SANTA ANITA : Luck Smiles on Gonzalez This Time

Trainer Paco Gonzalez was overdue for some luck in a stakes race.

A longtime assistant to the late Joe Manzi, who has been on his own for nearly two years, Gonzalez, 45, had been stuck on seconds. Two weeks ago, his Nice Assay nearly upset Garden Gal in the La Centinela, not long after she was the runner-up in a race at Churchill Downs. There had been other near-misses, which he quickly recounted.

“Formidable Lady was beaten a photo by Saros Brig up north and He’s A Saros was second three times,” Gonzalez said.

In Wednesday’s $82,125 Santa Catalina Stakes, Gonzalez was on the right end of the photo.

Mane Minister, a 9-2 shot making his first start in blinkers, outbattled 11-1 shot Conveyor to win in 1:42 3/5 for the 1 1/16 miles.

This was the second victory in five starts for the 3-year-old son of Deputy Minister, and many felt he might have been declared the winner even if he had finished second. He and Conveyor bumped more than once through the stretch, and the latter appeared to be the aggressor.

Never far off the lead, Mane Minister took over from Unreal Ragout and Viva Le Slew nearing the top of the stretch, relinquished the lead briefly to Conveyor, then re-rallied to win under David Flores.

“I put blinkers on him because in the morning when he gallops, he ducks (from horses),” Gonzalez said. “In his last race, he was afraid to pass between hoses. Plus, the track was too loose for him last time (he finished fifth Dec. 29).

“He was very game in the stretch. The other horse came in and bumped him. We’ll see how he comes out of the race before we make plans for his next race.”

Being wide all the way wasn’t a concern to Flores. “He doesn’t like dirt in his face, like he got in his last race, so I wanted to keep him in the clear,” he said. “When he doesn’t feel the dirt, he tries hard.”

Much improved since he was treated with Lasix before his last race--a 64-1 maiden victory--Conveyor finished 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Famed Devil. Wide Colony was fourth and Soweto, the 9-10 favorite, finished fifth.

“We bumped at the eighth pole,” said Corey Nakatani, Conveyor’s jockey. “I straightened him out and that’s when he stopped running.”

Trying the main track for the first time, Soweto made a mild run around the far turn but flattened out in the final furlong.

“He felt like he was getting hold of the dirt,” jockey Chris McCarron said. “He wasn’t struggling and didn’t climb from it hitting him, which I was glad to see. He made a little run, but he didn’t keep it going.”

Bayakoa, who has won an Eclipse Award the past two years as the nation’s outstanding older filly or mare, will carry a career-high 128 pounds in Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Maria Handicap.

The 7-year-old Consultant’s Bid mare has carried 127 pounds four times and she won three times in 1990--the Santa Margarita, Milady and Chula Vista handicaps--with that impost.

Trainer Ron McAnally was hardly pleased with how Bayakoa is being asked to begin her year.

“I don’t think it’s fair for her first time out,” he said. “Where does that leave her next time?

“But I don’t think there’s any Gorgeous out there for her to run against this year, so it’s not quite as bad as it was last summer.” Bayakoa skipped the Vanity last July at Hollywood Park when McAnally was unhappy with the weight spread between his mare and Gorgeous.

With more than $2.7 million, Bayakoa is within $300,000 of Lady’s Secret record for earnings by a filly or mare. McAnally and owners Frank and Jan Whitham hope to break the record before Bayakoa is retired this spring. The plan is for the Argentine horse to run twice more after the Santa Maria--the Santa Margarita and Oaklawn Park’s Apple Blossom. “The way they’re putting weight on her, it looks like they want to retire her sooner,” McAnally said.

“She’s doing great. She’s training well and she looks good physically.”

Idle since winning her second consecutive Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Bayakoa will not have much opposition Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Maria. Spanish Dior and Little Brianne are the only other probable starters. Formidable Lady is a possibility.

Quiet American, who will make his 1991 debut in Sunday’s San Pasqual Handicap, worked six furlongs in 1:10 3/5 Monday morning for trainer Gary Jones.

Idle since his easy victory in the NYRA Mile last fall, Quiet American figures to have five opponents in the 1 1/16-mile San Pasqual, the first prep for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 9.

Flying Continental, who is the 122-pound highweight, will also make his first start of the year in the Grade II race. Other probable starters are Farma Way, who has two impressive sprint victories at the meeting, Hollywood Derby runner-up Septieme Ciel and Stylish Stud, who was the upset winner of the recent Royal Owl Handicap.

Horse Racing Notes

Mane Minister, who was a $93,000 yearling purchase, is owned by John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery. Toffan, now retired, previously owned a gold mine in Alaska. . . . Trainer Darrell Vienna was going to try Fly Till Dawn in the San Pasqual, but he has elected to wait for the San Antonio Handicap Feb. 17. . . . A bruised left foot will keep Slavic from participating in the Charles H. Strub Stakes Feb. 10. . . . Deputy Meister was a scratch from the Santa Catalina.