San Felipe Handicap : Mi Preferido Takes the Bit and Runs Into Fuzzy Derby Picture

With a new jockey, a healed mouth and a trainer who knows the territory, a modestly built colt won the $163,800 San Felipe Handicap in a sauna bath at Santa Anita Sunday and thrust himself four-square into a Kentucky Derby picture that has been changing like an amoeba.

While Mi Preferido, with Chris McCarron riding for the first time, was finishing 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Purdue King, Lively One--the 4/5 favorite--could do no better than fourth, losing by almost seven lengths. Tejano, at 7-2 the second betting choice in a crowd of 49,497, was third, a half-length behind Purdue King.

Laz Barrera, who trains Mi Preferido and co-owns the son of Island Whirl with his breeder, Venezuelan real-estate developer Amin Saiden, has been over this ground before. Barrera won the 1978 San Felipe with Affirmed, then added victories in the Santa Anita and Hollywood Park derbys before sweeping the Triple Crown races.

It would take an awfully weak moment for Barrera to misconstrue the talents of Affirmed and Mi Preferido.

“Affirmed is the best horse ever and I just hope that this horse is half of what Affirmed was,” said Barrera, who will be 64 the day after this year’s Kentucky Derby.

For a colt who has run in only five races, Mi Preferido has already had an eventful career. The first time to the post, he won by five lengths at Hollywood Park last June; a month later, he won the Hollywood Juvenile Championship by three lengths, prompting jockey Alex Solis to compare him with Snow Chief, the Preakness winner and champion 3-year-old colt in 1986.

Because of sore shins, a not uncommon injury for young horses, Mi Preferido didn’t run for about six months, returning in late January for a 4 1/2-length win in the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita.

A week after that, going off the 4-5 favorite in the San Rafael Stakes, Mi Preferido ran much the way Lively One did Sunday, getting bumped by another horse on the first turn and settling for fifth place.

Barrera offered an excuse after that race: He said that Solis had to jerk Mi Preferido with the reins in the heavy traffic and the colt came out of the race with a badly cut mouth.

Barrera put leather on Mi Preferido’s bit Sunday, to reduce a burning sensation, and replaced Solis with McCarron. The trainer isn’t blaming Solis for the cut mouth, but he was unhappy with the wide trip that Mi Preferido had throughout the San Rafael.

“He was on the outside all the way,” Barrera said. “We got beat by only about a length, and he lost five lengths on the turn.”

On a track that favored speed most of the day, McCarron had Mi Preferido on the lead from the start. What a Diplomat, running with a three-race winning streak, stayed close for three-quarters of a mile, finishing fifth in the eight-horse field.

Purdue King and Tejano were in early contention, but neither horse displayed any punch through the stretch. Lively One, with three wins, a second and a third in five starts before Sunday, was near the rear early and never threatened.

“He ran a better race than it looked,” said Bill Shoemaker, Lively One’s jockey. “The 3 horse (Please Remit) hit us and knocked us sideways on the first turn. After that, he started climbing when the dirt was hitting him in his face. Am I still encouraged about his chances (as a Kentucky Derby candidate)? You bet.”

Sandy Hawley rode Please Remit. “We made contact (with Lively One) leaving the gate, and also around the first turn,” Hawley said. “Shoe’s horse came in a little and mine went out on the first turn. It didn’t help either one of us.”

Earning $96,300, Mi Preferido ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 1/5, a second slower than the stakes record, and paid $10.60, $6.80 and $4.80. Purdue King, running on an anti-bleeding medication for the first time, paid $11.20 and $5.40 and Tejano’s show price was $3.80.

Tejano, winner of the Hollywood Futurity and second in his only start as a 3-year-old, was ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye because Laffit Pincay took off all of his late mounts Sunday after being bitten on the right wrist by the family cat.

“Laffit was in a lot of pain, he was almost in tears,” said Wayne Lukas, who trains Tejano.

Barrera said that there also was the possibility that Gary Stevens could have ridden Mi Preferido, but Stevens told the trainer that he was committed to Winning Colors if the filly runs in the Santa Anita Derby.

McCarron, who won three other races Sunday, approached Barrera when it became common knowledge that Solis was out and said he didn’t have a mount for the San Felipe.

“Well, you’re not open anymore,” Barrera told him.

McCarron previously won the San Felipe with Advance Man, Desert Wine and Variety Road.

“Laz said not to take too tight a hold because of the cut in his mouth,” McCarron said. “He wanted to race off the fence, so I let him. This is a step in the right direction and he finished well. When Tejano came up to him after the wire, he dug in and rebroke again. He’s got some fight in him, which is great.”

Barrera plans to run Mi Preferido in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9 and hopes that that race is enough to ready the colt for the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

The question was asked whether Mi Preferido would be able to sustain his speed over the Kentucky Derby distance of 1 miles.

“You’re talking to the man who got Bold Forbes to run a mile and a half (in winning the Belmont Stakes),” Barrera said. “They said that Bold Forbes couldn’t go a mile and a half if you gave him a jet plane. But he did.”

Horse Racing Notes

Havanaffair, an allowance winner at Santa Anita Saturday after being unable to beat some of California’s top 3-year-olds in stakes, is going to run in the $250,000 Tropical Park Derby at Calder on April 2. . . . Charlie Whittingham, who trains Lively One, has been star-crossed in recent weeks. Ferdinand couldn’t beat Alysheba, Goodbye Halo lost to Winning Colors, Fitzwilliam Place was disqualified after finishing first in the Santa Ana Stakes Saturday, and on Sunday, before the disappointment with Lively One, Whittingham’s The Scout, who was the 4-5 favorite, broke down at the top of the stretch and the 4-year-old colt’s life is in danger. . . .