Mitterand Victory in La Canada Finishes Series Sweep for Filly

Mitterand is a 4-year-old filly who might have an “r” missing from her name, but that’s about all she’s lacking. What you see is what you get, and this filly’s the total package.

The small type on the results page shows that Mitterand won Sunday’s $208,200 La Canada Stakes by three-quarters of a length at Santa Anita, but she was more convincing than that. As jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said after one of her earlier wins, “Unless somebody’s got a horse hidden someplace, I don’t know of a better filly around.”

Mitterand reinforced that opinion before 47,247 fans Sunday, in the process becoming only the second filly to sweep the series that consists of the La Brea, the El Encino and the La Canada. The only other horse who won all three was Taisez Vous in 1978.

Translated from the French, Taisez Vous means “shut up.” A free translation of Mitterand’s name might be “see you later.” The name, despite the missing second “r,” was inspired by the French president’s brother, who’s a friend of Ross Gilbert, the Beverly Hills resident who owns 75% of the horse.

The other 25% of Mitterand belongs to Arnold Winick, the Delray Beach, Fla., man who bred the filly.

“This is a real family filly,” said Vern Winick, who’s married to Arnold. “Arnold bought and trained her sire (Hold Your Peace). He bred this filly and she’s trained by our son, Randy. We have the filly in partnership with a good friend, and her name comes from a good friend of his in France.”

If there’s a horse who knows how good Mitterand is, it’s Percipient, who finished second to her in all three legs of the La Canada series.

In the five-horse La Canada, however, it was Life’s Magic, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, who was given the best chance of stopping Mitterand.

Life’s Magic, making her first start in two months, was made the second betting choice at 2 to 1.

She finished third, 4 1/2 lengths behind Percipient and 5 lengths back of the winner, who was even money in the betting.

“It was tough spot to start the year,” said Wayne Lukas, who trains Life’s Magic. “Ideally, I would have liked to start her off at a mile carrying 117 pounds, but they don’t write races that way. We carried the most weight (126 pounds, five more than Mitterand) and the winner ran a sensational race.”

Mitterand won in 1:48 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles, paying $4, $2.60 and $2.10. Percipient paid $4.40 and $2.10 and Life’s Magic’s show price was $2.10. For the second straight day, an unidentified bettor made a $100,000 show bet and won, this time on Mitterand.

Gilbert gave Randy Winick credit for having Mitterand ready to run in the La Canada series. “After she got beat by a neck by Moment to Buy in the Hollywood Oaks last July,” Gilbert said, “it was Randy who suggested we rest her for this series.”

Before the race, Arnold Winick had said: “While she had a nice rest, the other fillies were knocking each other out.”

Mitterand, who didn’t run as a 2-year-old because of a virus and made only seven starts at three, is 6 for 10 lifetime, with three seconds and one third. The $90,700 purse Sunday boosted her career earnings to $310,800, and she could have earned $27,000 more as a Breeders’ Cup premium, but she wasn’t nominated for the seven million-dollar races at Aqueduct next November.

“For some reason,” Arnold Winick said, “we didn’t nominate any of the foals from her year for the Breeders’ Cup. Those races weren’t the most publicized thing in the world at that time.”

Asked if Mitterand might be a possible supplementary starter in the fall--at a fee that would run into six figures--Gilbert said: “If she’s in the same condition then that she is now, we’d supplement her any time, any place.”

Mitterand went to the lead in the La Canada. “Either Percipient didn’t want the lead or we just outran her at the start,” Randy Winick said.

Delahoussaye figured he was in good shape at the five-sixteenths pole. “The other rider (Sandy Hawley) was really riding his horse, and I was just sitting there with mine,” Delahoussaye said. “My filly never breaks good, but today she broke about as well as she has in a long time.

“She’s done everything right, and now she’s beaten an Eclipse Award winner.”

And if she keeps running the way she has at Santa Anita, Mitterand might have one of those trophies herself some day.

Horse Racing Notes Pat Valenzuela took off the last two days and horses he was scheduled to ride won four times, including three Sunday. Another Valenzuela mount, Percipient, was picked up by Sandy Hawley in the La Canada Stakes, giving Hawley 10% of the filly’s $43,500 for finishing second. . . . Valenzuela and Chris McCarron are tied for the meet lead with 40 wins each. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye’s win with Mitterand was his fifth in a stake this season. . . . Delahoussaye and trainer Randy Winick came back in the race after the La Canada to win with Right on Red. . . . The stewards hit jockey Joe Steiner with a five-day suspension. . . . Of the 1,980 horses at Santa Anita, about 650 have had the flu, but more than half of those have recovered. One of the hardest hit trainers has been John Gosden, who has 11 horses for Robert Sangster that are ailing. . . . Trainer Darrell Vienna said that The Rogers Four, winner of Saturday’s San Vicente Stakes, will run next in the San Rafael on Feb. 23. . . . Burt Bacharach has a foal-sharing deal with Calumet Farm that’s part of his sending Heartlight No. One to be bred to Alydar. The composer has one breeding of Icantell, Heartlight’s dam, to Secreto, last year’s Epsom Derby winner.