Frau Altiva Gets Big Boost From Pincay and Wins

On the turn for home, less than five lengths separated the seven runners in Monday’s $108,100 San Gorgonio Handicap at Santa Anita.

The entire field might have been close, but it didn’t appear that Frau Altiva, in last place, had much of a chance. There were too many horses between the 5-year-old mare and Solva, a long-tailed gray who was holding on to a tenuous lead.

Factor in Laffit Pincay riding Frau Altiva, however, and even a seemingly hopeless position turns promising.

Pincay is using all of his many skills to ride home winners in clusters these days, and Frau Altiva is another example. The 40-year-old jockey first wedged his mount between three tightly bunched horses at the head of the stretch, then got her to accelerate halfway through the lane as Frau Altiva scored an unexpected win by a length over Auspiciante before 42,167 fans.

The win was Pincay’s third of the day, the fourth time he has tripled in the last six days. Pincay has also won three of the last four stakes at Santa Anita. He won with Masterful Advocate in the Los Feliz on Wednesday and then with Variety Road in Sunday’s San Fernando.

Variety Road was a 24-1 longshot, and Frau Altiva paid $19.80, $6.80 and $4 as the fifth betting choice Monday. After Auspiciante, it was 1 lengths farther back to Solva, with Outstandingly, the 3-2 favorite, finishing fifth while in tight quarters along the rail.

The first two finishers were both Argentine-breds, with Auspiciante paying $4.60 and $3.60. Solva’s show price was $4.40. Frau Altiva, earning $63,100 for his owners, Nita Brooks of Sweetwater, Tex., and her son and daughter, covered the 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:50 1/5.

When Pincay had to make his first move with Frau Altiva, Felliniana, Solva and Outstandingly were across the track in front of him, but he slipped through. Several strides later, Pincay split Auspiciante and Felliniana as his mare made her decisive burst.

“When we came around the turn, I thought I had a chance to win, but there was nowhere to go,” Pincay said. “I got lucky to get in the clear. But then the horse on the outside (Auspiciante) got a head in front. I was surprised my horse got the lead back. That’s the best she’s run for me.”

Pincay’s latest triple increased his season’s total to 34 wins after 20 days of racing. Gary Stevens also won three times Monday, but he didn’t gain any ground and remains in second place, 11 wins behind Pincay.

“I feel good right now,” said Pincay, who has been riding at 117 pounds, the heaviest of any major jockey in the country, for several years. “These things go in cycles. I had an easy year last year and didn’t travel as much. I took some time off. Maybe that helped. I don’t like to ride as many horses as I’ve been riding (an average of almost seven per day for the meeting), but I can’t say no with everyone asking me to ride.”

The San Gorgonio was Frau Altiva’s first stakes win since 1985. Last year, she won only one race out of nine starts, never being 100% physically because of a lung infection and almost losing an eye when she was struck in the face by a clod of dirt last fall.

Henry Moreno, who trains Frau Altiva, hadn’t won a stake at Santa Anita since 1983, when he had Sangue, an Irish-bred who finished her career with $1.2 million in purses.

“This is my new good mare,” Moreno said. “Because of her problems, I said that she might get good again around this February and it looks like she has. The good ones like Sangue don’t come in bunches.

“Training good horses isn’t that hard. It’s getting the good ones in your barn that’s hard. You can do everything wrong with a good horse and still win, I really believe that.”

Although she’s only won once on dirt, Moreno plans to try Frau Altiva on the main track in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap on March 1.

Horse Racing Notes

The trainers of Broad Brush, Snow Chief and Ferdinand, who finished behind Variety Road in the San Fernando on Sunday, are all planning on a rematch in the Charles H. Strub Stakes on Feb. 8. Mel Stute, who trains Snow Chief, didn’t use the colt’s minor injury as an excuse. Snow Chief kicked himself leaving the gate and was bleeding from his right foreleg after the race. “We just got outrun,” Stute said. “The bleeding looked worse than what it was.” Trainer Dick Small, who thought Laffit Pincay was the difference in getting Variety Road to the wire a neck in front of Broad Brush, has an unusual travel plan for his horse. After the Strub, Broad Brush will return to Small’s barn at Pimlico, then head back to California for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 8. Small said he is taking the horse to Maryland because he can’t afford to spend any more time away from his operation there. . . . Jay Rose, the veterinarian who did the major stomach surgery on Melair last Friday, said Monday that the undefeated 4-year-old filly is in stable but guarded condition. “She’s out of intensive care and her vital signs are normal,” Rose said.