Hatim Handles This Field From Start to Finish

With such highly regarded horses as Precisionist, Gate Dancer, Greinton and Strawberry Road missing from the field, Sunday’s $218,700 San Antonio Handicap figured to be anyone’s race.

But, almost from the moment the eight starters sprang from the gate in front of a Santa Anita crowd of 40,440, Hatim made the race his own.

Trained by John Gosden and ridden by Laffit Pincay, Hatim covered the 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:47 2/5, to earn $128,700 for his owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who presumably could use the change.

Right Con, with Patrick Valenzuela aboard, finished second, 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Nostalgia’s Star, ridden by Fernando Toro. The winner paid $11.40, $6.40 and $4.20; Right Con paid $7.20 and $3.60, and Nostalgia’s Star paid $2.60.

Hatim, a half-brother to 1983 San Antonio Handicap winner Bates Motel, stayed with the early leader, Herat, for most of the race, then took the lead approaching the stretch, with Pincay sticking to the middle of the track.

“He (Gosden) told me to stay away from the rail,” Pincay said. “He walked the track and said the inside was deeper (and therefore slower).”

Pincay, who rode two other winners Sunday, said he felt confident about Hatim’s chances.

“Once he makes up his mind to run, he’s a good horse,” he said. “He’s just been cheating. When my agent called me this morning, I said, ‘We can win. We can win. We have a good chance.’ ”

That chance was improved immeasurably when trainer Charlie Whittingham scratched two parts of his three-horse entry--Greinton and Strawberry Road, partly because of the muddy conditions. That left him with just Hail Bold King, who finished a well-beaten sixth.

“It’s lucky Greinton scratched,” Gosden said. “That’s not an off-track in the middle racing strip. They’ve done a tremendous job with it considering the rain.”

Valenzuela, who finished second aboard Right Con, said he ran into problems on the backstretch.

“I was trapped the whole way,” he said. “I had nowhere to go. I had to hold onto him, and when I finally got free it was too late. The other horse had too much.”

Said Toro, who did well to take third after being carried wide coming into the stretch by Strub Stakes winner Nostalgia’s Star: “I don’t think it was one of his days. He was dull. Even in the paddock (trainer) Jay Robbins said he looked quiet. He never had any desire.”

Hatim was another story.

“The owner told me this horse would be better on the dirt because of his breeding (by Exclusive Native out of Sunday Purchase),” Gosden said, “but I was reluctant.

“The horse has shown signs of being a slow learner, but he knows about racing now.”

Whether Hatim knows enough to be worth supplementing into the March 2 Santa Anita Handicap at a cost of $25,000 is something that will have to be decided.

“It’s up to the owner,” Gosden said. “After what we saw today, I think he’d like to run both Hatim and Alphabatim, who is already eligible. It’s a million dollar race and they don’t come up that often.”

Whittingham, who scratched Greinton Sunday morning, waited until 1:45 p.m., after the third race was over, to scratch Strawberry Road. The track, not drying quite as quickly as it had on Saturday, was listed as muddy at the time but was upgraded to good after the fourth race.

The 72-year-old trainer’s decision may have had less to do with the status of the main track, however, than with the condition of the grass course. Strawberry Road, a 7-year-old Australian-bred, is entered in today’s $150,000 San Luis Obispo Handicap, which is scheduled for the turf.

Strawberry Road has never run on the dirt but has won 16 of 40 starts on the grass. If today’s 1 1/2-mile feature for 4-year-olds and up is run on the turf, Strawberry Road will be one of the favorites.

Both last Wednesday’s Monrovia Handicap and Saturday’s Sierra Madre Handicap were switched from the grass on the day of the race, and the same could happen today. As a result, just which of the 12 horses entered will actually run is problematic.

In addition to Strawberry Road, the field includes Talakeno, with whom trainer Laz Barrera will be trying to win his third straight San Luis Obispo; Foscarini, which is coming off a convincing victory in the Turf Paradise Handicap; and Truculent, fourth behind Strawberry Road in the San Marcos Handicap Jan. 26.