mitchell, 11; John Sadler, 6; 10 tied with 5.

Handicapper helper: A dramatic example of how track conditions can change from day to day even at dry-weather Del Mar: Last Friday, six of seven main-track races were won by horses from inside post positions; Saturday, all eight were won by horses who started from the outside - four paying 10-1 or better.

On the stakes schedule: At Del Mar: Saturday, $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 6-1/2 furlongs; Sunday, $250,000 Del Mar Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1-1/8 miles on turf. At Saratoga: Saturday, $400,000 Alabama, 3-year-old fillies, 1-1/4 miles; Sunday, $200,000 Ballerina Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 7 furlongs. At Monmouth Park: Saturday, $200,000 Sapling, 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs. At Emerald Downs: Sunday, $250,000 Longacres Mile, 3-year-olds and up.

Mileposts: Bob Baffert's big 3-year-old fillies star this weekend - Excellent Meeting (Chris McCarron riding) making her turf debut in Sunday's Del Mar Oaks, Silverbulletday (Jerry Bailey) in Saturday's Alabama at Saratoga. . . . Dixie Union is the favorite for the Sept. 8 Del Mar Futurity after beating Exchange Rate in Wednesday's Best Pal Stakes. . . . Gary Stevens' first rides after returning from 10 weeks in England apparently will come on the day of the Aug. 28 Travers at Saratoga. But the Hall of Famer hasn't been named on a horse in the Travers itself. . . . New England jockey Rudy Baez, paralyzed from the chest down since an Aug. 3 accident at Rockingham, is scheduled to move from the hospital to a New Jersey rehabilitation facility. . . . Del Mar announced it will offer its only ``guaranteed'' pick six of the season - the pot will be at least $1.5 million - on the Aug. 29 Pacific Classic day. . . . Behrens returned to No. 1 in the NTRA media poll after Victory Gallop's retirement. . . . Bob Hess Jr.'s three wins Sunday at Del Mar were one short of the track record for a trainer. They also ended Hess' 1-for-33 slump. . . . The fatal breakdowns of 3-year-old O'Rey Fantasma and unraced 2-year-old Apache Wells in workouts Tuesday marked the sixth and seventh horse deaths in the first four weeks at Del Mar. The rate is similar to last year's. . . . The auction of California-bred yearlings Monday and Tuesday at Del Mar produced a 63-percent rise in average sale price from 1998. . . . The Bay Meadows and Ferndale fairs end Sunday; Sacramento opens Wednesday.

- Kevin Modesti

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BOX: A Week at the Races (see text)