Sunny Slope Stakes Marks Opening of Oak Tree Meeting at Santa Anita

This has been a year when the best 2-year-old in California is the horse that has won the most recent race.

Hilco Scamper won the Hollywood Juvenile Championship in July, then went East and snapped a five-race winning string by finishing seventh in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

At Del Mar in late August, Swear moved ahead of Hilco Scamper locally by winning the Balboa Stakes, giving him three straight victories by a total of 20 1/2 lengths. But Swear has been sidelined for the rest of the year with a bruised leg.

Swear’s injury led to speculation that the best surviving 2-year-old might be the filly Arewehavingfunyet, but she was outrun in the stretch by Tasso in the Del Mar Futurity Sept. 11.

Today’s $60,000 Sunny Slope Stakes, which will open the 32-day Oak Tree season at Santa Anita, won’t produce a new California standout for the division, since the eight-horse field is made up mostly of horses that have been unable to beat Hilco Scamper, Swear and Tasso.

Trainer Wayne Lukas has an abundance of good 2-year-olds, but his best colts--Ketoh and Sovereign Don--are stabled in New York. His two starters in the Sunny Slope--Louisiana Slew and Santiago Peak--are unknown quantities.

Louisiana Slew, an almost-black son of Seattle Slew, 1977 Triple Crown champion, is not unknown because of his sales price. He was bought as a yearling at Keeneland by Louisiana Sen. J.E. Jumonville Jr. for $2.9 million, the most ever spent by an American at auction for a horse until Allen Paulson recently bought a Northern Dancer colt for $3.7 million.

After winning his first race by four lengths at Del Mar, Louisiana Slew finished second to Powder Pack, a California-bred, in the Mid-Peninsula Stakes Sept. 12 at the Bay Meadows Fair.

“He got tired in that race and didn’t seem to like the loose, sandy going at Bay Meadows,” said Lukas, who leads the country with record-setting one-year totals for purses, $7 million, and stakes wins, 55.

Mel Stute also has two horses entered in the Sunny Slope, a prep for Oak Tree’s major 2-year-old race, the $200,000 Norfolk on Oct. 13.

Today, Stute will start Snow Chief and Little Red Cloud, who ran 1-2 in the Rancho Santa Fe Stakes at Del Mar. Snow Chief then finished third, behind Tasso and Arewehavingfunyet, in the Del Mar Futurity.

Tasso probably won’t run during the Oak Tree meeting, which will end Nov. 11.

Hilco Scamper, who did not run in the Arlington-Washington Futurity last month after developing a temperature, is stabled at Santa Anita, but may not be ready for the Norfolk.

“It’s a possibility, but right now I don’t believe we’ll run,” said Mike Chambers, who trains the gelding. “The horse still has a cough from the sickness he got in Chicago, and there may not be enough time. I hope the sloppy track was the reason he didn’t do better at Saratoga. He didn’t have any other excuse and trained well for the race.”

Racing Notes Santa Anita is the first area thoroughbred track to be running at the same time as the state lottery, and the track is concerned about the long-term impact on horse betting. The Pick Nine, a wager designed to compete with the lottery, has not obtained final state clearance, but it is expected to be offered during the Oak Tree season. With fans trying to pick all nine winners on a day’s card, Pick Nine pools could grow to as much as $5 million. Because of the imminent arrival of the Pick Nine, the Pick Six has been installed as a bet on the fourth through the ninth races of the Oak Tree meeting, instead of the third through the eighth as in the past. . . . The first major race of the meeting will be the $100,000 Carleton F. Burke Handicap on Sunday. . . . Post time for the first race is 1 p.m. until Oct. 26, when it will change to 12:30 p.m. . . . A showdown on Saturday between Mom’s Command and Lady’s Secret in the Rare Perfume Stakes at Belmont Park has been postponed because Mom’s Command suffered a leg injury during a workout. Those horses are the leaders in the 3-year-old filly division and may meet Oct. 13 in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont.