Diazo Wins Malibu as Gilded Time Fades : Horse racing: Pincay rides Shoemaker trainee to victory before 44,089 as Santa Anita’s opener has a record handle.

Trainer Bill Shoemaker’s ringside seat for the $109,700 Malibu Stakes was in front of a television set that sat on a high ledge in the mezzanine at Santa Anita.

Surrounded by other trainers with horses in the race and dozens of bettors, Shoemaker watched quietly from his wheelchair as his 3-year-old colt, Diazo, came through on the rail to score a half-length victory Sunday before an opening day crowd of 44,089.

There was enough noise around Shoemaker without his help. “Come on, Shoe!” many of his fans repeatedly screamed with every telltale stride as Laffit Pincay squeezed through with Diazo at the fence. Then, as Shoemaker was wheeled toward the winner’s circle, the chant turned to “Way to go, Shoe!”

Shoemaker has long been familiar with the Malibu as a jockey, and as a trainer he’s getting to know the horse that won Sunday’s edition, too. Shoemaker took the blinkers off Diazo for the Malibu, hoping to relax the horse early and leave him with some closing punch.

By winning the Malibu, Pincay continued to play catch-up with Shoemaker’s riding milestones. As a jockey, Shoemaker won the Malibu a record eight times, four of them with horses--Round Table, Damascus, Spectacular Bid and Ferdinand--who won horse-of-the-year titles. Pincay, who will turn 47 on Wednesday, has now won the Malibu six times, and he also is in pursuit of Shoemaker’s career record of 8,833 winning rides. With two winners Sunday, Pincay increased his total to 8,054.

“I didn’t give Laffit any instructions,” Shoemaker said after the Malibu. “He knows how to ride better than I did.”

Shoemaker winked when he said it.

There were two disappointments in the seven-furlong Malibu: Gilded Time, the 4-5 favorite, led with an eighth of a mile to go and finished sixth in the eight-horse field, and River Special, in contention between horses at the head of the stretch, backed up badly to finish last.

Concept Win finished second, two lengths in front of Mister Jolie. Diazo, the second betting choice, paid $9, finishing in 1:21 and earning $64,700 for his breeder and owner, Allen Paulson.

Diazo, a son of Jade Hunter and Cruella, had won two consecutive races, including the Pegasus Handicap, after recovering from sore shins and hoofs that developed from his fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. But then he finished fifth and last in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 6.

“He was making his run in the middle of races and didn’t have anything left for the finish,” Shoemaker said. “He was rank (hard to handle) early in the races and was using himself up too soon. I thought taking the blinkers off would help. Then we were lucky, getting through on the rail.”

Diazo was in front of only one horse after a half-mile, but began creeping up on the leaders on the far turn. Pincay kept him on the rail and he found room inside of Gilded Time in mid-stretch.

“By the time we got to the stretch, it was a matter of getting through or not,” Pincay said. “I saw (Gilded Time) going a little bit out. I thought that this was my chance. Luckily enough, I got through. Then when he made the lead, he started waiting on the other horses. Still, he wouldn’t let the other one (Concept Win) get by. I don’t know how much taking the blinkers off helped him, but he ran a good race, so maybe that helped.”

Gary Stevens, winner of the Malibu last year with Star Of The Crop, had hoped for his third consecutive victory astride Concept Win.

“The winner got even a better trip than we did,” Stevens said. “That was basically the difference.”

Trainer Darrell Vienna had hoped that Gilded Time wouldn’t go to the lead, but jockey Chris McCarron said that he didn’t have a choice.

“The plan was to let him run out of the gate a little bit and then just lay behind the first flight,” McCarron said. “I just couldn’t get him to cooperate the way I wanted him to. By the time we got to the top of the lane, I didn’t have any horse. He went too hard and too fast down the backside. I was trying to ease him back off those leaders.”

Neither Gilded Time nor Diazo had run since Breeders’ Cup day, Gilded Time having finished a close third in the Sprint after a 53-week layoff.

Horse Racing Notes

Including the off-track handle, total betting on nine Santa Anita races and one from Bay Meadows totaled $13.6 million, easily breaking the previous opening-day record of $10.7 million. Since Hollywood Park began racing in the fall in 1981, this was the first time there was a five-day break between that meet and Santa Anita’s opener. “I think that helped us compensate for the pro football competition on television,” said Cliff Goodrich, Santa Anita’s president. . . . Next year, there will be a return to the old schedule, with Hollywood Park closing on Dec. 24 and Santa Anita opening on the 26th.