Racing at Santa Anita : Love Smitten Win Is Alydar’s Loss

Del Chase did an imitation of a horse peeking out of his stall. “That’s Alydar, looking for Love Smitten,” Chase said. “Well, he’s going to be waiting for a long time now.”

After Love Smitten won the Silver Belles Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 7, Chase and his wife, Gail, decided to send their filly to Kentucky and breed her to Alydar.

But Eddie Gregson, their trainer, asked the Chases to wait until Love Smitten had run two more races at Santa Anita--Saturday’s Santa Maria Handicap and the Santa Margarita Handicap on Feb. 23.

After Love Smitten won the $115,100 Santa Maria by an overpowering 2 lengths, the Chases aren’t waiting for the Santa Margarita before they make a breeding decision. Love Smitten is love lost as far as Alydar is concerned.

In fact, the Chases would be willing to supplement Love Smitten to the Breeders’ Cup, at a cost of $120,000, if the million-dollar races were run now instead of Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

“This mare’s a lot stronger than she was a year ago,” Gregson said. “She’s carrying more weight and she’s grown some. Maybe her 5-year-old year will be the year that we thought she might have earlier.”

The Chases, who live in Danville, Calif., bought Love Smitten, a Canadian-bred daughter of Key to the Mint-Square Angel, for $400,000 when she was an unraced 2-year-old in New York. She ran only three times at 3, then last year won three stakes and two other races in 12 starts.

The win Saturday was worth $65,600 and boosted Love Smitten’s career earnings to almost $300,000. On a muddy track, she ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44 3/5 and paid $8.60, $4.80 and $3.60 as the second choice in a crowd of 42,605.

Dontstop Themusic, last year’s runner-up to Life’s Magic in Eclipse Award voting for older females, was second to Adored in last year’s Santa Maria and was Saturday’s favorite. But she finished fifth in the field of nine.

“She was in a good spot, but she was sliding a lot,” said Laffit Pincay, who rode Dontstop Themusic. “She quit running at the three-eighths pole.”

Chris McCarron had a choice of riding three Santa Maria horses--Love Smitten, Johnica and Her Royalty--and typical of his season so far, the 30-year-old jockey made the right choice. Her Royalty was scratched, Johnica finished second and Love Smitten gave McCarron his seventh stakes win of the meeting.

McCarron had liked the way Love Smitten finished in the 1 1/8-mile Silver Belles, extending a lead that was 7 1/2 lengths when she hit the wire.

On Saturday, McCarron liked the way Love Smitten was running down the backside, even though Baroness Direct, a sprinter who seemed to have no business in the race, opened up an eight-length lead.

“The way that other mare was running into the first turn, I knew she had to come back to us,” McCarron said. “Down the backstretch, my mare was running as though she thought she was in front. She had her ears pricked, and at the half-mile pole she was getting closer and closer and I hadn’t moved a muscle yet.”

On the turn, Love Smitten and McCarron flew by Baroness Direct, who eventually finished seventh.

The winner took the inside route. “I don’t know why we went that way,” McCarron said, “because the filly on the lead usually lugs in pretty bad, but this time there was plenty of room.”

Johnica paid $5 and $3.40, and North Sider, who finished third, 5 3/4 lengths behind Love Smitten, returned $3.40.

Gary Stevens, riding Johnica, said his mare broke slowly and seemed to be disoriented running down the backside.

“She was timid,” Stevens said. “She wasn’t used to the mud and didn’t seem to know what she was running on. She kept looking down to see what was there.”

Dontstop Themusic, carrying top weight of 123 pounds, three more than Love Smitten, is also expected to return to run in the Santa Margarita.

“I needed this race to get her ready for the Santa Margarita,” said Dontstop Themusic’s trainer, Randy Winick. “I didn’t know how she would handle the track. She did all right in the mud once at Hollywood Park, but that’s more of a sand track, and she had done all right in the mornings here.”

Winick will hope for a fast track in the Santa Margarita. Now, Eddie Gregson doesn’t care. “I found out she can handle the mud, didn’t I?” Gregson said.

Horse Racing Notes Two of today’s 14 entrants in the $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes worked Saturday just before the first race. Right Con, winner of the San Fernando Stakes two weeks ago, went three furlongs in :35 4/5 on a muddy track, and Proud Truth, fifth in the San Fernando, was clocked in :37 2/5. . . . ESPN, which will do an hour telecast on the Strub starting at 4 p.m., won’t have Dave Johnson participating in the broadcast. Alan Balch, a vice president at Santa Anita, confirmed that the track requested that Johnson be left off the telecast, but wouldn’t give a reason. Johnson was Santa Anita’s track announcer for several years but was replaced by Trevor Denman two seasons ago after difficulties in negotiating a contract. Johnson, a regular member of the the ESPN racing broadcasting team, will be replaced today by Tom Hammond. “I’m sorry I won’t be there,” Johnson said by phone from New York. “I want to see these racing shows succeed throughout the year.” Johnson, a Santa Anita stockholder, had earlier been turned down after he made a request for season media credentials. He said that Santa Anita would be unable to prevent him from being part of the team doing the Breeders’ Cup national telecast on Nov. 1, because NBC has control over the selection of the announcers.