SANTA ANITA : Day, Timber Country Get Second Chance

As the San Rafael Stakes unfolded two weeks ago, Timber Country lumbered along in last place, while the horses up front were running at a crawl.

“They were going at a pace that was slower than what my horse works in the mornings,” trainer Wayne Lukas said.

Compounding the problem, jockey Pat Day later found a way to get Timber Country trapped on the rail in a five-horse race. Day swung Timber Country to the outside, but this is not a nimble colt, and by that time, as the Hall of Fame rider said after the race, “There was too much to do and too little time to do it.”

Timber Country, making his first start since November, when he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and clinched the division title, finished third, two lengths behind the winner, Larry The Legend.

Day apologized to Lukas, and horse and jockey get another chance Sunday in the $200,000 San Felipe Stakes, which also features Afternoon Deelites, the consensus favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Undefeated in four starts, Afternoon Deelites didn’t make his debut until late October and wasn’t ready for the Breeders’ Cup. Since then, he has overshadowed Timber Country, winning by comfortable margins and impressing with his speed ratings.

Lukas is not predicting victory Sunday--in fact, he is skeptical of Timber Country’s chances, because of the 1 1/16-mile distance, the small field and Afternoon Deelites’ ability to control the pace--but he is no less enthusiastic about his colt’s prospects of prevailing in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby on May 6.

Of the six horses entered, only Afternoon Deelites, Timber Country, Score Quick and Lake George are expected to run. Jumron will probably pass the San Felipe for the Golden State Derby at Bay Meadows a week from today, and Zg Media, a stablemate of Afternoon Deelites, will probably also be scratched.