California Breeders’ Champion Stakes : Fast Delivery Outlasts Two Other Favorites to Win With Fast Finish

The $119,300 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at Santa Anita Sunday figured to be a three-horse race right from the start.

A dozen 3-year-olds went to the post in the 47th running of the race, but only Broadway Pointe, the favorite, and Fast Delivery and Orchard Song, sons of 1978 California Breeders’ Champion winner Flying Paster, appeared to have a chance of being there at the finish.

As it turned out, Orchard Song, unbeaten in his only two starts, made it a two-horse race by pulling up in the backstretch, and Broadway Pointe then turned it into a one-horse affair by fading in the stretch.

That gave the victory to Fast Delivery, brought home by Fernando Toro a neck in front of Gary Stevens on Stylish Winner, with Broadway Pointe, under Eddie Delahoussaye, another length and a quarter back in third place.

Fast Delivery covered the seven furlongs on a fast track in 1:24.0 to earn $74,300 for his owner, Bell Bloodstock Co. The purse was almost as much as Fast Delivery fetched as a yearling at the Del Mar Sale, when he was sold for $85,000.

Orchard Song gave Bill Shoemaker a short but eventful ride, almost throwing the jockey when he acted up coming out of the chute.

Shoemaker, who in the race immediately preceding the feature rode his 8,626th career winner, had no clear idea afterward of what had happened. He said he was too busy just trying to stay on the horse’s back.

“I thought he broke his leg,” Shoemaker said. “I don’t know if it was dirt that hit him or what. Then I pulled him up and there was nothing wrong with him. It’s embarrassing.”

Trainer Jude Feld’s Broadway Pointe, who had finished in the money in seven of his nine career starts, also had no real excuse. After taking the lead turning into the stretch, he appeared to have nothing left.

“Maybe he just doesn’t want to go seven (furlongs),” Delahoussaye said. “I thought maybe he would after the way he ran last time.”

That was on Dec. 30 in the six-furlong San Miguel Handicap, which Broadway Pointe and Delahoussaye won with ease.

There had been rumors earlier in the day that Broadway Pointe had not come back entirely sound after a Sunday morning gallop, and Delahoussaye said there might have been a problem.

“Maybe there’s something bothering him, but I don’t know (what it is),” he said. “It (the loss) is just one of those things, I guess.”

Toro, meanwhile, was all smiles in the jockeys’ room, accepting congratulations and trading barbs with Corey Black, who was celebrating his 18th birthday.

“I always liked this horse,” Toro said. “He still has a lot to learn, but he’s the kind of horse that just does what you ask him for.

“Ever since he won his first race, he never changed his habits. He’s the same, quiet, relaxed horse. That helps a lot.”

After Broadway Pointe took the lead by about a length, Fast Delivery closed strongly on his outside, pulling Stylish Winner with him.

“At the far turn, I couldn’t see in front of me what was going on,” Toro said. “I thought the favorite would have been like four or five (lengths) in front. But when I looked I wasn’t that far back and then he (Fast Delivery) started to pick it up.

“The only problem I had was at the head of the stretch where some horse came out in front of me and I had to swing him wide. After that I knew we were in good shape. The favorite was only two lengths in front and Eddie was already whipping him.”

Fast Delivery’s trainer, Thomas R. Bell II, said he feared the race might be too short for the colt who finished second over 1 1/16 miles in his first start and then broke his maiden at a mile on Nov. 3.

“I gave him 10 weeks off to sharpen him up for it,” Bell said. “His best distance is going to be a mile and a quarter.”

Bell said he is considering taking Fast Delivery north to run in the El Camino Derby on Feb. 1 at Bay Meadows and then bringing him back for the San Rafael Stakes on March 7.

Fast Delivery paid $17.80, $9.00 and $4.20, while Stylish Winner paid $13.80 and $5.20 to place and Broadway Pointe paid $2.40 to show.

Horse Racing Notes

Fred W. Hooper’s Precisionist, injured during a workout Friday morning at Santa Anita, will be operated on today at the Southern California Equine Hospital, according to trainer Ross Fenstermaker. Precisionist suffered a fractured cannon bone in his left foreleg and a pin will be inserted to help the bone knit. Dr. Greg Ferraro will perform the operation. No decision has yet been made on where the 6-year-old Eclipse Award winner will be retired to stud. . . . The top three finishers in last year’s Preakness Stakes, Snow Chief, Ferdinand and Broad Brush, will meet again in Sunday’s $150,000-added San Fernando Stakes. Trainer Richard Small will fly Broad Brush, who finished third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1986, to California from New York on Wednesday. The 4-year-old colt, who will be ridden by Angel Cordero in the San Fernando, has not raced since winning the Meadowlands Cup on Oct. 18. . . . Eclipse Award winner Snow Chief worked a mile in 1:42 on Saturday for trainer Mel Stute, who saddled last year’s San Fernando winner, Right Con. . . . An indoor soccer league featuring teams of Santa Anita stable employees is being organized by the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn.