Weekend Racing at Santa Anita : Familiar Rivals Are Matched Again in San Antonio Sunday

The San Antonio Handicap might be known as an important prep race for the Santa Anita Handicap, but Sunday’s 49th running could be called a rerun within a rerun within a rerun.

Bedside Promise, the high weight for the $200,000 San Antonio with 121 pounds, will be facing both Hopeful Word, a horse he beat by six lengths last month, and Zany Tactics, a horse who beat him by a head when they ran second and third at Santa Anita Feb. 11.

Four other starters in the nine-horse San Antonio field--Epidaurus, Ascension, Nostalgia’s Star and Bozina--ran 1-2-3-4, separated by less than a length, in the San Pasqual Handicap Feb. 1.

Epidaurus has drawn the inside post for the 1 1/8-mile San Antonio, with Gary Baze riding. Outside them, in order, will be Bozina, with Corey Black aboard; Zany Tactics, with Jack Kaenel; Ascension, Rene Douglas; Bedside Promise, Gary Stevens; Hopeful Word, Laffit Pincay; Bruiser, Bill Shoemaker; Nostalgia’s Star, Fernando Toro; and Red Attack, Rafael Meza.

Nostalgia’s Star, with 120 pounds, is next in the weights after Bedside Promise. Hopeful Word has drawn 118 pounds and at the other end it’s Bozina, the lightweight with 111.

Although 10 San Antonio winners have gone on to win the Big ‘Cap, including Lord at War and Bates Motel in recent years, three of Sunday’s runners--Bedside Promise, Ascension and Red Attack--aren’t eligible for the $1-million race March 8. It would cost $25,000 to supplement a horse.

“The money wouldn’t be a problem if we thought we had a chance,” said Bobby Martin, who in 23 years has never trained a better horse than Bedside Promise.

“It would depend on how he runs Sunday whether we consider the next race, but I think he would have to run almost perfect for us to come back. You get away from Santa Anita and the races get easier, and this horse is also a good shipper. We’re looking at a lot of races, including some in Arkansas.”

Waiting for any of Sunday’s survivors in the Big ‘Cap are Snow Chief and Ferdinand, who finished a nose apart, in that order, in the Strub. Broad Brush, third in the Strub, is also a Big ‘Cap probable, as is Skywalker, who will make his first start since winning the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic in the Arcadia Handicap next Saturday.

Bedside Promise has considerable stakes experience but he has seldom run in major races like the San Antonio. The 5-year-old son of Honest Pleasure-Enchanted Native made his last start in a major race in November, when he ran third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.

After that, Bedside Promise won three straight stakes before finishing third, beaten by two heads, to Zabaleta and Zany Tactics in the Potrero Grande Handicap.

The Big ‘Cap is 1 miles and Martin says that Bedside Promise’s best distance is either a mile or 1 1/16 miles. His horse’s record shows that. Most of Bedside Promise’s wins have been sprints and the last time he ran the San Antonio distance of 1 1/8 miles, at Longacres in July, he tired and finished second.

Without question, though, Bedside Promise is an improved runner and he has increased his earnings to more than $700,000.

“The best thing about this horse is that he’s versatile,” said Martin, whose base is Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields. “He can make the lead and win, or he can come from off the pace. It looks like there’s some speed in this race (Epidaurus and Zany Tactics), and that’s important when you’re running this far.”

For $50,000, Martin bought Bedside Promise at a yearling auction on behalf of the four Jawl brothers, who are in the lumber business in British Columbia.

“I liked this horse enough that I would have gone higher than $50,000,” Martin said. “Probably not $100,000, but higher than what we paid.”

Even at $100,000, Bedside Promise would have been a bargain. A win in the San Antonio would be ladling gravy on top of the gravy for the Jawls.

Horse Racing Notes After a hearing Friday, the stewards at Santa Anita suspended jockey Martin Pedroza for 20 days, through March 9. The reinstatement of Pedroza, who twice tested positive for cocaine by a state laboratory in recent weeks, is contingent on whether he enters a rehabilitation program. Pete Pedersen, one of the stewards, said that Pedroza’s attorney asked that the 21-year-old jockey be given “the benefit of the doubt,” since the rider took two independent drug tests that were negative. “I hesitate to think about how many times we’ve already given him the benefit of the doubt,” Pedersen said. . . . Lady’s Secret, the Horse of the Year in 1986, has been assigned 129 pounds for the Santa Margarita Handicap a week from Sunday. Wayne Lukas, her trainer, is not sure he’ll run. Fran’s Valentine is next in the weights at 122 pounds, followed by two other Lukas horses--Family Style and Life at the Top--at 120 pounds. . . . Chris McCarron, who suffered a broken thigh bone in a five-horse pile-up at Santa Anita last October, has been at the track this week, aboard trainer Chuck Marikian’s stable pony, and still hopes to resume riding by the middle of March. . . . Very Subtle will try to remain undefeated today, facing five opponents in the Las Virgenes Stakes.