Oak Tree Racing : Capo Di Monte Figures to Take a Beating, Win or Lose

Capo Di Monte, a 3-year-old Irish-bred filly from England, and Angel Cordero, a 43-year-old Puerto Rican-born jockey from New York, seem like the perfect pairing in today’s $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita.

Capo Di Monte is a big bay filly who can run, but she’s a lazy sort. Cordero is a jockey who knows how to get reluctant horses to run. No thoroughbred ever falls asleep with Cordero on his back.

Cordero’s hell-for-leather style was never more in evidence than in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff Stakes at Aqueduct a week ago. He whipped Life’s Magic repeatedly through the stretch to make sure she wouldn’t loaf on the lead, and the 4-year-old filly gave Cordero his first win in a Breeders’ Cup race.

When Wayne Lukas, Life’s Magic’s trainer, watched a television rerun of the race, he said: “One thing about this race, she’s sure gonna remember Cordero.”

Capo Di Monte will need all the help she can get from her rider today, because she and nine other fillies and mares appear to have too much to handle in Estrapade, who will go off a solid favorite. One of the 12 entrants, Justicara, won’t start because of a nasal infection, according to her trainer, John Gosden.

Cordero, who will be riding Capo Di Monte for the first time, got the call after Walter Swinburn, the English jockey, suffered a hand injury.

Capo Di Monte is owned by Sheik Mohammed Al Maktoum, part of the ruling family of oil-rich Dubai that has spent millions of dollars at Keeneland yearling sales in recent years. The sheik’s Pebbles won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes at Aqueduct, increasing his bankroll by $900,000.

Capo Di Monte has made six starts this year, winning twice to go with two seconds and a third. In her last two starts, a longer nose might have helped when she was barely beaten at Kempton and Newmarket in England.

“At Newmarket, she was just caught on the nod at the line,” said Cliff Lines, foreman for English trainer Michael Stoute and the exercise rider for Capo Di Monte. The filly will be saddled today by Santa Anita trainer Neil Drysdale.

“This filly’s got a bag of guts,” Lines said. “But I’d like to see a drop of rain for the race. A soft turf would be in our favor. The mile and a quarter is her distance, both of her wins this year have come at that distance, but soft ground would also help.”

Ron McAnally, who saddles L’Attrayante in the Yellow Ribbon, is another trainer who would welcome rain. L’Attrayante finished second, 3 1/2 lengths behind Estrapade, in the Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 19. Estrapade carried 124 pounds, six more than L’Attrayante, that day, but under the weight-for-age conditions of the Yellow Ribbon, both mares carry 123 pounds today. Capo Di Monte carries 118 pounds, most of which will be Cordero and his wake-em-up whip.

Horse Racing Notes

Bill Shoemaker took off several mounts Saturday because of a cold. Shoemaker rides Estrapade in the Yellow Ribbon.