WEIGHT ISSUE WAY TOO HEAVY.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

ARCADIA - To those unfamiliar with the customs and politics of the racetrack, what has befallen the 66th Santa Anita Handicap must be confusing. In a nutshell, a much-hyped winter showdown between leading older horses Congaree and Medaglia d'Oro is off because Medaglia d'Oro trainer Bobby Frankel is unhappy with his colt's weight handicap and refuses to enter him in Saturday's $1 million race.

``I don't want to start the horse off this early in the year with 124 pounds, because where will (his weight assignments) go from here?'' Frankel said after Santa Anita executives assigned Medaglia d'Oro 124, the same as Congaree and five more than their closest opponent.

Presumably, if Santa Anita had assigned Medaglia d'Oro 122 pounds, Frankel would have been satisfied and this would loom as the strongest Big 'Cap since the 1980s.

Why do racetrack execs ``handicap'' their best horses, trying to make it more difficult for them to win, while constantly complaining about the shortage of stars? Why do trainers split hairs over a difference of a pound or two, which ought to slow down a 1,100-pound horse about as much as a pocket full of change slows down you or me? Why do trainers wring their hands over 124-pound assignments when Triple Crown horses routinely carry 126 and Big 'Cap favorites used to carry 130 or more?

And why does it seem as though these issues flare up at least once a season but no solution to the problem is ever implemented?

If outsiders are confused, they might be reassured to know that even insiders find it all a bit complicated.

But there's hopeful news: It appears now - after enough incidents like Medaglia d'Oro's disappointing withdrawal from the Big 'Cap - most of racing's best minds have concluded the time-honored system of subjective handicaps is a nicety the sport can no longer afford.

The Medaglia d'Oro case, said Santa Anita racing secretary Rick Hammerle, ``opens the door again for some probable discussion'' of the issue.

As it's often said, horse racing is the only sport that handicaps its stars. Kobe Bryant isn't forced to wear floppy clown shoes to dull his moves. Randy Johnson isn't forced to put a mitten on his pitching hand. Tiger Woods isn't forced to tee up a marble.

``Did Muhammad Ali have one hand tied behind his back when he beat Sonny Liston?'' said Richard Mandella, the Hall of Fame trainer whose Pleasantly Perfect and Kudos are among Congaree's six remaining opponents in Saturday's 1 1/4-mile race.

No, but since horse racing's earliest days, the best horses have been forced to carry higher weights than their rag-tag rivals, giving the opponents more incentive to run and giving fans a more interesting contest to bet on. Jockeys' weights are included in the assignments, and pieces of lead make up the difference.

When Noor and Johnny Longden upset the great Citation and Eddie Arcaro by 1 1/4 lengths in the classic 1950 Big 'Cap, Noor was carrying only 110 pounds, Citation a race-record 132. Of horses who carried 130 or more in the Big 'Cap, seven won and nine were beaten.

Horses back then were measured, in part, by their ability to carry escalating weight.

But times have changed. Severe handicaps for dominant horses aren't as necessary because ``exotic'' wagering - exactas, trifectas, pick-sixes, etc. - has come along to give bettors ways of playing a race with a heavy favorite that the old win-place-and-show didn't offer their ancestors. The power of racetracks to make heavy handicaps stick has been undermined by the increasing ability of trainers to ship their horses to other rich races where they'll meet more favorable conditions.

As ``high'' weights have declined - not since John Henry's second victory in 1982 has a Big 'Cap horse carried 130 - trainers continue to seek the easiest assignments they can get. Frankel, a Hall of Fame trainer, worries that if Medaglia d'Oro carried 124 on Saturday and won, his assignments would increase from there, and by the summer he'd be toting 128.

Santa Anita executives say they're certain they got the weights right: Congaree carried 123 to victory in the Strub Stakes, and they peg Medaglia d'Oro as his equal.

But some horsemen say Santa Anita wouldn't have lost Medaglia d'Oro if the Big 'Cap operated under the more mechanical weight-assignment systems in place for many other major races, including the Hollywood Gold Cup and Del Mar's Pacific Classic, systems that adjust weights according to horses' ages and accomplishments.

``If you're trying to establish who's the top of the game, then why give anybody an advantage?'' said Mandella, who favors the so-called weight-for-age system for Grade I stakes.

Ironically, Hammerle said, if the Big 'Cap went to such a system this year, each horse probably would carry ... 124.

In many ways, this Santa Anita Handicap remains a very appealing race, featuring Bob Baffert-trained Congaree, a streaking star favored to record his first victory in an event of such prestige; Frankel's Milwaukee Brew, the defending champion; the San Antonio Handicap's 1-2-3 finishers; three Hall of Fame trainers and four Hall of Fame jockeys.

But most of the talk among racegoers this week is about how much better it would be if Congaree had to face Medaglia d'Oro.

The 66th Big 'Cap is a victim of its own traditions.

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OUT OF THE GATE

- Kevin Modesti