Dare And Go Wins Strub for Solis

The best phone call Alex Solis received last week was from retired jockey Fernando Toro on Friday morning. Toro, who used to ride regularly for Richard Mandella, was around the trainer’s barn when the decision was made to use Solis as Gary Stevens’ replacement aboard Dare And Go in the $500,000 Strub Stakes.

“I was real happy,” Solis said. “I was praying to God that I’d get the chance to ride that horse.”

While Stevens rode two winners Sunday in Hong Kong, the start of a four-month commitment to ride there, Solis rode Dare And Go to a wire-to-wire 1 1/4-length victory in the Strub before 45,597 at Santa Anita.

The other jockeys who petitioned Mandella for the mount--starting with Hall of Famers Chris McCarron and Laffit Pincay and including Chris Antley and Corey Black--could only look on with envy while Solis celebrated a $27,500 payday, which was a jockey’s standard 10% share of the winning purse.

Mandella waited until 8 a.m. Friday, shortly before entry time, to name Solis on Dare And Go.

“It was an unusual situation, having the mount open and all those guys available,” Mandella said. “I was uncomfortable about that. But Alex has been riding very well, and he fit the package for this horse. He’s a good rider, period, and he’s exceptional at nursing a horse on the lead, which is exactly what we wanted to do with this horse.”

Dare And Go, paying $13 to win, was the fourth choice in the five-horse field. With none of the first three finishers changing positions, Dramatic Gold ran second, four lengths ahead of Wekiva Springs, the 11-10 favorite, with Strodes Creek fourth and College Town last. The time for 1 1/4 miles was 2:00.

The three stewards dismissed a foul claim by Wekiva Springs’ jockey, Kent Desormeaux, who said that Corey Nakatani, aboard Dramatic Gold, carried him wide on the first turn and down the backstretch.

“They sheared me,” Desormeaux said. “I got sheared. Fleeced. Like a lamb. The thing was, I was herded, period. What was mind-boggling to me was that if we were in the lane, he (Nakatani) comes down (gets disqualified). But you can move out on a turn. It doesn’t make sense. I was disappointed in the way my horse ran. I would have thought someone could have herded me all over the racetrack, and it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Nakatani pleaded not guilty.

“I was told (by trainer David Hofmans) to stay off the rail a little bit, and that’s what I did,” Nakatani said. “As far as the claim of foul by Kent is concerned, I think he was just trying to give himself an excuse because his horse got beat. But who knows?”

The loss was only the second in eight starts for Wekiva Springs and ended his six-race winning streak.

“The best horse won--today,” said Bob Hess Jr., who trains Wekiva Springs. “I knew we were dead at the three-eighths pole. The leader (Solis) had too much horse left. Then we had to check on the turn and go outside, and that was the last nail in the coffin.”

Dare And Go, carrying 118 pounds, six fewer than Dramatic Gold and four fewer than Wekiva Springs, was under no pressure as he clicked off mild opening fractions of :23 3/5, :47 2/5 and 1:11. He won for the fifth time in 13 starts. The French-raced son of Alydar and Partygoer, a Secretariat mare, had three seconds and a third in his other four starts in the United States, finishing third, behind Wekiva Springs and Dramatic Gold, in his dirt debut, the San Fernando Stakes, three weeks ago.

“My horse had all kinds of trouble in that last race,” Solis said. “I went out to dinner Friday night with Fernando (Toro) and he told me what to expect from the horse and told me to look at the horse’s last race.

“He flew out of there today--it felt like his feet weren’t even touching the ground. I was very fortunate that I made my own pace, and I waited as long as I could to let my horse run. When I got to the three-eighths pole, I was very, very happy. I knew I had a lot of horse and I knew I’d get some running out of him down the stretch.”

Dare And Go was bred by Jaues and Gerard Wertheimer, the French brothers who campaigned Kotashaan, the 1993 North American horse of the year. The brothers own him in conjunction with Mandella. Next for Dare And Go is the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 11, which is expected to draw Holy Bull, the 1994 horse of the year. Mandella might have another Big ‘Cap starter in Best Pal, winner of the race in 1992. Best Pal is scheduled to run in the San Antonio Handicap on Sunday.

“Holy Bull?” Mandella said. “Well, there’s always going to be somebody. But there’s only one Santa Anita Handicap, and we’ve got to go. Dare And Go’s as good as he can be right now. I’d just as soon go after Holy Bull when I’ve got a horse in the shape this one’s in.”

Horse Racing Notes

After the Strub, trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said there might be something physically wrong with Strodes Creek. “He just didn’t run at all,” Delahoussaye said. “He broke perfect and just never kicked in.” . . . . Alex Solis is scheduled to start a five-day suspension Thursday, but his agent, Harry Hacek, said that they will be appealing in Superior Court. . . . Call Now, winner of last year’s Del Mar Oaks, suffered a knee injury while running third in the Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup and will undergo surgery Tuesday. She’s expected to be sidelined until late summer. . . . Robert Meyerhoff, who owns Concern, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, was at Santa Anita on Sunday. Concern, nominated for the Santa Anita Handicap, is training at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and his plans are indefinite. . . . Tabasco Cat returned to the work tab with a :39 4/5 three-furlong effort. Timber Country, the champion 2-year-old male and another Wayne Lukas trainee, worked six furlongs in 1:13 1/5 in a prep for the San Rafael Stakes on March 4.