SANTA ANITA : Dinard Gives McCarron Choice

Although he has received the publicity, Excavate isn’t the only possible ticket to the Kentucky Derby for Chris McCarron.

Two starts into his career, Dinard has also become a 3-year-old to watch. After winning by five lengths Dec. 26, the gelded son of Strawberry Road was even more dominant in the $83,100 Los Feliz Stakes Friday at Santa Anita.

Performing like a seasoned veteran, the 3-1 second choice pulled McCarron into the lead around the far turn, then kept improving his position.

At the end of his 1:35 3/5 mile, Dinard had six lengths on Olympio, the 7-10 favorite, who was a nose ahead of the 12-1 shot, Formal Dinner. From the first crop of Strawberry Road, Dinard is owned and was bred by Allen Paulson in Kentucky.

“He gets across the ground in a hurry,” McCarron said. “It’s unbelievable how he acts. When you’re dealing with green horses, you’re always afraid when you back them out and the dirt hits them, they stop. When the dirt hit him (going into the first turn), he cut.

“He won so easily in his first race, and he had all the worst of it. He broke slowly and was way outside at the five-eighths pole, and I had to decide whether to go wide or drop in. I chirped to him and he took off. Now, he was about seven-wide (around the turn), and I figured I’d made a big mistake. But he was good enough to overcome it.”

Dinard isn’t eligible for the Santa Anita Derby April 6, but that figures to change immediately. The deadline for late nominations--at a cost of $2,000--is Feb. 9.

“I knew it was a bit of a jump from his first start, but we knew we had a good horse,” said Alex Hassinger, assistant to trainer Dick Lundy. “He was real professional again. He takes everything in stride. That’s what makes him good.

“He ran the last quarter in 24 4/5 and he was just loping. He’s a beautiful mover, real light on his feet, very correct and sound.”

Olympio, a troubled fourth in the Hollywood Futurity, had no real excuses this time, and it’s possible he might be at his best sprinting.

“He got hot today, hotter than he did (in the Futurity),” Eddie Delahoussaye said. “He got outrun. The other horse just kicked on and kept running.”

After winning the La Brea Stakes by 5 1/2 lengths two weeks ago, Brought to Mind will go for her fourth consecutive victory in the $108,500 El Encino Stakes today at Santa Anita.

A 4-year-old Ruthie’s Native filly trained by Ron McAnally, Brought to Mind has won six of her 13 starts. With a victory today in the 1 1/16-mile El Encino, she would be in line to become the third filly--joining Taisez Vous and Mitterand--to sweep the La Canada Series. The third race in the series, the $200,000 La Canada Stakes, will be run Jan. 26. Alex Solis will ride her again today.

The field also includes the Wayne Lukas-trained entry of A Wild Ride and Chandelier; Spanish Dior, who finished second to Fantastic Look in Hollywood Park’s Silver Belles Handicap last month; Somethingmerry; Highland Tide, and Dead Heat.

Tabaman, Turkoman’s full brother, will make his stakes debut today in the $100,000 William P. Kyne Handicap at Bay Meadows in San Mateo. A 1 1/8-miles race on the dirt, the Kyne will be simulcast after Santa Anita’s ninth race.

Winless in his first three starts, Tabaman came back from an eight-month layoff to beat maidens easily on Nov. 11 at Hollywood Park, then won a seven-furlong allowance race, defeating High Energy, another promising colt.

The Kyne will be Tabaman’s second start around two turns--he finished second last March behind Nuits St. Georges--and trainer Gary Jones is looking at it as a prep for next month’s $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

“The time off did everything we hoped it would,” Jones said. “He’s a completely different horse now. The maturing is really the whole story with this colt.

“He was just a soft-boned colt and had some trouble with his shins. He just needed some time. We’ve got to see if he can go 1 1/8 miles before we try to run him 1 1/4 miles.”

Corey Black will ride Tabaman for the first time, and the son of Alydar, who is owned and was bred by Corbin Robertson, got a big break in the weights. He is the lightweight with 110 pounds, meaning he will be getting 10 pounds from Variety Road.

The rest of the field: Rushing Raj, Beau’s Alliance, Coax Me Clyde, Chief Terra Cotta and Esker Island.

Horse Racing Notes

George Warwick, 62, a prominent California thoroughbred owner and breeder, died Thursday in Encinitas. A member of the board of directors of the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Assn., Warwick built and co-owned Clear View Farm in Apple Valley. “He fainted at the farm on Sunday and went to a doctor in San Diego Monday for a checkup,” said trainer Ted West, who had been close to Warwick for about 20 years. “They did some lab tests that were still not back. I went to the sale with him at Del Mar Tuesday and he said he felt all right. I talked to him on the phone Thursday morning. Then, they called me at 2 in the afternoon and said he had collapsed and been taken to a hospital, where he died.” Warwick is survived by his wife Ruth, a son, a daughter and four grandchildren.

For the second time at the meeting, there was a winning ticket in the Pick Nine, and it was worth $250,000, the minimum amount Santa Anita guarantees. The ticket was bought for $24 at the Santa Barbara intertrack facility. . . . Ev For Shir was scratched from the Los Feliz Stakes in favor of the El Camino Real Derby next Saturday at Bay Meadows.