Strub Stakes at Santa Anita : Stute Hopes Outside Route Will Give Snow Chief Inside Track

Trainer Mel Stute has two reasons to hope that today’s $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes at Santa Anita isn’t a rerun of the San Fernando there three weeks ago.

First, Stute would like to see Snow Chief do better than his third-place finish, as the 9-10 favorite, in the San Fernando.

Second, Stute prefers having Snow Chief on the outside of Broad Brush rather than on the inside when the field of eight 4-year-olds heads for home.

Snow Chief had the lead and the rail at the top of the stretch in the San Fernando before Broad Brush passed him and looked as though he would win. But Variety Road, at 24-1, passed both of them and won by a neck, with the three millionaires--Broad Brush, Snow Chief and Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand--following him to the wire in that order.

The cast for the 1-mile Strub will include the first five finishers from the 1 1/8-mile San Fernando--the first four, plus Late Request, who came in fifth. They will be joined by three others for the 25th running of the race.

Starting with the inside post, the Strub shapes up this way:

Grand Exchange, with Russell Baze riding and carrying 116 pounds; Don B. Blue, Alex Solis, 114; Broad Brush, Angel Cordero, 126; Ferdinand, Eddie Delahoussaye subbing for the injured Bill Shoemaker, 126; Variety Road, Laffit Pincay, 119; Late Request, Gary Stevens, 117; Snow Chief, Pat Valenzuela, 126; and Vilzak, Fernando Toro, 114.

Stute was in San Francisco Friday night, accepting Eclipse Awards for Snow Chief, last year’s champion 3-year-old colt, and Brave Raj, the top 2-year-old filly.

He said that his pre-Strub instructions to Valenzuela will be to keep Snow Chief outside Broad Brush.

“We were inside last time, and I think that made a difference,” he said. “It’s kind of like driving on the freeway, where you’re going 55 miles an hour, and every time you speed up or slow down, a car next to you does the same thing.

“You’re intimidated when that happens, and I think the same thing happened to Snow Chief with Broad Brush. Outside should be better. Inside, you’ve got to worry about the other horse as well as the rail.”

When Snow Chief set the early pace in the San Fernando, Broad Brush was close behind him. Stute said that he hadn’t sufficiently prepared his Preakness winner for the race.

“Some of those mile workouts we gave him could have been faster,” Stute said. “He should be tighter this time.”

Last Monday, Stute worked Snow Chief seven furlongs with blinkers--which keep a horse’s concentration focused and therefore sometimes improve performance--and he responded with an impressive 1:23 3/5 clocking that might make him the betting favorite again today.

“He’s been doing well since the last race, but so have the competitors,” Stute said, referring to solid workouts by Ferdinand, Broad Brush and Variety Road last week.

Ferdinand worked five furlongs in a fast :58 1/5, with Delahoussaye getting a brief introduction to the colt Wednesday morning. Shoemaker said after the San Fernando that perhaps Ferdinand could be kept closer to the pace than he usually is.

Stute doesn’t believe that trainer Charlie Whittingham and Delahoussaye will try that.

“I think he’ll be about the same place as last time,” Stute said. “The race is an eighth of a mile longer, so that gives him more time. And Delahoussaye’s riding him, not Stevens.”

Both Delahoussaye and Stevens were available after Shoemaker underwent knee surgery last Tuesday. Delahoussaye, who won the Strub with Desert Wine in 1984, is known as a patient rider whose forte is come-from-behind tactics.

For Ferdinand’s workout Wednesday, Whittingham sent the colt and the mare Infinidad to the track at the same time. Infinidad broke on top, but Ferdinand easily beat her to the wire.

It was a workout not unlike the ones Ferdinand had with another female stablemate, Hidden Light, last spring at Churchill Downs. All he did after that was win the Kentucky Derby.

STRUB STAKES FIELD

PP HORSE JOCKEY WGT ODDS 1 Grand Exchange Russell Baze 116 20-1 2 Don B. Blue Alex Solis 114 30-1 3 Broad Brush Angel Cordero 126 2-1 4 Ferdinand Eddie Delahoussaye 126 9-5 5 Variety Road Laffit Pincay 119 9-2 6 Late Request Gary Stevens 117 30-1 7 Snow Chief Pat Valenzuela 126 5-2 8 Vilzak Fernando Toro 114 50-1