San Antonio Handicap : Bedside Promise Earns Big ‘Cap Money

The $25,000 that it would cost to supplement Bedside Promise into the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 8 was never a consideration. The four Jawl brothers, who have extensive timber and real-estate operations in British Columbia, could pony up that much money out of the petty cash drawer.

What concerned the Jawls and trainer Bobby Martin, however, was whether Bedside Promise could negotiate the 1 miles of the Big ‘Cap, a distance the 5-year-old chestnut has never run before.

Come Wednesday, when supplementary fees for the Big ‘Cap must be paid, the Jawls will pay the $25,000 just to see how much stamina the horse has.

As Martin put it Sunday, “It’s not their money, it’s Bedside Promise’s.”

Bedside Promise had never won at 1 1/8 miles, either, but on Sunday he prevailed in a stretch duel with Hopeful Word to capture the $219,600 San Antonio Handicap by 1 lengths. The winner’s share of the purse was $120,600, which gives the Jawls enough to run in the Big ‘Cap and have some left over for bus fare from Victoria.

Martin had been saying most of last week that the Big ‘Cap was a remote possibility, but now he and the Jawls, who have been in the business together for more than two decades, are on the threshold of something they’ve never achieved, and the temptation is too enticing. Bedside Promise’s San Antonio was their first major win, and now--despite the presence of Snow Chief, Ferdinand and Skywalker--they have a reasonable chance of soaring to an early lead in the country’s handicap division.

Already, Bedside Promise has scared away one Big ‘Cap aspirant, trainer Dick Mandella indicating late Sunday that Hopeful Word probably will skip the race. Hopeful Word has been second to Bedside Promise twice in the last month or so, and Mandella believes.

Also, Michael Whittingham, the trainer of Skywalker, was lingering just outside the winner’s circle Sunday, wondering whether Bedside Promise would be another horse he has to beat in the ‘Big Cap. Whittingham hasn’t run Skywalker since he captured the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last November, and is debating whether to prep him next Saturday on the grass in the Arcadia Handicap, or to send him into the Big ‘Cap off mere workouts.

Bedside Promise, who cost the Jawls $50,000 at a yearling auction, was also a runner on Breeders’ Cup day, but because his handlers thought he was a miler at the time, he ran in the six-furlong Sprint Stakes instead of against Skywalker.

“The Breeders’ Cup Mile was on grass, and this horse doesn’t like grass,” Martin said. “He wasn’t ready to handle a mile and a quarter (the distance for the Classic) then, so the only thing left was the Sprint.”

Bedside Promise broke slowly, then rallied to finish third behind Smile, who would be voted divisional champion, and Pine Tree Lane.

Bedside Promise has frequently dawdled leaving the gate. “It had gotten to the point where I didn’t even want to watch the start of his races,” Sony Jawl said Sunday.

Contrary to his form, Bedside Promise was away alertly in the San Antonio. Epidaurus, part of the Charlie Whittingham-trained entry with Bruiser, made the lead, with Bedside Promise just off of him and Hopeful Word also up close early.

On the turn for home, Epidaurus started dropping back, and the stretch run became a battle between Bedside Promise and Hopeful Word. Midway through the stretch, Bedside Promise began edging away.

Bedside Promise and jockey Gary Stevens hit the wire in 1:47 1/5, which was a second faster than Lord at War’s 1985 San Antonio, and two weeks before he won the Big ‘Cap.

Hopeful Word finished 1 lengths in front of Bruiser, who had a neck on Zany Tactics in fourth place. The disappointment in the nine-horse field before 40,193 was Nostalgia’s Star, who was third in the stake a year ago and ran next to last Sunday as the 3-1 second choice. Jockey Fernando Toro said that Nostalgia’s Star suffered a cut leg during the race.

Favored Bedside Promise paid $6.80, $4.60 and $3.20, swelling his earnings to more than $850,000. The other prices were $4.80 and $3.40 for Hopeful Word and $3 for Bruiser.

Stevens, riding his second stakes winner in as many days and his seventh of the meeting, said “there’s no telling how far this horse can go” after they beat Hopeful Word at a mile in the Kyne Handicap at Bay Meadows on Jan. 17.

After the San Antonio, Stevens said: “My agent (Ray Kravagna), asked me if I can pack him a mile and quarter. I said he will pack me a mile and a half. He has the same kick the last three-eighths as he does sprinting. I haven’t been on a horse who finishes like he does. He has the natural speed to lay close and then he sprints the last three-eighths.”

Bedside Promise, moved back to 6 1/2 furlongs, finished third in the Potrero Grande Handicap at Santa Anita about two weeks ago. The Santa Anita Handicap will be the third race for the son of Honest Pleasure in about a month, and the recovery time is of concern to Martin and the Jawls. That’s another thing they’ll be paying $25,000 to find out.

Horse Racing Notes

Bedside Promise has won four of his last five starts. He finished second, a neck behind Skywalker, in the Longacres Mile last August. Overall, Bedside Promise has 12 wins, 7 seconds and 4 thirds in 33 starts. . . . A British horseman is interested in buying a piece of Capote, the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, and owner Gene Klein is listening. . . . Bonne Ile, winner of the Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita last fall, won Sunday’s Budweiser Breeders’ Cup at Hialeah, with Perfect Point second and Solva third. . . . Three locally based horses--Prince Sassafras, Rupperto and Talinum--are headed to Hialeah, to run in next Saturday’s Flamingo, the first major race on the road to the Kentucky Derby. . . . Trainer Mel Stute offered his view on why Very Subtle, an apparent winner, pulled herself up in the stretch and finished second to Timely Assertion in Saturday’s Las Virgenes Stakes: “I thought it happened because two photographers (on the outside rail) raised their cameras. But you don’t know.”