Bayakoa May Skip Santa Margarita for Big ‘Cap

Trainer Ron McAnally is considering passing this Sunday’s $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap with Frank and Jan Whitham’s champion mare Bayakoa to run her instead in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap March 4.

“She’s doing great and ready to run, but I’m concerned about the weights,” said McAnally of Sunday’s race. “If she wins carrying 127 pounds this early in the year, what could she end up with down the line? At least we get the weight break running against colts.”

A female thoroughbred receives a five-pound reduction in her assigned weight when running against males. For example, if Bayakoa was assigned 127 pounds for the 1 1/4-mile Santa Anita Handicap, she would actually carry 122.

McAnally said he would enter Bayakoa, the defending champion, for the 1 1/8-mile Santa Margarita and would announce his decision Sunday morning at scratch time. If Bayakoa is withdrawn, the race would be virtually handed to Gorgeous, the second highweight at 125 pounds and easy winner of the La Canada Stakes in her 1990 debut Feb. 3.

The last time Bayakoa carried as much as 127 pounds she ran one of the worst races of her career in the Chula Vista Handicap Sept. 2 at Del Mar. In her first start of the 1990 season, the 6-year-old Argentine mare won the Feb. 4 Santa Maria Handicap under 126 pounds.

No filly or mare has ever won the Handicap. Two have finished second--Next Move in 1951 and Gamely in 1969--and two have finished third, Miss Grillo (1949) and Two Lea (1950).

The last filly to run in the race was Life’s Magic, who gave Wayne Lukas his best Handicap finish with a fourth place in 1985. McAnally, who sent out John Henry to win the Handicap in 1981 and ‘82, saddled the French mare Zalataia to run eighth in the 1984 race.