Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Nine of 10 San Fernando Horses to Try Again in Strub

Last season, after Precisionist had easily won the Malibu and San Fernando Stakes, only four horses showed up to oppose him in the Charles H. Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

This season, Banner Bob won the Malibu and dropped out of sight. Then Right Con won the San Fernando, and almost no one has disappeared. Nine of the 10 horses in the San Fernando, including Right Con, are back for the foundation race of the Strub Series, and they’ll probably be joined by five others Sunday for a 1-mile test worth more than $500,000.

If all 14 horses start--a few are marginal should the track be muddy--it will be one of the largest fields in Strub history, and the richest race ever at Santa Anita. All purse records will fall again, though, when the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap is run March 2.

Just as in the San Fernando, there is no clear-cut favorite in the Strub. The William R. Hawn-owned entry of Right Con and Fast Account will probably be the public’s pick at post time, not so much because of Right Con’s win in the San Fernando, but because of Fast Account’s strong third-place finish in what was only his second race in almost seven months.

Chris McCarron, who won the Strub with Precisionist by a nose over Greinton a year ago, is riding Fast Account again and has an excellent chance to become the first jockey ever to repeat in the race, which was first run in 1963. Before ‘63, the race was called the Santa Anita Maturity, and during that period, Eddie Arcaro and Bill Harmatz both won it consecutively.

Proud Truth, the second betting choice in the San Fernando behind Will Dancer, suffered from having the outside post and finished fifth, but has drawn the inside for the Strub, with Jorge Velasquez, who has ridden the colt in all 14 of his races.

Outside of Proud Truth in the gate, in order, will be Schiller, ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye; Catane, Gary Baze; Right Con, Pat Valenzuela; Roo Art, Laffit Pincay; All Hands on Deck, Ray Sibille; First Norman, Gary Stevens; Witan, Antonio Castanon; Nostalgia’s Star, Fernando Toro; Herat, Pat Day; Lucky N Green, Luis Ortega; Fast Account, McCarron; Will Dancer, Bill Shoemaker, and Encolure, Jack Kaenel.

Another coupling is the entry of Catane and Herat, who are both owned by John Franks.

Just as in the San Fernando, Proud Truth will be giving a lot of weight, the penalty he pays for having won almost $2 million in purses last year. Proud Truth will carry 126 pounds Sunday, which is 9 to 12 pounds more than any other starter.

There’s a tendency to evaluate Right Con’s front-running win in the San Fernando just for what it was--the horse’s first victory in more than 14 months.

Trainer Mel Stute, however, is optimistic about the colt’s chances, saying, “I think he’ll run another good race. He’s a lot better horse than he was last year, and I think he can run either way, although he’s probably better on the lead.”

Horse Racing Notes The first Strub, in 1963, produced the largest field, with Crimson Satan beating 15 rivals. There have been two 14-horse fields, when Bold Bidder won in ’66 and when Kirby Lane was victorious in ’77. . . . Gary Stute, Mel Stute’s son, will saddle Right Con, while his father is running his two 3-year-olds, Snow Chief and Darby Fair, in the $250,000 El Camino Real Derby Sunday at Bay Meadows. It rained heavily at Bay Meadows Friday, but a track official said the track still had a solid bottom, which Stute says he’ll need in order to run Snow Chief. . . . Besides the Stute pair, only five other horses were entered in the El Camino Real, including Badger Land, a Wayne Lukas trainee, and Cut by Glass, who will be ridden by Terry Lipham. Thursday, Lipham, seriously injured in a spill at Del Mar last Aug. 2, rode his first winner since returning to Santa Anita. . . . Today’s Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita includes Love Smitten, Mimi Baker and Dontstop Themusic, who ran 1-2-3 in the Silver Belles Handicap in early December. . . . Both Yves Saint-Martin and his son, Eric, are scheduled to ride California-based horses in the $100,000 Turf Paradise Handicap at Phoenix Sunday. Yves, who has been the French riding champion 15 times, has been named on El Asesor, and Eric has Foscarini.