San Juan Capistrano Handicap : Whittingham Seeks His 14th Win

Only two females have won the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, and Charlie Whittingham has been involved in training both of them. Whittingham doesn’t have a filly or mare in the 49th running of the race at Santa Anita Sunday, but the 75-year-old trainer must beat the lone female in the field if he’s going to win the stake for the sixth straight year and the 14th time overall.

When Miss Grillo won the San Juan in 1949, the 7-year-old mare was trained by Horatio Luro, whose assistant at the barn was Whittingham. Whittingham won his first San Juan with Corn Husker in 1957, and he saddled La Zanzara, a 5-year-old mare, to win the stake in 1975.

Carotene, a 5-year-old Canadian-bred mare, is the only female in Sunday’s $400,000 race, with Whittingham starting three of the eight entrants--top-weighted Rivlia, Swink and Fiction.

These horses were entered, in order of post position, with jockeys and weights: Dahlaan, Eric Legrix, 117 pounds; Fiction, Bill Shoemaker, 116; Carotene, Don Seymour, 118; Great Communicator, Ray Sibille, 119; Putting, Gary Stevens, 119; Wolsey, Fernando Toro, 112; Swink, Laffit Pincay, 119, and Rivlia, Chris McCarron, 123.