Racing at Del Mar : Hawkster Easily Wins Derby as McAnally Has Four Winners

Ron McAnally’s smile rarely left his face Sunday as the trainer stole the show at Del Mar with four winners, including the $220,500 Del Mar Derby with Hawkster.

None of the four races were close, but Hawkster’s 5 1/2-length victory over favored River Master was the most impressive. The 3-year-old son of Silver Hawk equaled the stakes record of 1:48 for the 1 1/8 miles on the turf, convincing even the skeptical McAnally that his future is once and for all on the grass.

“We weren’t sure he was a turf horse for certain, even after his last race,” said McAnally, referring to Hawkster’s winning grass debut in the July 26 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar. “But now I’d have to say he’s a natural.”

Hawkster carried 121 pounds and jockey Pat Valenzuela’s 0-for-52 riding streak. In fact, McAnally’s only loss of the afternoon came with a horse ridden by Valenzuela.

“It does concern you a little bit, when your rider in a big race is in a slump,” McAnally said. “But it happens to all of them, just like trainers.”

McAnally had nothing but praise for Valenzuela’s Derby ride, however, which was a virtual replay of the Oceanside.

“Only better,” said Valenzuela. “He was much more relaxed than last time.”

Breaking from Post 2, Valenzuela placed Hawkster slightly behind the pace-setting Tokatee. Music Merci, wearing blinkers for the first time, also was out front early, as was River Master.

They proceeded in that order onto the backstretch, and then Valenzuela let Hawkster run. McAnally was asked if he thought his rider moved too soon.

“No, not really,” he said. “You don’t want to choke this colt down. He’s a free-runner, and that’s what he does best.”

Valenzuela agreed.

“He just dragged me to the lead,” he said. “Then, at the head of the lane, I asked him and he really responded.”

Said Chris McCarron, who rode River Master: “We ran into a buzzsaw. My horse was really running off the last turn and the winner was widening on us.”

As it turned out, River Master, who had won his last three races, finished second by only a half-length over Lode, while longshot Art Work closed from far back to be fourth, another three-quarters of a length back.

With his last furlong in a fast 12 seconds, Hawkster’s 1:48 equaled the Derby record set by Tsunami Slew in 1984 and matched the next year by First Norman.

Second choice in the betting, Hawkster paid $8.20, $4 and $3.20. River Master, coupled with fifth-place Live the Dream, returned $3.20 and $2.60, while Lode paid $3.40.

Despite Hawkster’s dominance of the Derby, McAnally had the most confidence Sunday in the 4-year-old French-raced colt In Extremis, who was making his American debut at 1 1/16 miles on the turf in the third race.

“I was confident, that is, until I saw him just before the race,” McAnally said. “He was washed out, nervous. . . . We had to give him a cold water bath before saddling him.”

A chilled-out In Extremis responded with a four-length victory that immediately had McAnally looking to future grass stakes.

McAnally’s other two winners were with horses owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who was on hand to watch his 2-year-old colt Single Dawn win by five lengths and his 3-year-old colt Eighty Eight Keys win by nearly three.

McAnally could not recall having a four-winner day before, although his assistant, Eduardo Inda, recalled that they had three at Del Mar several years ago.

“And the only race we lost was with a filly named Parlance, who was the one I thought was a lock,” Inda said.

“She opened up three at the eighth pole and some horse ridden by Marco Castaneda came on and got her.”

They always remember the one that got away, but chances are McAnally won’t give his lone loss Sunday a second thought.

Trainer Mel Stute was grateful that McAnally did not have a mare in Sunday’s supporting feature, the $81,375 Rancho Bernardo Handicap. Stute won the race with the 3-year-old filly Kool Arrival, whose four-length victory indicated she may have returned to her form of early 1989.

“She can run even better than that, though,” insisted Laffit Pincay, who rode Kool Arrival to a four-length win over Super Avie. “She’s still got room to improve.”

Kool Arrival won three consecutive stakes to start the season, then went to the sidelines with an injury in her hindquarters.

She came back at Hollywood Park in early July and lost badly in the Hollywood Oaks to Gorgeous. In a more realistic spot next time out at Del Mar, she finished second in a sprint, which set her up for the Rancho Bernardo.

Pincay kept Kool Arrival inside the pacesetters Super Avie and Hasty Pasty through the first half mile, then sent his filly along the rail to take the lead.

Kool Arrival ran the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 1/5 and returned $8 as the second choice in the field of seven.

Horse Racing Notes

Ron McAnally’s four winners put him in a tie with Wayne Lukas in the trainer standings with 10. McAnally has started 42 horses, Lukas 38. . . . Lukas has entered the 2-year-old filly Patches against eight males in Wednesday’s 7-furlong Balboa Stakes. The opposition includes Forty Niner Days, who finished second to the unbeaten but later injured Magical Mile in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship. . . . Sunday’s live gate at Del Mar was 25,062, one of the rare times the on-track attendance has exceeded the off-track attendance (24,859) this year.