OAK TREE : Rial Gives His Trainer Needed Lift

There is life after Stalwart Charger for Pico Perdomo.

Two weeks after the trainer’s pride and joy chipped his right knee in the Super Derby, sending Stalwart Charger to the sidelines for at least six months, Rial came through with a 27-1 surprise in the $500,000 Oak Tree Invitational Saturday at Santa Anita.

A 5-year-old son of Family Crest, Rial had just rejoined Perdomo’s barn. He had been with the trainer when he arrived in the United States from Argentina late last year, but Vince Clyne took over and saddled him when he won Del Mar’s Escondido Handicap at 29-1 on Aug. 11. Owner Enrique Carlos Boelcke and Clyne had a falling out, so Rial came back to Perdomo.

Given a perfect, ground-saving trip by Rafael Meza, Rial took the lead into the stretch and outfinished 6-1 shot Eradicate to win by a bit more than a length in 2:23 4/5 for the 1 1/2 miles.

Saratoga Passage, who had to be vanned off the track, finished third, 3 1/2 lengths behind Eradicate, and he was a neck better than Live The Dream, the 5-2 second choice. Saratoga Passage, who also finished third in the 1989 Invitational, reportedly bowed a tendon in his left foreleg.

Although the field wasn’t among the finest in the race’s 22-year history, nobody could say Rial didn’t earn his victory. He carried 126 pounds, 14 more than he did in his Escondido upset and 13 more than he had when finishing second in the Louisiana Downs Handicap two weeks earlier, and he ran the last quarter mile in a swift 23 2/5.

This was the second Grade I upset for Meza in the last couple of months. In August, he took Fly Till Dawn wire-to-wire in the Eddie Read at Del Mar, shocking Classic Fame and Golden Pheasant.

Saturday was better still for the rider. “This has got to be my biggest win, $500,000,” he said. “I won the Eddie Read and the Metropolitan Mile a few years ago with Garthorn (both $250,000 events). I was second in the ($1-million) Santa Anita Handicap with Herat (in 1986).

“This is the first time I’ve ridden this horse. I was scheduled to ride him in Louisiana, but I had surgery to have two pins removed from my right hand. The owner told me he’d like the distance and could lay close. He was a little rank in the first part, but he settled down well after we crossed the dirt. I had a lot of horse. The hole opened up just when I wanted it to.”

Never shy about singing the praises of Stalwart Charger, Perdomo was rather reserved after Rial’s $300,000 victory.

“I was concerned about him having only two weeks between races,” he said. “The horse lost weight going back and forth and because of the heat in Louisiana, but I thought he had a chance in the race. I thought he could get a piece of the cake.

“The further he goes, the better he does. I think the horse is getting better with racing and as he’s becoming more acclimated to this country. This horse is very special to the owner because he bred the horse, too. He saw him being born. It’s like your kid growing up and playing in the major leagues.”

Making his first U.S. start, Eradicate had no excuses, but was well clear of the rest of the field.Wajd, the 2-1 favorite, was never a factor. The 3-year-old Northern Dancer filly, who had finished a close fourth behind Salsabil at Longchamps Sept. 16, finished seventh after trailing for the first six furlongs.

“I didn’t want to be that far back, but she walked out of the gate and I didn’t want to rush her,” said Chris McCarron. “I moved up along the rail down the backside, but when I finally had the room, I didn’t have any horse.”