SANTA ANITA : Pincay Keeps Fly Till Dawn Under Control

Between the fourth and fifth races Sunday, Santa Anita gave Laffit Pincay a trophy for having passed Bill Shoemaker earlier in the season as the track’s winningest jockey.

Pincay ought to get a trophy every time he rides Fly Till Dawn. The headstrong 6-year-old gray might have been more relaxed than usual during Sunday’s $314,000 San Luis Rey Stakes, but with Fly Till Dawn, everything is relative. Pincay still had post-race reminders of how hard he worked in riding Fly Till Dawn to a three-length victory over Provins, earning the $179,000 winner’s share of the purse for owner-breeder Josephine T. Gleis of Irvine.

“I don’t know if I’m more tired from the mile and a half, or from trying to get him back,” Pincay said after the race. The 45-year-old jockey, who has won more than 7,600 races, including more than 2,250 races during Santa Anita’s winter seasons, had a three-victory day, winning the races before and after the San Luis Rey.

Pincay and Fly Till Dawn teamed to win the Budweiser International at Laurel during the fall of 1990, and in seven subsequent races it has been a challenge for Pincay to keep the horse from beating himself.

“He was running beautifully the first eighth of a mile,” Pincay said Sunday. “Then, coming down the hill and crossing to the main track, he decided to run and got tough with me. I was taking a good hold and he started to get out at the crossing. I was talking to him most of the way, trying to get him to relax. When I got him back to the rail coming by the stands the first time, he relaxed again. But to tell you the truth, I never though I’d be able to ride him this way. I thought he’d open up seven or eighth lengths early.”

Pincay was able to bring Fly Till Dawn along, never more than a length or two ahead of Provins, with Quest For Fame, the 3-5 favorite, lurking in third place under Gary Stevens. But when the horses hit the top of the stretch, Fly Till Dawn had a lot left, having covered a half-mile in a leisurely 49 seconds and the first mile in 1:38 4/5.

“The first time the horses went past the finish line, I thought we’d be in good shape,” said Fly Till Dawn’s trainer, Darrell Vienna. “We were prepared not to be on the lead, but that wouldn’t have worked, because he was (difficult to control) coming down the hill. His last race (a victory in the Arcadia Handicap on March 7) was a big improvement in terms of relaxing. He’s not a silly horse. In the mornings, he’s very sensible. But he does have his own mind.”

Fly Till Dawn, a Kentucky-bred son of Swing Till Dawn and Flying Fortress, won for the ninth time in 26 starts and increased his earnings to $1.2 million. Since the victory at Laurel, Pincay has also ridden him to victories in the San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita, the Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park and the Arcadia. In this year’s San Marcos, Classic Fame beat Fly Till Dawn by a half-length.

All of the horses carried 124 pounds in the San Luis Rey. Before an on-track crowd of 34,311, Provins and Chris McCarron held off Quest for Fame by a nose for second place. Fanatic Boy was fourth, followed by Cool Gold Mood and Seti I. in the field of six.

Fly Till Dawn’s time was 2:27 1/5 and he paid $6.60 to win as the second betting choice.

Quest for Fame, winner of the San Luis Obispo Handicap on Feb. 17, his first stakes victory since the Epsom Derby in June of 1990, didn’t cooperate with Stevens.

“It wasn’t so much the (slow) pace,” Stevens said. “He was fighting me from the word go. I wanted to be laying second, but every time I tried to let him go, he lugged out. Down the backstretch, I was trying to keep him in, but he didn’t even turn his head. He just kept drifting out. I couldn’t keep him in on the turn, and he drifted way wide.”

The lack of any other front-runners to pressure them, and Pincay’s ability to contain Fly Till Dawn’s enthusiasm, were too much for Provins to overcome.

“If he (Fly Till Dawn) had opened up eight or nine lengths, I might have beat him,” McCarron said. “I let my horse run coming out of the gate, and he was where I wanted to be. He ran super, picking up 12 pounds and running against horses that were 15 lengths better than the ones he beat last time (in the San Marino Handicap).”

Injuries have kept Fly Till Dawn from running more often. As a 2-year-old, before he had won a race, he suffered a broken hind leg. Last year, he ran only twice, winning the San Marcos and the Citation, and was off from January until November.

“His ankles were showing wear and tear,” Vienna said. “We had to give him a rest. If we had gone on with him, he would not be racing any longer. He was on the edge of an injury when we turned him out.”

Vienna won’t guarantee that Fly Till Dawn will be back in the San Juan Capistrano, at a distance of about 1 3/4 miles, on April 26.

“The San Juan would be very, very tough,” Vienna said. “We’re thinking about the Breeders’ Cup eventually (at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 31). But if we get that far, we’ll have a tough decision. There’s the Mile and the Turf (at 1 1/2 miles). Actually, his best distance is in between, at a mile and a quarter. If we get there, we’ll probably look at both races and see which is the softer spot.”

Horse Racing Notes

Eddie Delahoussaye, roundly booed by the fans Saturday, also won three races Sunday. . . . Laffit Pincay won the San Luis Rey for the fifth time, but for the first time since 1983. Starting in 1981, he won the race three consecutive times, with John Henry, Perrault and Erins Isle. . . . Pincay has won seven stakes at the meeting, two each with Fly Till Dawn and Exchange.