SANTA ANITA : Sharp Horses Abound in Sunday’s $200,000 Feature for Fillies, Mares

Finding the sharp horses in Sunday’s $200,000 Santa Anita Budweiser Breeders’ Cup is an easy task. Six of the eight entrants are coming off victories, another was second in her last start, and the other was fourth, beaten all of a length.

But as a consequence of this, isolating which of the fillies and mares will win the mile turf race is a more difficult chore.

In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see any of them in the winner’s circle after the stake is run for the third time.

Arguably, Saros Brig is the sharpest of the group. The 6-year-old Saros mare has won two consecutive races for Dominick Manzi. After a 9-1 upset of Royal Touch and Nikishka in the Buena Vista Handicap on Feb. 25 at Santa Anita, Saros Brig went wire to wire in the Golden Poppy at Golden Gate two weeks ago.

Winner of three of her last four starts, she will again be ridden by Pat Valenzuela, and speed horses have been faring well in recent weeks on the Santa Anita turf course.

Given time off after she wilted in the San Gorgonio Handicap in early January, Stylish Star returned on March 24 and won the Las Cienegas Handicap. Victorious in four of her 12 turf starts, the 4-year-old Our Native filly has come back with two solid works for Dan Hendricks since her sprint victory, and one mile seems an ideal distance for her.

Like Saros Brig, Run to Jenny enters Sunday’s contest with a two-race win streak. Third in a Group I event in Ireland last year, the 4-year-old has been impressive in her two U.S. starts, but she hasn’t had much behind her. She beat a weak field of males on March 9, then returned to outrun her own sex in an allowance contest 19 days later.

“I think she fits very nicely with these,” jockey Gary Stevens said. “The competition is obviously a lot different than what she has faced, but I have a lot of confidence in her. Those two races were very easy on her.

“I was confident that she could beat the boys in that condition, and she just played with them. In her last race, I only had to let her run the last 50 yards.

“She was kind of crazy (in Europe), but she’s been very willing to train and has been very kind in the afternoon. On the track, she acts like a pony.”

Bruce Jackson, who trains Run to Jenny for owner Jack Munari, also thinks she belongs in this field.

“She looks like she fits,” he said. “I guess we’ll find out Sunday. I’m sure she’s run against this kind or better in Europe.”

Fieldy was fourth in the aforementioned Santa Ana and the well-traveled 7-year-old mare was finishing best of all. She has won 14 of 44 races on the turf for trainer Tom Skiffington while earning almost $805,000. Some might think a mile is too short for her, but she won the Joe Namath at Gulfstream Park in January at that distance.

The field also includes Formidable Lady, who was second to Saros Brig in the Golden Poppy but is perfect in two starts on the Santa Anita grass; Reluctant Guest, who beat allowance rivals on March 21; Petalia, who overcame a terrible beginning to win her first start in about 10 months, and Fantastic Look, who has won two straight on the dirt for Gary Jones.

Best known for her near-upset of Open Mind in the Alabama at Saratoga last August, Dearly Loved makes her California debut today in the $81,975 Santa Lucia Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Freshened since running third in the Tattling Handicap on Dec. 3, the 4-year-old Raise a Native filly is now in Charlie Whittingham’s barn and will be ridden by Stevens.

“I’ve worked her three times and I think she’s a freak,” said the rider who has wrapped up his third Santa Anita title. “I’ve talked to Charlie and (assistant trainer) Rodney (Rash), and they said she’s a lot more settled. When she got here, she was real nervous and skinny. She was wound real tight. She’s settled now and she’s put on a lot of weight.”

A restricted stakes, the Santa Lucia also attracted Voila, Fortunate Flyer, Cascading Gold, Sugarplum Gal, Tis Juliet, Carita Tostada and Lady Brunicardi, who finished in a deadheat for second behind Vive in this race last year.

Apprentice Omar Berrio scored the first two victories of his career Friday at Santa Anita. Unfortunately, for him, only one of them counted.

After riding Fit to Run to a 47-1 surprise in the first race, Berrio, 21, saw his number come down in a disqualification that had a lot of people scratching their heads.

Undaunted, Berrio came back in the sixth race, split horses and got Perfectly Taylor up for a $49 upset. No doubt, there were some anxious moments for him again because the inquiry sign was posted after jockey Robbie Davis claimed foul. This time, however, the stewards ruled in Berrio’s favor. Instead, they disqualified Flying Vamp and Eddie Delahoussaye, who had finished third, and placed them sixth.

In the first race, Fit to Run had gotten the better of favored Roger’s Trick in mid-stretch. The Run of Luck filly did veer in toward the rail, and Corey Nakatani, on Roger’s Trick, took up sharply, an action some thought was executed a bit too dramatically.

Despite this, Roger’s Trick finished second and was going to stay there if nothing had happened.

“The horse was still in there, she wasn’t out of the heel-clipping stage,” said steward Pete Pedersen in explaining why Fit to Run was disqualified. “The rider had to take up for five strides, and in an instance where danger is involved, we take the position to disqualify.

“In our judgment, the potential chance of an accident was significant, and we couldn’t excuse it.”

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Charlie Whittingham won a race on his 77th birthday Friday when Tartas, making his first U.S. start, defeated Neskimo in the fifth race. . . . For the second straight day, nobody was able to hit the Pick Six, so there’s a carryover of $248,406.55 today. On a mandatory payout day in the Pick Nine, two tickets had six winners and each paid $249,791.60.

Frankly Perfect is the 124-pound highweight of the 13 horses given invitations for the San Juan Capistrano a week from Sunday. Then come Hawkster, with 123; El Senor, with 121; Ten Keys, with 118; Brown Bess, Live the Dream, Colway Rally and Super May, with 116 apiece; Delegant, with 115; Just as Lucky, with 113, and Maceo, Santangelo and Valdali, with 112 each.