San Juan Capistrano Handicap : A Winning Combination Gets Nasr el Arab to Finish Line First

The May-December romance between jockey Pat Valenzuela and trainer Charlie Whittingham continued to blossom Sunday at Santa Anita Park, where Nasr el Arab held off the surprising Pleasant Variety to win the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap.

One week from Saturday, Whittingham, 76, will send Valenzuela, 26, aboard Sunday Silence at Churchill Downs, as they try to knock off the heavily favored Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby. As far as Valenzuela is concerned, however, it is the opposition who should be worried.

“It seems like everything Charlie puts me on ends up winning,” Valenzuela said after the San Juan. “It’s hard not to ride his horses with a lot of confidence.”

An eighth of a mile from the finish, though, Nasr el Arab looked like anything but the winner. The 4-year-old colt had already done what figured to be the hard part--putting away favored Great Communicator on the final turn--and seemed on his way to a romp.

Then came the rest of the field in a swarm, surrounding the leader on all sides.

“I really wasn’t paying attention to them,” Valenzuela admitted with a relieved grin. “I was too busy riding.”

While Valenzuela basked in the glow of his sixth stakes win of the Santa Anita meeting--five for Whittingham--the trainer had to enjoy the victory from Kentucky, where he flew Friday with Sunday Silence to commence final Derby preparations. Assistant trainer Rodney Rash handled the local duties, bringing back Whittingham’s seventh victory in the San Juan since 1981 and his 14th overall, dating to 1957, five years before Valenzuela was born.

Nasr el Arab was able to save ground through the early stages of the 1 3/4-mile race, while Bill Shoemaker took longshot mare Flattering News to a predictable lead. Great Communicator was running along comfortably in second.

Midway down the backstretch, Valenzuela took Nasr el Arab off the rail and began moving on the leaders. He collared Great Communicator on the final turn and appeared to be home free.

All through the final 100 yards, the opposition challenged and fell back. Pranke, the powerful little Argentine, got to Nasr el Arab’s tail, then faded. Frankly Perfect, the winner’s stablemate, tried to sneak through along the inside rail. Academic put in a big run for Robbie Davis, but came up short.

It was left to Pleasant Variety and Laffit Pincay to supply Nasr el Arab with the biggest scare. An $80,000 claim just last month, the son of Derby winner Pleasant Colony probably surprised himself with his own audacity.

“I really thought he was going to win it,” said a stunned Jerry Fanning, trainer of Pleasant Variety. “He put his head in front and then pulled himself up. I guess he just wasn’t too familiar with being in that position.”

Pleasant Variety won only four of 31 starts before the San Juan, and has never won a stakes race.

The final margin was three-quarters of a length. Academic finished another length back, just ahead of Frankly Perfect. Great Communicator, the 9-5 favorite, finished sixth, nearly five lengths behind Nasr el Arab in his worst showing since the Arlington Million at Woodbine last August.

“I can’t explain it,” said Ray Sibille, regular rider of Great Communicator. ‘Normally, a horse tosses in a race like that, you think about gelding him. Maybe we should sew them back on.”

Said trainer Thad Ackel: “He seemed to come back all right. He just threw in a clunker. That’s why this race is so hard to win two years in a row.”

Great Communicator won the 1988 San Juan and was trying to become the first horse in 21 years to win the race in consecutive years.

Nasr el Arab and Valenzuela won the Charles H. Strub Stakes earlier this year, but failed when favored in the March 5 Santa Anita Handicap. Apparently, that race neither affected the bay colt’s form nor diminished his value.

Shortly before the San Juan, Japanese golf course developer Yoshio Asakawa bought half interest in Nasr el Arab from Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai for $1.5 million. Asakawa, looking for a horse to win his nation’s premiere event, the Japan Cup, will take complete control and pay another $1.5 million when Nasr el Arab retires at the end of the year.

Nasr el Arab, second choice in the betting, returned $5.80, $4.40 and $3.60. Pleasant Variety, longest price in the field, paid $18.60 and $8.20, and Academic paid $6 to show. The exacta returned $509.

Nasr el Arab earned $220,000, increasing his total earnings to $1,037,344. Pleasant Variety won $80,000 in his third start for Fanning and owners Martin and Eileen Alper.

The last time the horses raced on the same afternoon was March 5, when Pleasant Variety was bought during a claiming race, and Nasr el Arab started as the favorite for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap.

Nasr el Arab needed a rest after flopping, in which he was beaten by more than eight lengths. While he did not race for a couple of weeks, Frankly Perfect, owned by Bruce McNall, upset Great Communicator in the San Luis Rey Stakes March 25.

The break helped. This was the same Nasr el Arab who whipped Great Communicator in the Oak Tree Invitational last November shortly after arriving from France. It was the same Nasr el Arab who won the Feb. 5 Strub Stakes by four lengths on a track so muddy that even the winner slipped and fell pulling up after the race.

“He’s a tough horse to read sometimes,” Rash said. “It was only these last couple of mornings I really began feeling confident in him. I’m just glad the race didn’t come a week sooner. You’ve got to hand it to Charlie--even when he gives them a little time off he times it just right.”

A single ticket had all the correct selections in the Pick Nine at Santa Anita and was worth $461,329.

The holder of the winning ticket wasn’t immediately identified. The last time a winning ticket was sold on the Pick Nine was Jan. 16, when one ticket with all nine correct selections was worth $1,061,861.

Sunday’s attendance at the track was 46,243.