SANTA ANITA : It Could Be Big Year for McAnally

Trainer Ron McAnally’s barn earned more than $2.7 million last year, its best performance since John Henry’s second horse-of-the-year campaign in 1984.

This year, with $600,000 already in the till, McAnally could do even better. Bayakoa, who may or may not start Sunday in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap, and Hawkster are established runners, and the 57-year-old McAnally has five 3-year-olds capable of taking him to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs May 5.

“You never make plans, because anything can happen in racing,” McAnally said. “But in the next five or six weeks, the Derby horses will start falling into place, and we’ve got five colts with a lot of quality. I think our chances are excellent of having at least one of them go to the Derby.”

McAnally’s barn at Santa Anita is usually busy, but on Friday business was especially brisk. McAnally was on the telephone to Kansas, discussing with owner Frank Whitham whether his Bayakoa should accept the high weight of 127 pounds and try to win the 1 1/8-mile Santa Margarita for the second straight year. Out on the track, two of those promising 3-year-olds were working. Single Dawn went six furlongs in 1:11 3/5, much faster than McAnally wanted, and Silver Ending covered the same distance in 1:14 2/5.

The others in McAnally’s quintet are Balla Cove and Tight Spot, stakes winners who will run in the one-mile San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita March 3, and King of the Scots, a son of Chief’s Crown who will run in a maiden race Sunday. In 1985, Chief’s Crown was a major winner before and after the Triple Crown series, but he was second in the Preakness and third in both the Derby and the Belmont after going off the favorite in all three races.

Silver Ending, an improbable $1,500 yearling who was named by McAnally’s wife, Debbie, because of his gray tail, is the most highly rated of this bunch, mainly because he has been the most visible. In his 3-year-old debut, Silver Ending won the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. The best horse Silver Ending beat was probably his stablemate, Single Dawn, who ran third.

It was the way Silver Ending won that was impressive. “In the stretch, he was head and head with the other horse (Individualist I),” McAnally said. “All Gary (Stevens) did was flick his stick, and the horse quickly accelerated to win by three lengths.”

McAnally expected more of Single Dawn that day, but he was beaten by five lengths. “He was carrying seven more pounds than Silver Ending,” the trainer said. “And the kid (jockey Alex Solis) told me afterward that he moved too soon with the horse.”

Because McAnally’s Derby prospects race for different owners, he will have to do some juggling to minimize their running against each other. Silver Ending’s next start is scheduled to be the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita on March 18. Single Dawn will be shipped to Gulfstream Park to run in the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby the day before.

That means Single Dawn will face what appears to be a deep field of 3-year-olds from the East. But McAnally believes he will have his colt ready, coming off a two-month layoff. Last year, McAnally sent Hawkster to Gulfstream, where he wilted in the Florida humidity and ran fourth.

Balla Cove, bred in England, has been quickly introduced to dirt racing here. He ran seventh in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Gulfstream, then dead-heated for the win in Santa Anita’s Los Feliz Stakes with Land Rush, who may be the best of trainer Wayne Lukas’ 20 Triple Crown nominees after Grand Canyon’s injury.

Tight Spot, running a mile in 1:34 while winning the El Cerrito Handicap at Golden Gate Fields three weeks ago, is not yet eligible for the Triple Crown races. He could have been nominated for $600 by Jan. 17, but McAnally said he expects him to made eligible for a $3,000 payment that is due by March 17.

It won’t bother trainer Neil Drysdale if McAnally withholds Bayakoa from the Santa Margarita. Drysdale’s Gorgeous will be favored if Bayakoa is scratched to run in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap March 4.

“When I’m running a horse, I’d like to see an exhibition race,” Drysdale said. “A walkover would be fine with me.”

Even without Bayakoa, the Santa Margarita will have a six-horse field. This is the lineup, in post-position order with jockeys and weights:

Carita Tostada, Sandy Hawley, 110 pounds; Kelly, Pat Valenzuela, 112; Nikishka, Gary Stevens, 115; Gorgeous, Eddie Delahoussaye, 125; Luthier’s Launch, Alex Solis, 113; Invited Guest, Russell Baze, 114, and Bayakoa, Chris McCarron 127.

Laffit Pincay, who rode Bayakoa last year as she won nine of 11 starts and was voted an Eclipse Award, was scheduled to ride the 6-year-old mare Sunday, but he has decided to take more time for his broken collarbone to heal. Pincay told McAnally that he will resume riding next week.

Horse Racing Notes

Warcraft, a son of Ack Ack who might be trainer Charlie Whittingham’s best hope for returning to the Kentucky Derby, runs Sunday at Santa Anita in a mile allowance race. . . . Summer Squall, undefeated in six 2-year-old starts while never running farther than 6 1/2 furlongs, will make his 1990 debut on Feb. 25, facing older horses in a seven-furlong race at Gulfstream.

Ron McAnally has trained four horses in the Kentucky Derby. His best finishes were fourths with Super Moment in 1980 and Water Bank in 1982. Super Moment is now at stud in Switzerland. . . . McAnally’s horses earned $4.3 million in 1984, more than half of the total won by John Henry. . . . Quiet American, second to Flying Continental in the Strub, may be headed for Gulfstream to run in the $200,000 Donn Handicap next Saturday.