SANTA ANITA : Star Of Cozzene Enjoys Turf, Wins San Gabriel Handicap

Star Of Cozzene began the new year the way he ended 1992.

The 5-year-old Cozzene horse made it three consecutive victories, beating Bistro Garden by three lengths in the $111,100 San Gabriel Handicap on Friday.

In the process, Star Of Cozzene, the 7-5 favorite while coupled with June’s Reward, emerged as the top turf horse in California.

After failing to win in five starts for trainer Francois Boutin in France last year, the Kentucky-bred has three victories in four starts for Mark Hennig, the former assistant to Wayne Lukas who is the trainer for Jeff Siegel and Barry Irwin’s Team Valor.

“When we sent him (to Europe), he looked like a stallion in a herd,” Irwin said. “When we went and saw him (several months later), he looked horrible.

“The idea (to go to Europe) was good, but it didn’t work. We sent him to the wrong guy. When he came back here, he started changing within two weeks. Originally, we weren’t going to start running him until February.”

Partial to soft turf, Star Of Cozzene got his kind of surface Friday over a course that hadn’t been used all week because of rain. He completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 1/5 to give jockey Gary Stevens his third winner of the day.

“I liked where I was sitting until we straightened out for the stretch,” said Stevens, who kept the winner close to the pace early while saving ground.

“This little horse, when he punches it in, it’s one of those explosive moves. He just gets with it the last eighth (of a mile).

“With every race, he’s gotten better. This was by far the most impressive of his last three races. I really don’t see any limitations to him right now. They were worried whether he would go on. I didn’t see any reason why not, because he’s relaxing well and he’s got that last eighth.”

Before running in France, Star Of Cozzene had shown quality in this country. He was a stakes-winner in New York as a 3-year-old, then was third in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“It was an easy acclimation adjusting to the U.S. because he had raced here before,” said Hennig, 27. “The horse hadn’t been faring that well over in France and they felt because he had raced here before, he might do well. He adjusted well, and it was not an ordeal for him. He just got back into our program.”

Bistro Garden, an 8-1 shot, was three lengths ahead of Leger Cat and might have made a race of it if he had had clear sailing.

“I had a beautiful trip all the way around until I got to the sixteenth pole,” Alex Solis said. “I was going to go between two horses, but right when I got there, the hole closed. . . . I think it would have been a close race if I had a clear path.”

Luthier Enchanteur, the 2-1 second choice, finished fifth after pressing the pace under Eddie Delahoussaye.

Re Toss, who won only once in 12 starts last year rallied from off the pace to beat favored Exchange by 1 1/2 lengths in the $62,850 Run For The Roses at Santa Anita.

The 6-year-old Egg Toss mare was second three times and third four times against the likes of Paseana, Flawlessly, Super Staff and Kostroma last year. She earned $26,800 for owners Larry and Arthur Risdon.

Trained by Henry Moreno and ridden by Adalberto Lopez, Re Toss paid $14.60 as the 6-1 fourth choice. Exchange, the 13-10 favorite, was second in her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She was three-quarters of a length in front of Lite Light.

Yappy, unbeaten in three tries for owner Allen Paulson and trainer Gary Jones, is the 2-1 favorite for the $81,225 San Miguel Stakes at six furlongs today.

A 3-year-old son of Herat, Yappy broke his maiden by eight lengths against $50,000 claimers, came back and won an allowance race, then went north and won the Leland Stanford at Bay Meadows on Nov. 14.

Pat Valenzuela will ride the gray colt, who worked five furlongs over a sloppy track in 58 3/5 on Dec. 29.

Altazarr, who was beaten by 11 lengths by Yappy’s stablemate, Stuka, in the Hollywood Prevue Breeders’ Cup, is the 5-2 second choice for trainer Brian Mayberry. Altazarr, who will be ridden by Delahoussaye, is the 121-pound highweight.

The rest of the field, in post position order, are Boss Stevens (Stevens, 4-1), D’Hallevant (Laffit Pincay, 10-1), Cold Touch (Corey Nakatani, 20-1), Denmars Dream (Solis, 4-1) and Shadow Launcher (Chris McCarron 8-1).

Horse Racing Notes

Eddie Delahoussaye will begin a five-day suspension Sunday for an incident aboard Shirlee’s Mamoon during Wednesday’s sixth race. Hector Torres was given a similar suspension, to begin Wednesday, after being disqualified aboard Running Fox in Thursday’s fifth race. . . . Jovial ended an eight-race losing streak with an easy victory at 16-1 in the seventh race, a $60,000 classified allowance. Jovial’s last previous victory came in the Swaps at Hollywood Park on July 22, 1990. . . . Jockey Gary Stevens also won with Croque Michotte and Red Monsoon on Friday.