OAK TREE AT SANTA ANITA : Kostroma Doesn’t Have Misstep in the Yellow Ribbon This Time

A year ago, Kostroma was a mess. A day ago, Gary Jones wasn’t in much better shape. But on Sunday, Kostroma made up for 1990 and Jones partly compensated for Saturday, saddling the 5-year-old mare for a victory in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Invitational at Santa Anita.

Jones already has trained one Eclipse Award winner--Turkoman, the best handicap male on dirt in 1986--and Kostroma could win the female grass championship this year. Her two-length victory in the Yellow Ribbon came against a talented field and gave the Irish-bred a perfect record in three starts since her eighth-place finish in the same stake in her American debut last year.

Tommy Stack, who had trained Kostroma in Ireland, was also in charge for last year’s race. Before that race, a van transporting Kostroma lurched off a freeway. She lost a shoe and stepped on a nail, but the hoof was repaired. She contested the pace for a while before finishing more than seven lengths behind the longshot winner, Plenty Of Grace.

Kostroma also bled from the lungs during the race, and after recovering from a stomach disorder she returned to racing in September, winning the Osunitas Handicap at Del Mar. Six weeks later, in winning the Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita, Kostroma was timed in 1:43 4/5, a world record for 1 1/8 miles on grass.

Jones had an uncomfortable 24 hours between Saturday’s $250,000 California Cup Classic and the Yellow Ribbon. In the Classic, Jones’ Best Pal, the 2-5 favorite, lost by a head to Charmonnier, a 28-1 shot.

“These are the highs and the lows, the agonies and the ecstasies,” Jones said Sunday. “The loss on Saturday was the most frustrating I’ve ever had, because it was totally out of my hands. We carried too much weight (Best Pal carried 12 pounds more than Charmonnier); we had to run on a tiring, freshly dug-up track; and then we got carried out in the stretch by the winner and I thought the stewards (in an inquiry) didn’t give a very good decision.”

Kent Desormeaux brought Kostroma through on the rail in mid-stretch and she outfinished Flawlessly. It was another half-length back to Fire The Groom, with Free At Last and Lady Shirl, a head farther back, finishing in a dead heat for fourth place. Plenty Of Grace, who had lost six consecutive races since the 1990 Yellow Ribbon, was ninth at 34-1.

Lady Shirl set a slow pace (49 2/5 for the half-mile, 1:14 2/5 for six furlongs), and the final time for 1 1/4 miles was 2:01. Kostroma was a mild favorite in the crowd of 22,644 and paid $8.20 to win.

At least four other Yellow Ribbon starters--Flawlessly, Fire The Groom, Campagnarde and Leariva--went into the race with Eclipse Award possibilities. Jones began his campaign for Kostroma in the winner’s circle.

“If she’s not the champion filly, there’s something wrong with the voting system,” Jones said. “This is the best filly I’ve ever had, and she might be the best filly anybody’s ever had.”

Desormeaux, a cinch to win his second consecutive Oak Tree riding title as the season ends today, has ridden Kostroma in all three of her starts since last year’s Yellow Ribbon.

“There was a lot of luck involved turning for home,” Desormeaux said. “I almost felt bad hitting her, but for $400,000 you can’t just hang around. I was worried until I got through. When I got through and dropped her head, I knew I had it won. I couldn’t believe how she exploded in the stretch. It had to feel like Pat (Valenzuela) felt on Arazi when he made that big move (in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile).”

Flawlessly, ridden by Chris McCarron, came into Sunday with a five-race winning streak and lost for the first time in six tries on grass.

“I knew Desormeaux was in there on the rail with a ton of horse,” McCarron said, “and I could tell he was going to get through.”

Fire The Groom, with Gary Stevens aboard, was 11th at the quarter pole, about seven lengths back. “I had to take her outside,” Stevens said. “She has a run of about three-sixteenths (of a mile), and you wait until you straighten up (for the stretch), but she was too far out today. She ran a big race just to be third and made up a lot of ground.”

Jones believes that Kostroma’s rival for the Eclipse Award is Miss Josh, an Eastern-based mare who won the Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park this summer. Miss Josh might return to California for the Matriarch at Hollywood on Dec. 1.

“We’ll either run her in the Matriarch or wait for next year,” Jones said of Kostroma’s schedule. “If she’s not 100%, we’ll skip the Matriarch. The way she ran today, I wish Miss Josh had been in the race.”

Horse Racing Notes

Crnagora was scratched from the Yellow Ribbon to run today against males in Oak Tree’s closing-day stake, the Burke Handicap. Crnagora will run on Lasix, the bleeders’ medication, after finishing eighth in the Oak Tree Invitational in her first American start. . . . Algenib, who probably will be favored in the Burke, has earned almost $300,000 this year, although he is winless in four stakes starts. . . . Hollywood Park opens Wednesday.

Kostroma, who carried 123 pounds, four pounds more than Flawlessly and the same weight as Fire The Groom, is owned by William De Burgh, Jack, Art and J.R. Preston and Robert Sangster. . . . Other Irish-breds to win the Yellow Ribbon have been Kilijaro in 1980 and Sangue in 1983. . . . Charmonnier and Best Pal, the 1-2 finishers in the California Cup Classic, could resume their rivalry in the Strub series at Santa Anita during the winter. . . . Kent Desormeaux has won 46 races at the meet, 14 more than Pat Valenzuela. . . . Gary Jones is the training leader with 16 winners, five more than Sandy Shulman.