La Canada Stakes : Family Style’s Victory Completes a Near-Perfect Day for the Lukas Barn

When the day started Sunday, trainer Wayne Lukas was dealing in futures. By the end, he had birds in hand to go with those in the bush.

Early Sunday, at Hollywood Park, Lukas watched Capote, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt and the early favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby, go through his first workout since he won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last Nov. 1.

Capote went three furlongs in 36 seconds and Lukas was pleased. Back at Santa Anita, the trainer’s expectations grew as Gentle Spirit, a well-bred Nijinsky II 3-year-old making her first start, won the third race by four lengths.

Shortly afterward, bulletins began trickling in from Lukas’ Eastern division.

At Aqueduct, Chase the Dream won the Sag Harbor Stakes.

At Laurel, where the temperature was five degrees, favored Pine Tree Lane let some air out of the Lukas stable’s balloon by finishing third in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap.

Then, back at Santa Anita, Family Style blew it back up by winning the $162,300 La Canada Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths before 37,307 fans.

No matter whom Family Style beat, her La Canada win was worth $94,800 to owner Gene Klein, but the field was diluted considerably by the scratches of Seldom Seen Sue and Miraculous.

Only six 4-year-olds started on the muddy track, with Top Corsage, another top filly, not even being entered because trainer Jerry Fanning was unhappy with the 125 pounds she would have had to carry. Under the La Canada’s unusual conditions, weights are determined by purses earned, and Fanning felt that if Top Corsage won with 125 pounds Sunday, racing secretaries would be piling more weight on her the rest of the year.

Family Style, carrying 122 pounds, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 3/5 and, as the favorite, paid $4, $2.60 and $2.20. Winter Treasure, finishing second, four lengths ahead of the early leader, Sari’s Heroine, paid $3.20 and $2.40, and Sari’s Heroine returned $2.40 for show.

Not many horsemen are running or working their horses these days at Santa Anita, which was pelted by rain last week. There were five scratches from Saturday’s San Vicente Stakes, leaving a six-horse field, three were scratched from the La Canada, and Lukas made a point about why he worked Capote at Hollywood Sunday.

“The way the track is here (at Santa Anita),” I wouldn’t work one of my ponies over it,” the trainer said.

Family Style, however, likes the mud, the State Dinner-Sharp Kitty filly having won on off tracks at both Hollywood Park and Saratoga. What may have helped her the most, though, is that Seldom Seen Sue, Miraculous and Top Corsage, who finished ahead of her in the El Encino at Santa Anita on Jan. 24, did not run Sunday.

Family Style, the champion 2-year-old filly in 1985 who has now earned more than $1.3 million, gave Gary Stevens his second stakes win in two days. Stevens, who won the San Vicente Saturday with Stylish Winner, has tied Laffit Pincay for the season lead in stakes victories.

Stevens had Family Style in second place, less than a length behind Sari’s Heroine, going down the backstretch. Family Style started edging past her rival halfway through the turn, and by the top of the stretch the outcome was settled, even though Winter Treasure closed some ground in the final yards.

Family Style had been nervous going to the gate in the El Encino, in which she was the 4-5 favorite after two straight stakes victories.

“The difference was like night and day going to the gate today,” Stevens said. “When I got head-and-head with Sari’s Heroine, my filly took hold of the bit and was real aggressive. She acts like a superior mudder. She doesn’t bobble at all and acts like she loves it.”

Because Lukas is planning on running Lady’s Secret, last year’s Horse of the Year, in the Santa Margarita on March 1, the trainer will find another spot for Family Style’s next race. Gary Jones, who trains Seldom Seen Sue, is considering the Santa Margarita.

As for Capote, Lukas feels that the Seattle Slew colt is right on schedule.

“I said a while back that his first work would be on Feb. 15, and it was on Feb. 15,” Lukas said. “I was surprised how easily he went in this first work. It was an effortless move, and now we can get him on a regular training schedule.”

Capote will not run his first race of the year until around April 1.

“I have no idea where that might be,” Lukas said. “We’ll get the horse ready for a race, and then find the race. It could be anyplace--Arkansas, Florida, New York or here.”

Lukas plans to have Capote run twice in April before the Kentucky Derby on May 2. By then, he hopes one of his futures will have turned into the real thing.

Horse Racing Notes

Tucker Slender, Santa Anita’s starter, is puzzled over the numerous scratches. “Underneath the top this track is fine,” Slender said. “It’s like a pool table.” . . . On today’s holiday program at Santa Anita, Zoffany will carry 125 pounds in the San Luis Obispo Handicap, spotting his opposition between 7 and 12 pounds. . . . Roger Stein, the former successful harness trainer, won Sunday’s second race with She’s So Bold, a filly he claimed recently for $20,000. . . . Prince Sassafras, second to Stylish Winner in Saturday’s San Vicente, is headed for Florida to run in the $350,000 Flamingo at Hialeah on Feb. 28. Prince Sassafras’ trainer, Mel Stute, won the Florida Derby a year ago with Snow Chief. . . . Laffit Pincay rode three winners Sunday and leads the standings with 59, which is 10 more than Gary Stevens.