Bertrando Loses to a Longshot : Horse racing: Siberian Summer, which finished 29 lengths behind favorite in previous race, pays $34.40 in Strub.

Less than 24 hours after he received his third Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer, Ron McAnally added to his case for the 1993 award.

McAnally, honored at the Eclipse dinner Friday night in Century City, saddled Race The Wild Wind and Paseana for a 1-2 finish Saturday in the Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita, won the Lafayette Breeders’ Cup Handicap with Brought To Mind on Sunday at Golden Gate Fields and, about 30 minutes later, his Siberian Summer was a longshot winner in the $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes.

Siberian Summer won by a length over heavily favored Bertrando, who had won the San Fernando Stakes on a sloppy track three weeks ago. In that race, McAnally’s colt finished last, beaten by 29 lengths.

Siberian Summer paid $34.40 to win Sunday, accounting for the fourth-biggest payoff in Strub history and the largest since Swing Till Dawn, catching the kind of muddy track that he loved, won the 1983 running and paid $78.80. War Heim holds the record with his $98 payoff in 1971.

Bertrando, sent off at 3-10 in betting that included 20,455 fans at the track, became one of the biggest disappointments in Strub history, a list that includes Damascus, who was 1-5 while losing by a head to Most Host in 1968.

Before Sunday, Siberian Summer was best known for his ability to finish second. His 14-race record going into the Strub consisted of three victories--none in a stake--and seven seconds. Even a switch to grass didn’t improve his form against the top competition; he was ninth in last year’s Del Mar Derby and eighth in the Hollywood Derby.

On Thursday, the day before entries were due for the Strub, McAnally had considered skipping the race. “We almost didn’t run,” the 60-year-old trainer said, “but then I considered who we had to beat. Bertrando really isn’t a mile-and-a-quarter horse. Then there was Star Recruit and Major Impact, but after that, the field wasn’t really that tough.”

So McAnally called Siberian Summer’s breeder and owner, Mahmoud Fustok, in Florida and they agreed to run. The decision was worth $275,000, more than doubling what the gray Siberian Express-Mia Karina colt had earned.

Corey Nakatani rode Siberian Summer for the first time, settling the colt into second place behind Bertrando almost from the time they left the gate. Bertrando, under Chris McCarron, never got more than 1 1/2 lengths ahead while setting moderate fractions of 47 2/5 and 1:11 4/5.

Approaching the stretch, Nakatani sensed that he was on a winner. “On the turn for home, I thought we had him (Bertrando),” the jockey said. “It was just a matter of time. Going a mile and a quarter was kind of steep for a horse like Bertrando.”

Siberian Summer caught Bertrando six strides before the wire. Nakatani’s only previous victory in a $500,000 race was aboard Itsallgreektome in the 1990 Hollywood Turf Cup.

The winning time on a fast track was 2:00 3/5. Bertrando, carrying high weight of 122 pounds, four more than Siberian Summer, finished two lengths ahead of Major Impact, who was three lengths better than Star Recruit.

Deprived of his third victory in the Strub, McCarron said: “I was surprised the winner ran by me. My horse was running. He was going easy all the way, and he responded when I asked him. I knew the other one was there all the way, and I tried to open up on him on the turn. I felt I was going to, but I didn’t.

“That’s the way you ride this horse. You move on him early, you don’t let the other horses get to you and you wear the others out making them try to catch you. I don’t know that he’s not a mile-and-a-quarter horse yet. He ran fast and finished every strongly.”

Bertrando’s nine-length victory in the San Fernando came after his owners, Eddie Nahem and Marshall Naify, overruled their trainer, Bobby Frankel. Bertrando had returned from an 8 1/2-month layoff by running third in the Malibu at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

“The horse ran good. I can’t say why he got beat,” Nahem said Sunday. “I know that Chris had a tight hold on him early, but who am I to teach McCarron how to ride?”

Asked if Bertrando is a 1 1/4-mile horse, Frankel said: “Maybe not, we’ll just have to see. He just got outrun today. There was nothing wrong with him after the race.”

Siberian Summer’s first victory came in his fifth start, against maidens at Hollywood Park in June. He won a month later in allowance company there, encouraging McAnally.

“I had high hopes for him in the beginning,” McAnally said. “But then he had trouble winning again. He had a lot of those second-place finishes, and that’s when I felt that he might not have been the quality colt I first thought.”

In a companion feature, Yappy outdueled 9-5 favorite Denmars Dream to win the $108,100 San Vicente Breeders’ Cup Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Ridden by Patrick Valenzuela and carrying 116 pounds, Yappy covered seven furlongs in 1:22 1-5 in beating eight opponents, including Mountain Cat, who had set a 2-year-old record with $1.4 million in earnings and is considered a prospect for this year’s Kentucky Derby. Mountain Cat finished eighth.

Yappy paid $7, $3.40 and $3.