Oak Leaf Stakes : Lukas Says Sacahuista on Schedule

Trainer Wayne Lukas’ horses kept running against Delicate Vine until they beat her, and Sacahuista’s win Sunday in the $311,750 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita may have come at the most opportune time. It is just four weeks before Sacahuista will run in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes, over the same race track and at the same 1 1/16-mile distance as the Oak Leaf.

Sacahuista, named by co-owner Bob French after a type of grass that grows wild and is eaten by cows in South Texas, won the Oak Leaf by 2 lengths over Silk’s Lady before 38,515. Delicate Vine, unbeaten in four starts and the 7-10 favorite, took the wide way around and finished a tired third, a neck behind Silk’s Lady.

Lukas, winning the Oak Leaf for the fourth time in the last five years, had horses finish second to Delicate Vine in her four previous starts. Anything for Love couldn’t beat Delicate Vine as a maiden or in the Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park; Burnished Bright ran five lengths behind Delicate Vine in the Sorority at Monmouth Park; and Sacahuista was defeated by 1 lengths by the Washington-bred filly in the Arlington-Washington Lassie on Aug. 29.

“This is the one that counts,” said Lukas, the national training leader for the fourth straight year. “I know Delicate Vine’s accomplishments are documented, but our filly established herself in this race. Historically, races around two turns mean the most, and this race has added significance. I think it establishes our filly as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Sacahuista, a $625,000 yearling purchase, is owned by French and Barry Beal, who also campaigned Landaluce, the winner of the Oak Leaf in 1982. Lukas’ other Oak Leaf winners were Life’s Magic in 1983 and Arewehavingfunyet last year.

Sacahuista’s time of 1:44 3/5 was well off the stakes record of 1:41 1/5 that It’s In The Air set in 1978. The Raja Baba-Nalees Flying Flag filly paid $5.80, $3.80 and $2.40 as the second betting choice, earning $187,050 and increasing her career total to almost $400,000. The Oak Leaf was the fourth win in seven starts for Sacahuista, who won two lesser stakes at Saratoga this summer before running second to Delicate Vine at Arlington Park, and losing by a nose to Qualify while running against colts in the Del Mar Futurity.

Silk’s Lady, whose only win was against maidens at Del Mar, was a 25-1 shot who paid $12 and $3.60 for running second. Delicate Vine’s show price was $2.10.

Delicate Vine, breaking from the outside stall in the seven-horse field, was four horses wide going into the first turn. Down the backstretch, with Taxpayer’s Folly, a $10,000 supplementary starter, setting slow fractions, Sacahuista and Delicate Vine were close and they remained in contention going into the far turn. When Sacahuista began to overtake Taxpayer’s Folly, Delicate Vine started to struggle. Sacahuista took the lead just before the eighth pole and won comfortably.

“That run into the first turn didn’t help,” said Gary Stevens, who rode Delicate Vine. “I was trying to get to the frontrunners at that point.

“I think the most important factors were that she had had a five-week layoff and she hadn’t been around two turns before. She ran the last quarter of a mile on heart alone, because she was awful tired.”

Horse Racing Notes

Sacahuista gave Chris McCarron his third stakes win of the weekend. McCarron, who is leading the nation’s jockeys with a purse total of about $8.5 million, won at Belmont Park Saturday with The Lone Ranger in the Lawrence Realization and with Life at the Top, another Lukas horse, in the Rare Perfume Stakes. . . . Trainer Ross Fenstermaker said Sunday that Gary Stevens will be riding Precisionist in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. McCarron has been riding both Precisionist and Turkoman most of the year and Turkoman is also scheduled to run in the race Late Sunday, however, McCarron indicated that the door might still be open for him to choose Precisionist. “I’ll have to talk to Mr. (Fred) Hooper first,” McCarron said. Hooper bred and owns Precisionist. On Saturday, McCarron rode Turkoman to a second-place finish, a head behind Creme Fraiche, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. “It was too slow a pace, and my horse got to messing around,” said Gary Jones, who trains Turkoman. “He beat himself” . . . Roo Art, who skipped the Belmont race, is likely to run in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. Besides Roo Art, trainer Wayne Lukas’ tentative list of Breeders’ Cup starters includes Lady’s Secret, Family Style, Twilight Ridge, Jazzing Around, Sacahuista and maybe even Capote, an $800,000 Seattle Slew colt who just broke his maiden by 11 lengths Friday, running six furlongs in 1:09 2/5 after setting exceptionally fast early fractions. Lukas started 10 horses in the Breeders’ Cup last year at Aqueduct, winning the Juvenile Fillies with Twilight Ridge and the Distaff with Life’s Magic. Lukas said that it is not impossible that Lady’s Secret might run against males in this year’s Classic rather than compete in the Distaff.