SANTA ANITA : Mayberrys Again Display a Mouthful

What has 18 letters and runs more than 30 miles an hour?

Many of the horses owned by Mace and Jan Siegel and their daughter, Samantha, who frequently test the Jockey Club’s 18-letter rule when they name their stock.

Two cases are Noassemblyrequired and Sophisticatedcielo, who ran one-two, 5 1/2 lengths apart, in Sunday’s $81,450 Pasadena Stakes at Santa Anita.

Brian Mayberry, who trains for the Siegels, scratched Madder Than Mad from his three-horse entry in the Pasadena, but the 3-year-old fillies he had left still won $62,700 of the purse. Noassemblyrequired’s winning share was $47,700 after she ran six furlongs in 1:08 2/5, tying the stakes record by Agotaras in 1988.

Noassemblyrequired gave Mayberry three victories in the Pasadena in the last four years, two of them for the Siegels. They won the 1990 running with Ifyoucouldseemenow.

Noassemblyrequired, a daughter of General Assembly and granddaughter of Secretariat, was ridden for the first time by Fernando Valenzuela, after Corey Black had her first three starts.

“This was the first time I had been on her, including the mornings,” said Valenzuela, whose cousin, Pat, is the more well-known rider on the California circuit.

Fernando Valenzuela, 24, finished second to Mike Luzzi in the Eclipse Award voting for top apprentice in 1989, when his mounts earned almost $1 million. Valenzuela said that Noassemblyrequired gave him his first stakes victory at Santa Anita since he won the El Conejo Handicap with Sunny Blossom in 1989.

“I’ve been riding a few horses for Brian (Mayberry) since I won with Exemplary Leader on opening day,” Valenzuela said. “I’ve also been working some horses for him in the mornings.”

Jeanne Mayberry, the trainer’s wife and assistant, represented her husband in the winner’s circle. She said that the Siegels paid $35,000 for Noassemblyrequired at a Keeneland yearling auction. The Mayberrys and the Siegels form a committee in picking their yearlings, and there was unanimity in selecting Noassemblyrequired.

Noassemblyrequired won her first start, at Del Mar on July 31, but then failed twice and was upstaged by stablemates after quickly being moved into stakes company at the seaside track. She was third in the Sorrento two weeks after her maiden victory and ran next to last after a poor break in the Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 4. Other Mayberry horses did better, Rhapsodic finishing second in the Sorrento and Sardula winning the Debutante.

Madder Than Mad, who had a second and a victory in her two starts, was scratched because she drew the unfavorable No. 1 post position and the Mayberrys believed that she needed more time between races.

Coupled with Sophisticatedcielo, Noassemblyrequired paid $6.60 as the slight favorite over Jacodra’s Devil, who finished third, beaten by more than seven lengths.

Cocorde’s Message broke from the inside to take the lead, but Noassemblyrequired trailed only briefly before taking the lead for keeps at the half-mile pole. There were solid fractions of 21 2/5, 43 4/5 and 55 4/5.

“Brian thought that my filly couldn’t lose before the race, and he was right,” Valenzuela said. “The only thing he told me in the paddock was to lay off the speed, and he sure knew the filly better than I did.”

Horse Racing Notes

Arcangues, a marginal candidate for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 5, had his first workout for trainer Richard Mandella on Sunday, going three furlongs in 39 1 /5. Mandella began training Arcangues after his French trainer, Andre Fabre, saddled him for a 133-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 6.

Wekiva Springs, who broke his maiden at Santa Anita on Oct. 31, winning by 11 lengths at 1 1/16 miles, ran the same distance Sunday and outfinished Ferrara in a stretch duel. . . . Assistant trainer Jeff Lukas, still in a coma after he was injured trying to stop a runaway horse at Santa Anita on Dec. 15, moved his hands and opened his eyes briefly at the hospital during the weekend. “I was hoping that they would upgrade his condition to serious, but they didn’t,” said Wayne Lukas, Jeff’s father. . . . The Santa Anita handle after seven days is averaging $10 million, 39% better than the same period last season and 35% ahead of the previous meeting.