Bolsa Chica Stakes : Handicappers’ Horse Beats Tejano by 5 Lengths

Jack Karlik and Jeff Siegel, a couple of professional handicappers who try to pick winners every day for several newspapers, had a more difficult choice than usual in analyzing Wednesday’s $76,725 Bolsa Chica Stakes at Santa Anita.

Only five horses were entered in the Bolsa Chica, but one of them--Aloha Prospector--is owned by Karlik and Siegel. Their dilemma was whether to pick with the heart or the head.

Siegel used a little of each and tabbed his own horse, because he felt that Aloha Prospector’s chief opponent, Tejano, might not be sharp in his first race in more than two months.

Karlik picked Claim, a 3-year-old colt who won both of his previous starts.

Karlik and Siegel then ran first both on the track and in the newspapers, because Aloha Prospector beat Tejano by five lengths. Claim was scratched and Karlik’s own horse was his second choice.

Tejano, a $150,000 son of Caro who earned $1.1 million last year, breaking the record for a 2-year-old, ran second to Forty Niner in the voting for the divisional championship.

With Aloha Prospector rocketting from the gate, Tejano trailed by about 10 lengths at the start. Tejano finished 1 lengths in front of Frontline Fable in third place, with Contempt, Tejano’s stablemate, completing the field.

Paying $6.20 to win, Aloha Prospector and jockey Gary Stevens ran fast all the way, with :21 3/5 and :56 3/5 fractions leading to a final six-furlong time of 1:09 3/5 on a track that hasn’t been playing exceptionally fast.