SANTA ANITA : Van Berg and Desormeaux Are Well in Front in Honors Race

Although the Santa Anita meeting is ending with a whimper because of small fields and boring races, the 57th season has gone more smoothly than the 56th.

The weather has been excellent, there was no Autotote snafu on opening day, and track management wasn’t trying to discourage business in the final weeks to avoid paying more taxes.

Writers, handicappers and others who cover the track vote annually for bests of the meeting. Here’s how one ballot will look:

Trainer--Jack Van Berg. The Hall of Famer is on his way to his first training title at Santa Anita, and he has won with every kind of horse, from $10,000 claimers to graded stakes performers. A good example of the trainer’s talent is Known Lover. A flop since coming to the United States for his previous connections, the 4-year-old gelding was claimed by Van Berg--amid chuckles--for $75,000 on March 6. Known Lover improved to run fourth in his first start for him, then won a $40,000 allowance race on April 13. No one’s laughing now.

Jockey--Kent Desormeaux. Third in the last two meetings here, Desormeaux is going to win the title this year. He holds a 16-race lead over Gary Stevens and has won with nearly one-fourth of his mounts.

Apprentice--Sal Gonzalez Jr. The winner in this category last year, he continues to be the only apprentice to make an impact. Going into the final six days, he was 10th in the standings despite his affinity for wide trips. Gonzalez will lose his five-pound weight allowance in 11 days.

Development--Del Mar Dennis. Considered a useful allowance horse when the season started, the half-brother to Forty Niner Days showed he could be a force in the handicap division with a clever victory in the San Bernardino Handicap earlier this month.

Achievement--Viva El Capitan. This 5-year-old gelding deserves some type of award for winning nine of 10 at Santa Anita. No horse on this circuit tries harder than Viva El Capitan, who will be in action again on Friday.

Race--Santa Anita Derby. The finish was relatively close, it featured three legitimate Kentucky Derby contenders--Brocco, Tabasco Cat and Strodes Creek--and, nobody had any excuses. The race went as expected, everybody gave it his best shot and the horse who looked as if he would win did. It was too bad Valiant Nature and Soul Of The Matter were late defections, but the Derby was still memorable.

Older Horse--The Wicked North. The best horse in the nation won the San Antonio Handicap and was the victim of a borderline call when disqualified in the Santa Anita Handicap. If they had run the Big ‘Cap 100 times, he would have won it 99 times.

Older Filly/Mare, Sprinter--Mamselle Bebette. More Van Berg magic. The hard-knocking Copelan filly, owned by John Forsythe’s Big Train Farm, rattled off four stakes victories, winning on grass and dirt. Only Round Table, with five in 1957, has won more stakes at a Santa Anita meeting.

3-Year-Old--Brocco. The likely second-choice in the Kentucky Derby took a while to come back to the races, but when he did, he ran a gutsy second over an off-track in the San Felipe, then won the Santa Anita Derby.

3-Year-Old Filly--Lakeway. Her talent was widely known before she broke into the game during the Oak Tree meeting, and she didn’t disappoint when brought back in the winter. The Seattle Slew miss won a pair of Grade I’s and will be heavily favored to capture the Kentucky Oaks on May 6. Let’s hope she runs there instead of trying the boys in the Derby.

Grass Horse--Bien Bien. The Manila horse won the San Marcos and San Luis Rey and he should win the San Juan Capistrano on Sunday under a taxing 122 pounds. The weight assignment for the approximately 1 3/4-mile marathon was a gift and he is meeting probably the worst field in the history of the race.

Grass Filly/Mare--Possibly Perfect. Lightly regarded when she arrived from Europe, she won two of her three tries at the meeting for Bobby Frankel. It’s too bad she did it on days when other events overshadowed her. Possibly Perfect won the Santa Ana the day the appeal of the Big ‘Cap disqualification was being held, and she took the Santa Barbara the day after the Santa Anita Derby when Brocco was put on the vet’s list. She and Lakeway were the only two-time Grade I winners at Santa Anita this season.

Claimer--River Rhythm. Trained by Walter Greenman, the 7-year-old Riverman gelding has won three high-priced claimers, two coming on turf and one on dirt and he had some troubled trips in a couple other starts.

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Brocco worked five furlongs in 1:03 Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs, the drill required to get him off the vet’s list in California. He was put on the list by Dr. William Bell, who said he was slightly off in his right foreleg after the Santa Anita Derby.

With Churchill Downs veterinarian Mitzi Fisher watching, Brocco went the final quarter mile in 23 2/5 seconds. “I watched him pull up and I saw nothing wrong,” said Fisher. “It was an awesome work on this track. He didn’t blow (after the work).”

A blood test is also required by California, and Brocco can’t work again until the results are confirmed. They are expected by the weekend, and trainer Randy Winick’s colt is scheduled to work a mile on Monday under Gary Stevens.

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Making his first start for trainer Richard Mandella, Majestic Style held on to beat Saltgrass by a nose in the $79,575 La Puente Stakes on Wednesday at Santa Anita.

It was Mandella’s fourth stakes victory since Saturday. He began the hot streak with King’s Blade then came back with Memo in the Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland and Corrazona in the Santa Anita Budweiser Breeders’ Cup on Sunday.

Gary Stevens rode Majestic Style, the even-money favorite, who completed the 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:48 3/5. Makinanhonestbuck was third, then came Little Lit Bud and 2-1 second choice Still Swingin’.

Horse Racing Notes:

Corby, the winner of the 1993 San Felipe Stakes and sixth in the Kentucky Derby, was destroyed after breaking his right front leg while working Tuesday morning. The 4-year-old Dahar colt was owned by Allen Paulson and trained by John Sadler and he was working in preparation for a start in Monday’s closing-day feature, the San Jacinto Handicap.

Marconi, a promising 3-year-old trained by Gary Jones, has two possible hairline fractures of the pastern bone in his left hind leg, a bone scan revealed. Marconi is expected to be sidelined for three months.

Arcangues, who is scheduled to make his 1994 debut in the John Henry Handicap on May 1 at Hollywood Park, worked a mile in 1:38 1/5 Wednesday morning.

Majestic Style is owned by John Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm and was previously trained by Gary Jones. Jones and Mabee recently severed their long association.