BREEDERS’ CUP: THE OTHER RACES : Southland Jockeys Win All but One Event

The high fives might go on and on in the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita today.

Three Santa Anita-based jockeys--Eddie Delahoussaye, Chris McCarron and Pat Valenzuela--won all but one of the seven Breeders’ Cup races Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Delahoussaye won the richest race on the card, the $3-million Classic, with A.P. Indy, after he had won the first Breeders’ Cup race, the $1-million Sprint, with longshot Thirty Slews.

McCarron’s winners were Paseana in the $1-million Distaff and Gilded Time in the $1-million Juvenile; Valenzuela, who also won twice last year when the Breeders’ Cup was run at Churchill Downs, clicked with Fraise in the $2-million Turf and Eliza in the $1-million Juvenile Fillies.

The only other riding victory on the Breeders’ Cup card went to the New York- based Mike Smith, aboard Lure in the $1-million Mile.

Here’s a race-by-race rundown:

TURF

Sky Classic was the 9-10 favorite, but Fraise, ast after a half-mile, won by a nose after an imaginative ride by Valenzuela.

At the top of the stretch, Daros, who was second most of the way, ran out of gas. Fraise, a 14-1 shot, passed Daros on the outside. Then Valenzuela swung the 4-year-old colt to the inside and they passed another fading horse, Navarone. Sky Classic, who had taken the lead at the eighth pole, was unable to outrun Fraise in the final strides.

There were reports at Santa Anita a couple of weeks ago that Valenzuela, who had been riding Navarone, preferred him to Fraise. He got off Navarone to honor a contract he has to ride all of owner Allen Paulson’s horses. Fraise races in the name of Paulson’s wife, Madeline.

JUVENILE FILLIES

Another Paulson-bred horse, Eliza, was a one-length winner over Educated Risk, who couldn’t overhaul Valenzuela’s filly in the stretch.

Eliza’s 1:42 4/5 clocking for 1 1/16 miles was the fastest ever for this stake. “She was pulling so hard down the backstretch, I had to let out a notch,” Valenzuela said. “I think that’s what won the race for me.”

JUVENILE

Gilded Time was the only horse on the Breeders’ Cup card with an undefeated record, and David Milch’s $80,000 yearling purchase stayed that way with 3/4-length victory. Gilded Time, winning his fourth in a row, ran two-tenths of a second slower than Eliza.

After Gilded Time and another California-based horse, River Special engaged in a battle through the stretch, It’sali’lknownfact, at 47-1, made a late bid and finished second, a half-length better than River Special.

“We got in a little jam at the start,” McCarron said of Gilded Time’s trip. “The English horse (Firm Pledge) broke out. I had to take up and almost clipped heels. After that, I angled him out for a clear shot. Quite possibly, he might be the best 2-year-old I’ve ever ridden.”

Trainer Darrell Vienna had predicted victory. “It might have been foolhardy to say that, but it wasn’t foolish,” Vienna said.

DISTAFF

Paseana’s victory for McCarron was a strong comeback for the Argentine-bred mare who won seven in a row before two defeats. Her owners, Sidney and Jenny Craig, supplemented her into the race for $200,000, and she earned $450,000.

Paseana finished four lengths ahead of Versailles Treaty. “The world got to see Paseana at her very best today,” said McCarron, who had been criticized for his ride on her in the last race. “She’s the best filly I’ve ever ridden.”

The Craigs said Paseana would return to race next year, the best news of the day for trainer Ron McAnally.

SPRINT

“If he hadn’t had that (throat) surgery earlier this year, he would have been a $50,000 claimer,” trainer Bob Baffert said after Thirty Slews’ victory by a neck over Meafara.

Thirty Slews was 18-1. Baffert said he thought he might be about 8-1. “I got all the serious work into him before we left California,” Baffert said. “Then he had a slow work here, and that must have thrown some people off.”

The first thoroughbred for Baffert, who had trained two champion quarter horses, Thirty Slews cost $30,000 in an auction. One of his owners is James Streelman, an Anahiem physician.

MILE

Lure, at 5-1, stole this race, running fast early but with a comfortable lead and never being threatened.

For Trainer Shug McGaughey, Lure was a promising 2-year-old on dirt who had fizzled. Put on grass two races back, he was timed in 1:32 4/5, the fastest mile on turf at Gulfstream since Step Forward’s 1:34 in 1976.

Allen Paulson may have won two races for the second consecutive year, but the victory he most wanted didn’t materialize when Arazi, the 3-2 favorite, finished 11th.

“He got bumped on the turn, but that was no excuse,” Valenzuela said. “I hope he bled, but that would be a reason why he ran so bad. He flattened out, kind of like a horse who bleeds. Today he made no move at all, compared to the (Kentucky) Derby. At least he made a big move in the Derby (only to finish eighth).”

Paulson said that Arazi would be examined to see if he experienced pulmonary bleeding, but there was no immediate report of the result.