SANTA ANITA : Tarascon Saves Day for Hofmans

It didn’t take long for the day to turn around for trainer David Hofmans.

Thirty minutes after his promising 3-year-old filly, Sexy Slew, lost as a 6-5 favorite, Hofmans watched Tarascon roll to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $82,950 San Miguel Stakes Friday at Santa Anita.

Given the luxury of being outside, after being stuck on the rail when he was third in the Hollywood Prevue earlier this month, Tarascon forced the pace, then drew off in the final furlong for his third win in five starts.

The 2-year-old, a gelded son of Flying Paster owned and bred by Georgia Ridder, was the 9-5 favorite of the crowd of 21,205 and ran six furlongs in 1:08 3/5, a tick faster than older filly Hidden Garden had run a race earlier.

“He’s such a neat horse,” said Hofmans, who led the recently concluded Hollywood Park season with 12 wins. “He’s so smart and so cool. We had to send him last time and he still hung on until the sixteenth pole.

“I just freshened him up a little bit after that. We’re pointing him for the Cal Breeders’ Stakes (on Jan. 24). I didn’t think he’d be that close today. (Jockey) Chris (McCarron) said he just pulled him to the lead. I thought Hidden Garden ran fast, but he ran a little faster.”

After the seven-furlong Cal Breeders’, Tarascon will probably try two turns for the first time.

“I think he’ll go a distance,” Hofmans said. “Chris thought that he could. He said he had something left.”

Express It, who had all kinds of trouble while finishing third in the Atherton Dec. 9 at Bay Meadows, beat Shantin O. by a head for second place. Then came 3-1 second choice Top Cash, Much Divorced, French Seventyfive (who didn’t have clear sailing along the inside), One More Work, Smart Too and Prince Consort.

“It was a good race for him,” rider Gary Stevens said of the runner-up. “I don’t think he’s a sprinter. I sent him hard out of the gate, so I wouldn’t lose contact with Tarascon, then tried to settle him.

“Even though he dropped back a little, it wasn’t a very relaxed run down the backstretch. There’s no stopping him once you get him started. That’s why he flattened out.”

Three days into the Santa Anita meeting, no jockey is hotter than Alex Solis.

Fresh from a Hollywood Park meeting where he won five stakes, including his second straight Hollywood Starlet upset, Solis already has seven winners.

He had three on opening day (Tuesday), then two more both Thursday and Friday. He only had four mounts Friday but had a pair of easy wins with maidens Impressive Charm and Skidoo.

Solis could add to his total today because one of his five scheduled engagements is aboard Olympic Prospect in the $107,400 Palos Verdes Handicap.

Just two weeks ago, Solis and John Sadler’s gelding made off with the National Sprint Championship. It was the second straight victory for Olympic Prospect, who broke less-than-alertly from the inside.

He has the rail again today, while Sam Who, the runner-up 14 days ago, drew the outside post in the six-horse field.

“I don’t think the rail will bother him,” Solis said. “The reason he broke slowly last time was because he was too anxious. He was trying to come out before the doors opened.”

Solis has a simple explanation for why he has been winning frequently.

“The main thing is my agent (Craig O’Bryan) and I have been working real hard,” he said. “I’ve been lucky, and trainers have been giving me a lot of chances with nice horses.

“I’m riding with confidence, but it’s a lot easier for you when you’re winning races and riding better horses.”

Besides Olympic Prospect and Sam Who, the other Palos Verdes entrants are Sunny Blossom, Order, Reconnoitering and Cutter Sam.

Stocks Up, whose top achievement was winning the 1988 Starlet, will make her first start since February in the $100,000 La Brea Breeders’ Cup Stakes Monday.

The Kris S. filly, trained by Ted West, injured an ankle in the Las Virgenes Stakes last winter at Santa Anita.

“She had a strained suspensory, which is serious, but so slight I felt optimistic about her chances of coming back,” West said.

“She’s had 100 days back in training. She was always a very retiring type of filly who used to stand in the back of the stall. She’s more alert and aggressive now. She’s matured quite a lot. She’s bigger and stronger and is better physically than she’s ever been. Seven furlongs isn’t her best distance, but I expect her to run a good race.”

The first leg of the La Canada series, the La Brea also is expected to attract, Akinemod, Fantastic Look, the Wayne Lukas-trained pair of Highest Glory and Pat Copelan, Affirmed Classic, Stormy but Valid, Reluctant Guest and Linda Card.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Laffit Pincay turned 43 Friday. . . . Robyn Dancer, who had been scheduled to make his California debut, was scratched from the San Miguel Stakes. “He had a 102-degree temperature,” trainer Darrell Vienna said. “But it’s subsiding. We’re treating it with antibiotics. . . . The $100,000 California Juvenile Stakes at Bay Meadows will be simulcast as the 10th race today. Topping the field is Kansas City, who was claimed for $32,000 by owners Jeff Siegel and Barry Irwin out of a nine-length maiden victory. Trained by Julio Canani, the 2-year-old Habitony colt then ventured north and won an allowance race by eight lengths and completed a mile in 1:34 4/5. Corey Black will ride him again in the Juvenile, which has also attracted Del Mar Futurity winner Drag Race, Captain Starbuck and six others. . . . For the second straight day, there was only one perfect ticket in the Pick Six.