Prince True Battles Estrapade to Wire, Wins by 1 1/2 Lengths

Trainer Charlie Whittingham once had a horse that was so strong, he said it could “get a mile and three quarters with a piano in his mouth.”

Asked earlier this week if Prince True could “get” the 1 3/4 miles of the $300,000 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap, he said: “Well, maybe a small piano.’

Sunday afternoon, in front of a crowd of 56,142 at Santa Anita, Prince True played the music Whittingham likes to hear, circling the field in the backstretch and streaking to a 1 1/2-length victory in the San Juan, the longest Grade I turf race in North America.

After watching jockey Chris McCarron orchestrate a perfect trip for Prince True to edge stablemate Estrapade in a furious finish, Whittingham conceded a piano might have been too much extra luggage.

“I might have to settle for a violin,” said Whittingham, who won his third straight San Juan and 11th overall. “She (Estrapade) hung in there like a lion. It took Prince True everything he had to get there.”

Prince True, the favorite, returned $4.60, $2.60 and $2.20. He trailed the field in the early going, allowing Palestiglio, ridden by Bill Shoemaker and Estrapade, bidding to become only the third filly or mare to win the 46th running of this turf marathon, to set the pace.

The quick early fractions may have cost Estrapade the race.

“She wanted to go to the front and I tried hard to settle her, get her to relax,” jockey Fernando Toro said. “But I didn’t want to be too strong, otherwise we would have been fighting all the way around.

“Once the other horse backed off, she finally relaxed. In the stretch, she tried her best. It just wasn’t enough.”

Estrapade, who returned $2.40 and $2.20 as the second favorite in the field of seven, battled Prince True to the wire. “She hung in there like the last button on old Job’s coat,” Whittingham said.

However, in the final eighth of a mile, Prince True, driving hard, opened some breathing space.

“This horse had been a little bit of a clown when it was younger,” McCarron said. “He had to mature and now he’s come into his own.”

The 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Majestic Light out of Tallahto, had a rough campaign last year, suffering minor injuries at Santa Anita and at Del Mar. That prompted Whittingham to bring the horse along slowly. When Prince True won the 1 1/2-mile San Luis Rey Stakes March 31, it became apparent distance was his forte.

Sunday, he earned $180,000 for his owner, Mrs. Howard B. Keck, and pushed his career earnings to $590,750.

Whittingham claimed in jest that Prince True could probably run for 20 miles, but Laffit Pincay, finishing a fast-closing third aboard Swoon, who returned $2.40, wasn’t sure it was a joke.

“I couldn’t find a way to get through,” said Pincay, who got stuck against the rail and had to slightly alter his course. “I thought we might catch them, but there was no hole. But I don’t know if I could have caught him (Prince True). He seems like he could have gone a lot further.”

Racing Notes

Trainer Laz Barrera scratched Western from the San Juan Capistrano Sunday morning because of a bruised foot. The field shriveled again in the afternoon when the Irish-bred Naar was withdrawn with a touch of cholic. . . . Jockey Chris McCarron will ride Fast Account in the Kentucky Derby Trial at Churchill Downs Saturday. . . . Gary Stevens will make his first Kentucky Derby appearance aboard Tank’s Prospect, who he rode to a victory in the Arkansas Derby Saturday. The horse is owned by Eugene Klein, the former owner of the San Diego Chargers, and named after former Ram great Tank Younger. . . . Jockey Pat Valenzuela, who reinjured a shoulder Friday when his mount stumbled leaving the starting gate, will return to racing Wednesday at Hollywood Park. . . . Irish O’Brien, who broke down Friday in the Las Cienegas Handicap, will undergo surgery today for two broken sesamoids in her right front leg. . . . Santa Anita closes out its 89-day meeting with the $100,000-added San Jacinto, a 1-mile test on the turf. Tsunami Slew, a 4-year-old son of Seattle Slew, heads a field of 12.