SANTA ANITA : 2 Will Test San Fernando’s 126 Hex

126.

That’s not the magic number when Santa Anita runs the San Fernando Stakes, the middle race in the Strub series that has been around since 1952.

For when the 1 1/8-mile San Fernando is run Saturday, the underdogs will be Silver Ending and In Excess, for no reason other than that they are carrying 126 pounds.

Since 1983, eight San Fernando starters have carried 126 pounds--the high weight--and only one has won, Precisionist in 1985.

This is how the others have fared:

1983--Prince Spellbound, third.

1985--Gate Dancer, third.

1986--Proud Truth, fifth.

1987--Broad Brush, second; Snow Chief, third.

1989--Dynaformer, sixth.

1990--Music Merci, sixth.

That’s a formidable group of horses not to have won. Prince Spellbound, the 9-10 favorite, had been first or second in six tries at Santa Anita the year before and had finished 1982 with a victory in a division of the Hollywood Turf Cup. In the mud in the San Fernando, the gelded son of Dimaggio closed some ground in the stretch before finishing behind Wavering Monarch and Water Bank, losing by just more than a length.

Gate Dancer, the ear-muffed colt renowned for being disqualified by the stewards in both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1984, fell 11 lengths behind after half a mile in the San Fernando, then could make up only seven lengths as favored Precisionist, carrying the same weight, was a wire-to-wire winner.

Proud Truth’s San Fernando was his first start after winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Aqueduct and clinching a divisional Eclipse Award 10 weeks before. He was the second betting choice, behind Will Dancer, in a race without a distinct favorite, and both of them ran poorly, with Right Con and Fast Account giving owner Fritz Hawn a 1-3 finish.

The 1987 San Fernando had a lusty field, one of the best in the race’s history. Ferdinand, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Snow Chief, who had beaten Ferdinand in the Preakness, were entered, and so was Broad Brush, the major stakes winner from the East. The three of them had earned more than $5.2 million through their 3-year-old seasons.

The peculiar conditions of the San Fernando--weights partly based on the number of $100,000 and $50,000 races the horses have won--gave Ferdinand a three-pound advantage over Snow Chief and Broad Brush, but with a fourth-place finish his eventually successful horse-of-the-year campaign was inauspiciously launched that day. Broad Brush and Snow Chief slugged it out in the stretch, and Variety Road, who is still running--and winning--as an 8-year-old, beat them both at 24-1.

Dynaformer, another Eastern shipper, did not stir the bettors in 1989, but he had won a couple of rich stakes against second-line horses the year before, so he was weighted with 126 pounds. Dynaformer was never a factor and Mi Preferido, sharing favoritism with two other horses at about 4-1, beat Speedratic by a head. That was Mi Preferido’s only victory in 12 starts that year.

A year ago, Laffit Pincay didn’t use the mud as an excuse for Music Merci. The Malibu winner a couple of weeks before, the gray gelding went off at 2-1, failed to get good position early and was no match for Flying Continental, who had recovered from a skin infection and won by three lengths in the kind of going he loves.

Music Merci became just another of the victims that haven’t been able to overcome the San Fernando’s 126-pound curse.

Nine horses are entered in the San Fernando, with Pleasant Tap, the Malibu winner, the likely favorite. The field in post-position order with weights: Silver Ending, 126 pounds; Defensive Play, 123; Go And Go, 123; My Boy Adam, 114; Restless Con, 123; Bedeviled, 120; Pleasant Tap, 120; In Excess, 126; Warcraft, 120.

Horse Racing Notes

Best Pal’s stablemate, General Meeting, is the 7-5 favorite Saturday in the $300,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. Chris McCarron, who has been riding General Meeting, will be busy with Warcraft in the San Fernando, so Laffit Pincay has the mount on General Meeting, who finished a length behind Best Pal in the Hollywood Futurity. The 1 1/16-mile El Camino drew 10 starters, including Mizter Interco, Sea Cadet and Satis.

Best Pal and Flying Continental are the favorites for California-bred horse of the year at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Assn.’s annual dinner Feb. 3 at the Pasadena Hilton. Best Pal has already been voted best 2-year-old Cal-bred colt or gelding, and Flying Continental was picked best older male. Other winners are Cacoethes, turf; Brown Bess, older female for the third consecutive year; Real Cash, 3-year-old colt or gelding; Materco, 3-year-old filly; Theresa’s Pleasure, 2-year-old filly; Sensational Star, sprinter.

There were no injuries reported after a small airplane made an emergency crash landing in a Santa Anita parking lot at about 9:25 Thursday morning. The pilot and a passenger were aboard. The plane, en route from Burbank to Rialto, lost its power and after it touched down went through two chain-link fences in the lot.