Opener at Oak Tree Is a Day of Surprises : Maiden Pleasant Tap Wins Feature; Agirlfromars Equals Turf Record

Surprises were stacked on top of surprises on the opening day of the Oak Tree season at Santa Anita Wednesday.

Pleasant Tap, a maiden and the second-longest price on the board, won the featured Sunny Slope Stakes and before that, in the first race run on the track’s new grass course, an unheralded filly matched the Santa Anita turf record for 1 1/8 miles.

Agirlfromars, ridden for the first time by Robbie Davis in her 10th start, had gone seven races without a win and was on grass only once before.

Davis hit the 3-year-old California-bred only once with his whip as she won the third race by 1 1/2 lengths in a time of 1:45 2/5, which equaled the record that Crystal Water set in 1977.

This was the first race on the turf since Santa Anita spent more than $3 million on a grass course that is a combination of a Bermuda hybrid grass and a polypropylene mesh that reduces divots. It looks like a pool table on top, and apparently plays just as fast.

Trained by Looie Cenicola, who was John Henry’s exercise rider, Agirlfromars broke out of her slump at Del Mar, winning against maidens going a mile on dirt and then beating allowance horses in a 6 1/2-length victory at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

The fractions for Wednesday’s race were :22 2/5 for the first quarter, :48 3/5 for a half-mile and a scorching 1:32 4/5 for the mile, which would have broken the course record by 1 4/5 seconds for that distance.

“I thought maybe we had gone 1:46 or 1:47, so when I looked up at the time, it was incredible,” Davis said. “The temporary rail was out about 10 feet, so just think what she might have run if that hadn’t been there. She didn’t act like she was doing that much, she did it easy and under wraps almost all the way.

“The track is so tight that you could ride without goggles if you wanted. There’ll be a lot of records set here. There’s a spring to the track, and while certain horses might like it, it might be hard for other horses.”

Agirlfromars, which carried 117 pounds, paid $12.40 to win before a crowd of 43,639 which bet $7.1 million, an opening-day record. The actual attendance was several thousand fewer because many fans went through the turnstiles more than once to collect some souvenir mugs.

Crystal Water, carrying 116 pounds, tied the world record when he registered 1:45 2/5. The world record is held by Frosty the Snowman, who ran 1:44 4/5 at Woodbine in Toronto on June 18.

In the Sunny Slope for 2-year-olds, Pleasant Tap, giving Eddie Delahoussaye his third win of the day, rallied through the stretch to beat Grand Canyon by three-quarters of a length, and it was another four lengths back to Doyouseewhatisee in third place.

Pleasant Tap, paying $26.80 to win, covered seven furlongs on dirt in 1:22 2/5, which was the fastest winning time for the stake in 10 years.

Grand Canyon was coupled with Nevada in the betting and they went off 11-10 favorites, with Nevada finishing last in the seven-horse field, just behind Express It, who was trying to make the lead at the quarter pole when his right rein snapped.

Pleasant Tap, a son of Pleasant Colony and Never Knock, a Stage Door Johnny mare, was bred and is owned by Thomas Mellon Evans, who collected $46,525 of the $80,275 purse.

Pleasant Tap’s only two previous starts came at Del Mar, where he was sixth and third and raced greenly.

On Sept. 9, when he ran third, Pleasant Tap lost to Grand Canyon by 4 1/4 lengths going six furlongs.

Trainer Chris Speckert debated whether to run Pleasant Tap in another maiden race or in the Sunny Slope. “This horse comes from off the pace, and the way the track was playing, I thoughtt was worth a look,” Speckert said.

Delahoussaye was back from a two-week vacation, during which time he rode only twice, one day winning the Molson Million at Woodbine with Prized.

“This colt has improved, and if he keeps improving he’ll be a nice colt,” Delahoussaye said. “In the stretch, Chris (McCarron, riding Grand Canyon) had some horse left, but my horse just dug in and outdueled them.”