Racing at Del Mar : Bayakoa Unable to Extend Her Streak in a Pinch; Goodbye Halo Wins

It took 127 pounds and a double-team that would have done the Lakers’ backcourt proud, but they finally figured out a way to beat Bayakoa Saturday in the $133,400 Chula Vista Handicap.

Hounded from the inside by Rosadora and the outside by Kool Arrival, Bayakoa had her five-race winning streak shattered by her worst effort since last October. The pride of trainer Ron McAnally and owner Frank Whitham was run into the ground around the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile feature and out of gas long before Goodbye Halo swept past her on the final turn.

While Laffit Pincay virtually eased the heavy favorite through the stretch, Corey Black brought Goodbye Halo from the back of the pack to hit the wire 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Flying Julia.

Goodbye Halo’s victory, her first since February, completed a rich intersectional sweep for trainer Charlie Whittingham, who was in Chicago Saturday winning the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes with Claire Marine.

Whittingham’s assistant, Rodney Rash, sent out Goodbye Halo for the Chula Vista upset, the first time the 4-year-old daughter of Halo had beaten Bayakoa in five tries this year. Rash knew going in that a speed duel was about the only thing that could turn things his way.

“Bayakoa is a top mare, and our filly couldn’t beat her earlier this season,” Rash noted before the race. “But if she has to go too fast too early, anything can happen.”

That’s exactly what happened. The Whittingham-trained Rosadora was reluctant loading into the gate, but she broke like a shot and prevented Bayakoa from dropping to the rail entering the first turn.

At the same time, Eddie Delahoussaye angled the swift 3-year-old filly Kool Arrival over from their outside post to sandwich Bayakoa between horses around the clubhouse turn. Pincay had no choice but to hold his position with the free-running favorite.

“I thought she could open up around the first turn,” Pincay said. “But she couldn’t get away from the inside horse.”

Down the backstretch, Kool Arrival took command, and for the first time in more than a year, Bayakoa found herself behind horses after a half mile had been run.

In the meantime, Black was content to sit last, watching the speed burn out.

“We’ve been letting our filly run away from there and try to go with Bayakoa before,” Black said. “But today it was obvious there was something else to go with her.”

Approaching the far turn, Kool Arrival continued to lead. Burdened with 127 pounds--the heaviest assignment of her career--Bayakoa appeared to be spinning her wheels. She had no real response as Super Avie, Flying Julia and then Goodbye Halo swarmed past.

Without Bayakoa around to torment her this year, Goodbye Halo would have been the clear-cut leader of the older filly-mare division. After beginning 1989 with impressive wins in the El Encino and La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita, the daughter of Halo finished second three times and third once to her Argentine rival.

“We gave her a little break after the Vanity (July 15) and she came back great,” Rash said. “You can’t lose faith in a filly like this. She tries too hard for you every time.”

Goodbye Halo ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 4/5 and paid $10, $5.20 and $6.80. Flying Julia returned $4.60 and $6.60 and Kool Arrival, who hung on for third, paid $7.80.

The outsized show prices were prompted by the fabled “Plunger,” a perennial player of “sure things” who reportedly bet his usual $40,000 to show on Bayakoa. After two scores earlier at the meeting, causing minus show pools, The Plunger gave it all back and more.

Horse Racing Notes

Jack Kent Cooke’s Raise a Stanza won the Round Table Handicap at Bay Meadows on Saturday, defeating Irish by a neck.. . . Majolique, a top filly in Argentina last year, won Saturday’s third race by 3 1/2 lengths. . . . Charlie Whittingham will come home from Chicago with Oczy Dzarnie, winner of the Pucker Up Stakes Friday at Arlington International. The 3-year-old French filly is owned by Baron Eduoard de Rothschild. . . . Japanese riding sensation Yutaka Take has three mounts at Del Mar on Monday. The 20-year-old jockey is being shadowed by a large Japanese media contingent. . . . Also making his Del Mar riding debut on Monday will be Brazilian champion Goncalino Almeida. . . . Some fast thinking by agent Terry Lipham saved Eddie Delahoussaye the mount on Prized in the $1 million Molson Challenge at Woodbine next Sunday. Delahoussaye received a five-day suspension for an incident in Friday’s fourth race. The suspension normally would have begun on Wednesday. Lipham took his rider off all his Monday mounts before entries and requested that the suspension run Monday-Saturday. Delahoussaye will be able to ride Brisque in the Del Mar Handicap on Monday, however; the race is exempted from suspensions.