Rosedale Wins San Juan Capistrano Handicap for Whittingham

At Hollywood Park, trainer Charlie Whittingham once won the Sunset Handicap six straight years, a streak that ended in 1984.

Now, Whittingham is on another lengthy streak with another major race, Santa Anita’s San Juan Capistrano Handicap. Rosedale, one of three horses that Whittingham started Sunday, won the San Juan Capistrano by a neck with a lunge at the wire, moving Whittingham to within one win of matching that six straight in the Sunset.

Rosedale, a European-raced 4-year-old who didn’t reach Whittingham’s barn until last fall, gave the 74-year-old trainer his 13th win in the 48-year-old San Juan Capistrano and also supplied him with his 12th stakes win of the season. The meet ends today with the San Jacinto Handicap. Whittingham will have two shots in there, Forlitano and Sun Man.

Whittingham said after the San Juan Capistrano that Rosedale has the lungs to run nine miles on the grass, but on Sunday the Vaguely Noble-Ivory colt made do with 1 3/4 miles, running the distance in 2:49 and paying $7, $3.80 and $3.40 while being coupled in the betting with Rivlia because both horses are owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt.

Wylfa finished second, the second straight year that trainer Darrell Vienna started a runner-up in the San Juan Capistrano. Rivlia finished third, beaten a neck by Wylfa, while Louis Le Grand, Whittingham’s third horse, didn’t benefit from the slow pace and wound up last in the six-horse field.

Wylfa paid $5.80 and $4.80. He and Rivlia both survived a foul claim by Gary Stevens, who finished fourth aboard Schiller.

Of the $400,000 purse, Hunt collected $280,000, with Rosedale accounting for $220,000. While the stewards reviewed the race to judge Stevens’ claim, Whittingham and Hunt were assured of the first place money and didn’t seem to be concerned about Rivlia getting disqualified. Hunt said that he had never been affected by a foul one way or the other in a major race.

Though frustrated as he had been after Mountain Bear had been nipped at the wire by a half-length by Dahar in last year’s San Juan Capistrano, Vienna also felt that his second-place money--$80,000--with Wylfa was secure.

“At the three-eighths pole, my horse hit the fence hard,” Stevens said. “I had to stand up.”

Stevens said that Wylfa and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye made contact with Schiller, but he couldn’t tell if Rivlia and Fernando Toro had forced the brush from the outside.

“My horse is a long-striding horse and after that I couldn’t get him running again until the sixteenth pole,” Stevens said.

Hunt is known more as a breeder than an owner--he’s twice won the Eclipse Award for breeding--but this year he’s racing several horses that have been major winners, including Talinum, winner of the Flamingo Stakes and one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

Wayne Lukas, who trains both Capote and Talinum, says that Angel Cordero, who was aboard Talinum in the Flamingo, will ride Capote in the Derby. The mount on Talinum will go to Stevens.

“Cordero has been riding Talinum, but I’m not going to make a fight out of it,” Hunt said. “I’ll go with what Wayne wants to do. The guy I’d really like to see ride by horse in the Derby is (Laffit) Pincay, but I guess he’s committed to Masterful Advocate.”

On Sunday, Pincay was committed to Rosedale, who gave the jockey his 10th stakes win of the meeting, one less than Bill Shoemaker.

Pincay positioned Rosedale in the middle of the pack as Wylfa and Schiller vied for the lead going down the backstretch. On the turn, Rivlia passed both of those horses for a brief lead. Wylfa moved on top at the head of the stretch, but then could not hold off Rosedale.

“My horse came on strong in the stretch,” Pincay said. “I knew it was going to be close. It’s special to win this race, because the distance is such a long way.”

This was Pincay’s fourth San Juan Capistrano victory. Hunt was the co-owner of Exceller, who won the stake in 1978, and he bred Load the Cannons, the ’84 victor, and Dahar, who was first last year.

Hunt also bred Rosedale. The colt has always been close, finishing second 9 times in 14 starts before Sunday. Now he’s won two straight and four overall and will get a rest, while Whittingham shops around for something at nine miles or longer.

Horse Racing Notes

Charlie Whittingham’s horses have earned $2.5 million at Santa Anita this season, breaking the record of $2.4 million that the trainer set last year. . . . Sunday’s crowd of 50,651 bet $11.7 million, which was the fourth-highest handle at Santa Anita. The record of $15.4 million was set on Breeders’ Cup day last Nov. 1. . . . With favorites not winning any of Sunday’s races--the shortest win payoff of the day was Rosedale--no one came close in the Pick Nine and three tickets with seven winners were worth $965,560.60 apiece. The Pick Nine pool, which had been building for 24 days, had to be distributed Sunday because it had gone over the $2-million mark on Saturday. . . . Following an investigation by track undercover agents, the stewards recommended that jockey Manuel Bravo’s license be revoked for possession and sale of marijuana. In a similar investigation, but in a case unrelated to Bravo’s, trainer Sal Gonzalez was fined $1,000 and placed on probation through the end of the year for not cooperating with the agents. Bravo hasn’t ridden in a race since he competed at Fresno late in 1984. . . . Hollywood Park’s season opens Wednesday, with Persevered carrying top weight of 122 pounds in the Debonair Stakes. Persevered is a possible candidate for the Preakness at Pimlico on May 16.