SANTA ANITA : Quake Doesn’t Seem to Shake Tsu’s Dawning; Colt Makes Amends With an Easy Victory

Waiting for his engagement in the $80,475 Bradbury Stakes, Tsu’s Dawning wasn’t flustered by Wednesday’s earthquake.

“He didn’t do a thing,” trainer Ed Gregson said. “It didn’t seem to bother him.”

The 3-year-old Tsunami Slew colt didn’t have much to worry about in the Bradbury about an hour later, either.

Making amends for his 3-10 flop in the Santa Catalina three weeks earlier, Tsu’s Dawning controlled matters in a paceless field and defeated 10-1 shot Video Ranger by two lengths in 1:49 4/5 over 1 1/8 miles.

The 3-5 choice despite his Santa Catalina failure, Tsu’s Dawning has won three of five for Gregson, but there are still questions that need answering.

Primarily, he hasn’t shown the ability to come from behind. In his two victories at Santa Anita, he was never pressured on the front end. Wednesday, he got away with very soft (:23 1/5, :47 2/5 and 1:11 3/5) fractions.

“His father needed the lead, but I don’t think he does,” Gregson said. “He doesn’t have his sire’s speed, but he has a longer stride. He’s a long-legged horse and he’s still growing and maturing.

“Now, he’s going to get tested. I’m leaning toward the San Felipe (March 18) before the Santa Anita Derby. I don’t like dropping back to a mile and a sixteenth (the San Felipe distance), but he needs the experience. I don’t think we have any choice.”

Gregson said he still isn’t quite certain what happened in the Santa Catalina, but he has a possible explanation for Tsu’s Dawning finishing third behind Music Prospector and Senegalaise, who was third Wednesday.

“Maybe I overtrained him,” he said. “He looked dull in the post parade, ran kind of sluggish and he didn’t eat anything that night. He had some awfully fast works and maybe he was a little leg-weary.

“I trained him very lightly for this race. He had longer gallops and slower, easier works. I may have been too ambitious with his training.”

Chris McCarron, the colt’s rider for each of his starts, noticed a difference from the last time.

“He was more lively in the post parade,” he said. “He was cool and calm last time, nothing like his daddy. But he wasn’t just cool and calm, he was dead. He was more on his toes today, like the last time I won on him (Dec. 28).”

Video Ranger, who was claimed for $40,000 earlier in the meeting by trainer John Chlomos, ran well in defeat. He stumbled leaving the gate, then closed well despite the pedestrian fractions.

“He’s just a big, green colt,” jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said. “I hit him right-handed and he ducked. I hit him left-handed and he ducked. He stumbled coming out of there. I don’t know if he would have beaten the winner, but it might have been closer.”

The race’s disappointment was Assyrian Pirate. Impressive in his last start, a Jan. 21 allowance race, he finished fourth as the 9-2 second choice.

“He just never fired,” jockey Martin Pedroza said. “He had a little trouble in the first turn, but not that much. He just never fired.”

Wednesday was a busy morning for horses preparing for Sunday’s $1-million Santa Anita Handicap.

Six of the 10 expected to run had their final works for the 1 1/4-mile Grade I race, which will be contested for the 53rd time.

Bayakoa worked five furlongs on the grass in 1:03 2/5 under Laffit Pincay.

“She did it very easily,” Pincay said. “(Trainer) Ron (McAnally) told me to let her go and do whatever she wanted to do. She finished strong.”

Hawkster, her stablemate, went the same distance on the surface in 1:01 2/5 with Patrick Valenzuela aboard.

Present Value, who disappointed badly when heavily favored in the San Antonio, drilled six furlongs in 1:15 1/5 for Jerry Fanning. Ruhlmann worked five furlongs in :59 4/5 and Flying Continental also went five furlongs in :59 1/5.

At Hollywood Park, Quiet American, a troubled second in the Charles H. Strub Stakes, worked five furlongs in :59 4/5 and galloped out in 1:13 4/5, according to trainer Gary Jones.

“Super-duper,” Jones said. “He’ll probably come over Thursday afternoon, depending on the weather.”

Pat Valenzuela was playing a video game in the jockeys’ room when he saw the walls start to shake shortly before 3:45 p.m.

“I ran to the doorway and stood there,” he said. “But then I saw the walls start to shake in front of me and I said this doorway isn’t going to hold. Somebody opened the back door in the kitchen, and when I saw it, I cut out. Hawkster couldn’t have beaten me to that door.”

Pincay, who didn’t ride Wednesday, was sitting in trainer Laz Barrera’s box when the jolt came.

“It was freaky,” he said. “It was a weird feeling. I started to leave to get out of there, but somebody said it’s better just to wait, so I just stayed there.”

There was no damage reported at the track. The earthquake hit minutes after Jet Charlie had won the sixth race.

Horse Racing Notes

Martin Pedroza, who won the 1989 Big ‘Cap on 50-1 shot Martial Law, will ride Stylish Winner on Sunday. Stylish Winner was third in last year’s race at 80-1. Most recently, he was second to Criminal Type in the San Antonio. . . . Eight 3-year-olds are likely for the one-mile San Rafael Stakes Saturday. Topping the field is Mister Frisky, the unbeaten Puerto Rican horse who won his 14th in a row in the San Vicente Feb. 10. Others scheduled to go are Individualist, Land Rush, Balla Cove, Tight Spot, Tarascon, Drag Race and Express It. . . . There is a Pick Six carryover of more than $80,000 today.