OAK TREE : Little Brianne Finds New Track to Her Liking

Little Brianne, a 5-year-old mare on an East-to-West course, started the year with a victory in Florida, later won a race in Chicago, and after a victory in Louisiana last month she came to California to win a race Sunday. Hawaii would figure to be next, but they don’t run races there.

Little Brianne will be staying in California, trainer Jack Van Berg said, after she led virtually all the way in a four-length victory Sunday in the $160,700 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita.

The longest price on the board in a five-horse field, Little Brianne paid $19.40 to win before a crowd of 30,783. Double Wedge finished second, nosing out Reluctant Guest, the 17-10 favorite. Reluctant Guest was a length better than Tessla, who had a neck on Royal Touch as only a little more than five lengths separated the field.

Little Brianne’s victory was worth $93,200 to Robert Alick of Richmond Heights, Ohio. Alick bought the daughter of Coastal and Spicy Life for an undisclosed sum about four months ago. Since going to Van Berg, Little Brianne has two wins and a second-place finish in four races. Overall, she has won 12 of 40 starts, with purses in excess of $600,000.

One of Little Brianne’s problems earlier in the year might have been her not living up to her name. She was carrying too much weight.

“Now, she’s slimmed down a little more,” Van Berg said.

Little Brianne took the lead shortly after the start in the 1 1/8-mile grass race for fillies and mares, and she never stopped.

“I thought she’d go to the front with these horses,” Van Berg said. “I told the jockey (Julio Garcia) to go for the lead as soon as possible, and he did a marvelous job.”

Little Brianne, who was timed in 1:46 4/5, held a 2 1/2-length lead with an eighth of a mile to run. Royal Touch, who had tried to run with her early, faded, and the rallies by Double Wedge and Reluctant Guest, who was five wide by then, were for naught.

The pace--48 2/5 for the half-mile and 1:12 2/5 for six furlongs--was slow. “It was like galloping for that first quarter,” Garcia said. “We were still going easily down the backstretch. She was very strong at the quarter pole. She didn’t tire.”

Reluctant Guest came into the Las Palmas with three wins in her past four starts, hoping for a possible Eclipse Award for best filly or mare on grass.

“There wasn’t enough pace,” said her trainer, Richard Mandella. “Nobody was hooking the leader. She was rank (fighting jockey Robbie Davis), and didn’t settle as nice as she could.”

Reluctant Guest was last until the top of the stretch and Davis brought her to the outside when there was no room at the quarter pole.

“She felt super,” Davis said. “I can’t change her style of running. That’s how she runs best. They let the other one (Little Brianne) out there alone.”

In Reluctant Guest’s previous start, she won the Beverly D. at Arlington International as Double Wedge finished eighth.

Pat Valenzuela, like the Reluctant Guest camp, said that the slow pace didn’t help him as he rode Double Wedge.

Little Brianne carried 115 pounds, six less than Reluctant Guest, the high weight.

The Las Palmas should set up a few of the horses for the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon, a 1 1/4-mile race on Nov. 4.

“We didn’t come out specifically for the Yellow Ribbon, but we’ll look at it,” Van Berg said. “You can run into bad weather back east, and there’s good grass racing in California. That’s the reason we’re here with this horse.”

Horse Racing Notes

The final race in Sunday’s Pick Six was won by Squire Nix, a 20-1 shot, but one fan still bet all six winners and collected $609,010, minus 20% in tax deductions. The payoff was a record for an Oak Tree Pick Six, but fell far short of the $976,229.60 payoff at the Santa Anita winter meeting in 1986. Sunday’s winner, whose name wasn’t released, bet 256 six-horse combinations on a $512 ticket. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas’ horses are winless in 34 tries since Oak Tree opened. Ron McAnally hasn’t saddled a winner in 22 tries. . . . Trainer Charlie Whittingham confirmed that Lively One, winner of Saturday’s Goodwood Handicap, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic lost a horse when it was announced that Summer Squall wouldn’t run. Summer Squall, the Preakness winner, bled from the nostrils despite Lasix medication while running eighth Friday night in the Meadowlands Cup. Because of New York rules, Summer Squall wouldn’t have been able to race with Lasix in the Breeders’ Cup. . . . Cliff Goodrich, Santa Anita’s president, said that Nevada horse parlors might begin sending their bets into the Oak Tree mutuel pools by Thursday.