SANTA ANITA : Field for San Juan Comes Up Short

In terms of quantity, the 51st running of the $500,000 San Juan Capistrano today is lacking.

Only seven horses entered the 1 3/4-mile marathon on the next-to-last program of Santa Anita’s 90-day meeting.

To most observers, only three members of the field have a realistic shot at the $275,000 top prize--Hawkster, El Senor and Frankly Perfect. Live The Dream, Delegant, Valdali and Santangelo all seem mere pretenders.

Jeff Tufts’ morning line reinforces this belief. Santa Anita’s linemaker established El Senor the 8-5 favorite, Hawkster is 9-5, Frankly Perfect 5-2, then comes Valdali, Live The Dream and Delegant all at 15-1 and Santangelo is 20-1.

The strategy for Hawkster in the Capistrano will be simple. He will go right to the lead and attempt to become the first horse to go wire-to-wire in the Grade I race since Obraztsovy held off Exploded in 1981. The year before, John Henry won in the same fashion.

Hawkster’s jockey and trainer, Pat Valenzuela and Ron McAnally, are both familiar with those two victories. Valenzuela rode Obraztsovy for the then-biggest win of his career and McAnally was John Henry’s boss.

After two futile attempts on the dirt, a surface he hasn’t won on since the fall of 1988, Hawkster opened up on his five rivals in last month’s San Luis Rey with some fast fractions. Not until the final yards was he collared by Prized, who is unbeaten in three starts on the turf and who has earned himself a place as one of the nation’s premier thoroughbreds.

Hawkster will be carrying three fewer pounds today and his recent works indicate he has lost none of his sharpness. It also doesn’t hurt that front runners have been doing well in the waning weeks of the season.

Frankly Perfect had a two-race winning streak end in the 1 1/2-mile San Luis Rey. He broke a trifle slowly, then was the first one to take a run at Hawkster. He came up empty late and wound up third, beaten by two lengths.

Charlie Whittingham, who is seeking his 15th win in this race, thought the 5-year-old Perrault horse moved too soon last time and says he has been training well.

Frankly Perfect will also be making his first start for new owner Jerry Buss. The Lakers’ owner purchased an interest in the horse, who is also owned by the Kings’ Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky. Presumably, Buss bought the same interest in the horse which, for a short time, belonged to actor Sylvester Stallone.

Without question, El Senor was finishing fastest in the San Luis Rey. Far back early, the 6-year-old roan really took hold late and was beaten by only a half-length by Frankly Perfect.

It was the first start of the year for the son of Valdez, who hadn’t been out since finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He figures to move forward off that race and the additional distance certainly won’t be a hinderance.

If any of the others are to spring an upset, Live The Dream, Charlie Whittingham’s other entrant, is the most likely. He lost ground the entire journey in the 1 1/2-mile San Luis Obispo Feb. 19 in an effort that was much better than his eighth-place finish would indicate.

Distance shouldn’t pose a problem for the Northern Baby colt and he will carry eight fewer pounds than Frankly Perfect, seven fewer than Hawkster and five fewer than El Senor.

Delegant, who is trained by Michael Whittingham, finished fifth in the San Luis Rey. He drops 11 pounds off that race, but he wasn’t able to beat Frankly Perfect when the latter had trouble in the San Luis Obispo and he was getting eight pounds that day.

Valdali was a distant third at 8-5 against much weaker competition. His only pluses are that he can go a mile and three quarters and he’ll be ridden by Gary Stevens.

The only good race Santangelo has run since coming to this country from South America was on the dirt. He was second to Opening Verse in a Feb. 15 allowance race. Nor was he disgraced when fifth in the Santa Anita Handicap. So, naturally, he’s trying the grass again, where he has finished 10th, seventh and fourth in three U.S. tries and has failed in 16 of 18 attempts lifetime.

Continuing his love affair with the Santa Anita hillside sprint course, Coastal Voyage made even-money look like a gift with an easy victory in the $102,500 San Simeon Handicap Saturday.

Successful in four of five starts on the unique turf layout, the 6-year-old Coastal horse beat Patchy Groundfog by 2 3/4 lengths while covering about 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:12 1/5. Raise A Stanza was third and Wonder Dancer last in the compact field.

“It’s been a good day for the barn,” said Eduardo Inda, McAnally’s assistant. Earlier, Silver Ending had scored a 6-1 surprise in the Arkansas Derby. “It’s nice to win for Ron. He’s just a super boss.”

Ridden by Alex Solis, Coastal Voyage earned $60,000 for owner John Brunetti with his eighth victory in 15 career starts and returned $4.

Horse Racing Notes

Laffit Pincay escaped serious injury when Another Lady flipped in the gate shortly before the second race was to start. “I got pinned down there,” said Pincay, who missed the third race, then returned for the rest of the card. “I was very tight and all the weight was on my leg. I really thought she broke it. The muscles on both side of my knee are sore, but there was no damage to the bone. It hurts when I walk, but not when I ride. I’ll put more ice on it tonight and see how it feels tomorrow.”

Surprisingly, Forty Niner Days was the lukewarm 3-1 favorite at Santa Anita for the simulcast of the California Derby from Golden Gate. Forty Niner Days, who showed brief speed and stopped, was 7-1 up north.