Bertrando Is Impressive in Comeback : Horse racing: After beating Arp in the San Felipe, colt’s trainer is eager for rematch with Arazi.

Back where he first quickened the pulse of his trainer as a 2-year-old, Bertrando returned to action after a 4 1/2-month layoff Sunday and took his first step toward a rematch against Arazi at Churchill Downs.

The first time these two fine colts met, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Kentucky in early November, it was no contest. Arazi blew in from France and beat Bertrando by five lengths in a show-stopping performance.

Arazi is back in France now, training for a race that is designed to prepare him for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Some trainers of Derby candidates hope Arazi never crosses the Atlantic again, but Bruce Headley, who trains Bertrando, is not one of them.

“I’d like to see Arazi come over here and run again,” Headley said after Bertrando survived a front-running duel with Hickman Creek to score a three-quarter-length victory over Arp in the $210,800 San Felipe Stakes before 26,042 at Santa Anita.

Before Bertrando faces Arazi again, Headley’s colt will be challenged by A.P. Indy, another California standout, and possibly Casual Lies in the Santa Anita Derby on April 4.

But for Arazi, Bertrando is undefeated. The son of Skywalker and Gentle Hands began his career last year with three consecutive victories, including the Del Mar Futurity and the Norfolk Stakes. Several factors--sore shins, a hoof injury from the Breeders’ Cup and a rain-disrupted training schedule--prevented Headley from getting the California-bred back to racing as a 3-year-old before Sunday.

Carrying 122 pounds, Bertrando and Alex Solis, the only jockey to ride him, broke on top and matched strides with Hickman Creek down the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race. The fractions were a quick 22 4/5, 45 4/5 through the first half mile.

On the far turn, Bertrando shook off Hickman Creek, then hung on to beat the late-running Arp, with Solis hitting his horse about a dozen times through the stretch.

“He likes that,” Headley said. “It’s time to go to work. He did very well for the first time out. He was pressured by (Hickman Creek), he was hooked and pushed all the way. He had no chance for a breather, and then when the other horse started inching up, he gave us a good finish.”

Bertrando’s time was 1:42 3/5, the same as Sunday Silence’s in 1989, the year he won the Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and clinched horse of the year by winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Bertrando paid $2.80 and earned $120,800 for his owners--breeder Eddie Nahem, Marshall Naify and Gus Headley, the trainer’s teen-aged son.

“This horse is strong,” Solis said. “There are not many horses who could go :22, :45, get hooked by another horse, fight that one off and still find enough left to win. He had to get a little tired. He went real fast, and that other horse went after me, and we had to fight him off to the quarter pole. I got after him when Arp came up at the eighth pole, and he was tired, but he kicked in anyway.”

Rising from the $32,000 claiming ranks, Arp came into the San Felipe with four consecutive victories, all for Solis. Chris McCarron took the mount Sunday, with Arp carrying six pounds less than Bertrando.

“My horse didn’t stop running,” McCarron said. “Bertrando just kicked in again and found another gear. I was gradually moving up, but from the eighth pole to the wire, I doubt that he made up more than a neck.”

Mel Stute, who trains Arp, said he and the gelding’s owner, Bay Schiffer, would discuss whether they would supplement the horse to the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby by paying a penalty of $20,000. Another option is the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

“This horse is a little sweetheart,” Stute said. “He’s just like his papa (Snow Chief, the Stute-trained 1986 Preakness winner). He won’t give up.”

Lukas put blinkers on Hickman Creek after his fourth-place finish in the San Rafael on Feb. 29.

“I loved his race,” Lukas said. “It was what he needed. He’s still green, but he’s learning and we’ll be back for the Santa Anita Derby.”

Horse Racing Notes

Charges against trainer John Russell have been dismissed by the California Horse Racing Board. One of Russell’s horses had tested positive for cocaine. . . . Pat Valenzuela was philosophical about the announcement that Steve Cauthen would ride Arazi in the colt’s debut as a 3-year-old in France on April 7. “I’m disappointed, sure,” Valenzuela said, “but I’ll be riding him in the (Kentucky) Derby, and that’s the race that counts.”