SANTA ANITA : Afternoon Deelites Takes Round 1 Over Timber Country

Wayne Lukas suggests that more ground will make a better horse out of Timber Country. Richard Mandella says that extra distance shouldn’t deter Afternoon Deelites. These are the admittedly biased opinions of the trainers, and those will be the protracted talking points when Santa Anita runs its Derby in three weeks and the Derby in Kentucky comes a month after that.

The first round in this progressive rivalry was played out Sunday at Santa Anita, with Afternoon Deelites, the Kentucky Derby favorite, finishing one length in front of Timber Country, last year’s champion 2-year-old, in the $202,000 San Felipe Stakes.

“From now on, the races won’t be very short,” Lukas said with a smile as he walked off the track after the race. He had been saying all last week that the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe would not be a litmus test for Timber Country, whose breeding and late-running style fit the distances of the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby and the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby.

No one can out-talk the effusive Lukas, and Mandella doesn’t try. The trainer of Afternoon Deelites also was smiling after the race, standing in the winner’s circle and offering sound bites such as: “I’ll keep my horse.”

As opposed to trading him for Timber Country. Afternoon Deelites remained undefeated, winning his fifth in a row, but Pat Day, who rode Timber Country, echoed Lukas’ added-distance theory.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we were getting to the winner,” Day said. “Another sixteenth of a mile, and we would have gotten the candy today.”

Afternoon Deelites gave his owner and breeder, composer Burt Bacharach, his second consecutive victory in the San Felipe. Last year, Soul Of The Matter won the Santa Anita stake and finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby.

“The difference is that we weren’t supposed to win this race a year ago,” Bacharach said. “I said after that race last year that it couldn’t get any better, but of course that (satisfaction) only lasted about three days.”

Soul Of The Matter, a sore-footed colt who still is racing, was 6-1 in the 1994 San Felipe, while Afternoon Deelites went off at 3-10 and paid $2.60 for $2, his time of 1:42 missing the stakes record by four-fifths of a second.

The expected scratches of Jumron and Zg Media, Afternoon Deelites’ stablemate, reduced the field to four. Lake George, a colt who was moving up to stakes company off a maiden victory in February, finished third, only two lengths behind the 2-1 Timber Country, and Score Quick was last, another 14 lengths to the rear.

Bacharach would not say that this was the best race Afternoon Deelites has ever run, but felt that Timber Country was the best horse his colt has beaten.

The early part of the San Felipe did not go according to the script, with Lake George showing unusual speed and battling Score Quick for the lead as the field first passed the stands. Afternoon Deelites and Kent Desormeaux, who broke from the outside post, were carried wide on the first turn, while Timber Country, though in fourth place, was closer to the pace and only a couple of lengths from the lead.

Under easy fractions, Lake George and Score Quick continued to run on the front end until Desormeaux made his move with Afternoon Deelites on the far turn.

“When he made the lead,” Desormeaux said, “he absolutely threw his ears forward and was waiting for company.”

With an eighth of a mile to go, Afternoon Deelites held a two-length lead, Timber Country having moved into second place on the outside. Switching whip hands twice, Desormeaux hit Afternoon Deelites several times from the sixteenth pole home.

“It sounded like Timber Country was closing drastically on me, like he was making up ground quick,” Desormeaux said. “It did kind of scare me. But looking at the replay, it doesn’t look like he was making up so much quick ground.”

Asked about Afternoon Deelites’ potential for stretching out, Desormeaux said: “I thought I got a pretty good feel about his distance capabilities, but it’s kind of hard to tell. He made the lead with no target, and that’s a major difference for him. Quite frankly, I thought he got a little unconcerned down the lane. I probably whacked him six or seven times.”

Afternoon Deelites earned $117,200, increasing his purse total to $528,125. Timber Country, who has four victories, one second and three thirds in nine starts, earned $40,000 and is now less than $9,000 short of the $1-million mark. This was his second start start since he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November, and two weeks after a third-place finish in the one-mile San Rafael Stakes.

“Both horses should improve off this race,” Lukas said. “There’ll be more horses in the races after this. The road gets steeper and the races get longer.”

Horse Racing Notes

Petionville, another undefeated California 3-year-old, won Sunday’s $350,000 Louisiana Derby by a neck over In Character, a British-bred shipper from Santa Anita who was second to Larry The Legend in his only local race. Petionville, ridden by Chris Antley and trained by Randy Bradshaw, paid $5.80 as the favorite, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 4/5 and winning for the fourth time. . . . Moonlight Dancer, at 43-1, was third, a half-length behind In Character. On Target, another California invader, ran seventh in the 11-horse field.

French Deputy, undefeated in three races, will make his stakes debut in the Rebel at Oaklawn Park on April 1. . . . Kicken It, longest shot on the board in the Crystal Water Handicap, held off Blaze O’Brien and paid $71. The 5-year-old gelding was claimed by Sam Aldabbagh from Mike Mitchell for $25,000 after finishing fourth on March 4.