Del Mar Oaks : Hidden Light Gives Whittingham a Tasty Stake

After Charlie Whittingham ended his stakes slump here Sunday, he talked mostly in the future tense about Hidden Light, the filly that gave the 73-year-old trainer a 3/4-length win in the $157,950 Del Mar Oaks.

“She’s been kind of on the spindly side, but now she’s starting to fill out,” Whittingham said. “By next year, she’ll be something.”

Hidden Light is already something. Although Kraemer, who was also saddled by Whittingham for the Oaks, made the race slightly more interesting with a long, consistent run from the half-mile pole to the wire, Hidden Light and Bill Shoemaker won a little more comfortably than the final margin indicates. Whittingham said he was never worried about beating himself with the lesser of his two fillies.

This was Hidden Light’s third Oaks win of the year, to go with victories at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. The 3-year-old Majestic Light-Tallahto filly now has six wins and a second out of eight races, and Sunday’s $92,700 share of the purse increased her career total to $412,400. In a division where the national leader has frequently been the filly who wins the most recent race, Hidden Light is four-square in the title picture.

Hidden Light, timed in 1:47 2/5 for the 1 1/8 miles as she made her record 2 for 2 on grass, paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10. Kraemer, a French-raced 2-year-old last year, paid $2.80 and $2.60 in her second U.S. stakes start. She finished five lengths ahead of Shotgun Wedding, whose show price in the seven-horse field was $2.80.

The combination behind Hidden Light--Whittingham, Shoemaker and Howard and Elizabeth Keck, who bred and own the filly--is the same group that won this year’s Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand.

Some of the colts Ferdinand beat in the Derby may have Hidden Light to contend with before the year is over. Whittingham is not renowned for running fillies against colts, unless his hand is wired, and Hidden Light appears to give him those kind of cards.

Asked after Sunday’s race if Hidden Light would eventually run against the boys, Whittingham said:

“Why not? Her mother (Tallahto) beat colts, and she’ll be better than her mother was.”

Hidden Light’s win ended a three-year drought for Whittingham, the trainer not having saddled a stakes winner at Del Mar since opening day in 1983. This was Whittingham’s sixth Oaks win and with 54 Del Mar wins overall he still holds a comfortable lead over Tommy Doyle, who is second on that list with 33.

While Whittingham’s stakes winners have been scarce lately, Hidden Light’s win added to Shoemaker’s success at Del Mar this season. Shoemaker, 55 by about a week, also won Saturday’s Chula Vista Handicap with Fran’s Valentine and now has a record 951 stakes wins, 223 of them in races worth $100,000 or more.

With Kraemer bearing down in the stretch Sunday, Shoemaker was more worried than Whittingham about getting to the wire.

“It wasn’t easy,” Shoemaker said. “She was all out. She was getting a little tired in the last part, and she hadn’t run in a while (since winning the Hollywood Oaks on July 6). This is as good a filly as I’ve ever ridden.”

By the the time the field reached the clubhouse turn, Shoemaker had urged Hidden Light ahead of Rare Starlet, who broke quickly from the gate. Hidden Light was four lengths ahead of Rare Starlet going down the backstretch and appeared to have clear sailing on the far turn until apprentice Corey Black, seeking the first stakes win of his career, got Kraemer on the move.

Kraemer was gainly steadily on Hidden Light through the lane, but Black had his doubts.

“Shoe hadn’t turned his filly loose yet,” Black said. “He didn’t ask her to run until they hit the eighth pole. I wished there had been more pace up front (somebody to run with Hidden Light), but still my filly made a good, long run.”

Hidden Light, who probably will run next against older fillies and mares in the Ramona Handicap on Sept. 7, carried 124 pounds, 10 more than Kraemer, one of the lightweights in the race. The only other filly to carry that much weight and win the Del Mar Oaks was Turkish Trousers, who won the stake for the same group--Whittingham, Shoemaker and the Kecks--in 1971.

Hidden Light, second by 3 1/2 lengths to the undefeated Melair in the Princess Stakes at Hollywood Park, had her only off-the-board finish in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, where she was seventh.

While Hidden Light has a two-week respite before her next start, Whittingham will be on the move. Sunday night, the bald trainer flew to Chicago, where he’ll supervise the workouts of Palace Music and Estrapade, his two starters in the Budwesier-Arlington Million next Sunday.

On Tuesday, Whittingham returns to Del Mar, where his impressive 2-year-old colt, Temperate Sil, runs in the Balboa Stakes Wednesday. Then Whittingham returns to Chicago Friday for Million weekend.

Hidden Light moves quickly, but not that much faster than her veteran trainer. There’s as much grass growing under Whittingham as there’s hair on his head.

Horse Racing Notes

Charlie Whittingham’s son, Michael, saddled Skywalker for a half-length win over Bedside Promise Sunday in the $250,000 Longacres Mile. Laffit Pincay rode Skywalker. . . . Another Michael Whittingham starter, Truce Maker, ran fourth in Sunday’s Stars and Stripes Handicap at Arlington Park. Explosive Darling won the Stars and Stripes by a head over Clever Song. Charlie Whittingham’s two starters in the Stars and Stripes--Rivlia and Diaghlyphard--finished far back. . . . Kraemer, a daughter of Lyphard, was a handful in the paddock prior to the Del Mar Oaks. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye rode four straight winners Sunday, the fourth through the seventh races.