SANTA ANITA : Del Mar Dennis Stays Home, Wins the San Bernardino

After thinking about going to Arkansas for the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap, Del Mar Dennis’ camp decided to keep the 5-year-old gelding at Santa Anita, where he always has done his best work.

The price might not have been right--Sunday’s San Bernardino Handicap was worth only $220,000--but the result withstood all of the second-guessing after Del Mar Dennis won by 5 1/2 lengths for the easiest victory of his career.

“You can always say that if he had run this race at Oaklawn (on April 15), how tough he might have been,” said John Toffan, who co-owns Del Mar Dennis with Trudy McCaffery. “But at Oaklawn it would have been a lot tougher. We would have been running against the best group of older horses in North America.”

Toffan and McCaffery aren’t sure what’s next for Del Mar Dennis, but for the distant future trainer Paco Gonzalez may already be penciling in next year’s San Bernardino, a race their horse has won on April 2 in each of the last two years. Sunday’s victory dropped Del Mar Dennis’ name into the same hopper with Terrang and Ruhlmann, the only other two-time winners of the San Bernardino. Terrang won in 1957-58, the second and third years for the stake, and Ruhlmann won in 1989-90.

Before last year’s San Bernardino, Del Mar Dennis had won three of five starts, but he had no stakes victories and went off at 8-1 under 112 pounds. He became the lightest-weighted winner of the race in 17 years. In Sunday’s running, Del Mar Dennis was the 3-5 favorite and carried 117 pounds while notching his sixth victory in nine starts at Santa Anta. Everywhere else, he has had one victory in five tries.

Chris Antley started riding Del Mar Dennis in the Santa Anita Handicap last month, when Urgent Request beat them by only 1 1/4 lengths in a fourth-place effort.

“I had everything my way,” Antley said of Del Mar Dennis’ front-running performance Sunday. “We just galloped around.”

Wharf, making only his second start on dirt and carrying 113 pounds, finished second, a half-length ahead of Stoller. Del Mar Dennis paid $3.20 for $2 and ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 1/5, a second faster than last year.

“He’s a better horse this year,” Toffan said. “He’s more seasoned and his feet are in better shape.”

Winning his fifth stake, Del Mar Dennis earned $130,000, bringing his total purses to almost $800,000. Toffan and McCaffery, through bloodstock agent Gerry O’Meara, bought the horse for $50,000 at a Keeneland auction in January of 1991.

“This is the best this horse has been,” Gonzalez said. “He came out of the Santa Anita Handicap in really good shape. He never lost a day of training and trained beautifully.”

A mile and an eighth is Del Mar Dennis’ best distance, and Gonzalez told Antley to let the horse run if he broke alertly.

“He’s a little slow sometimes on his first step,” Antley said. “But he got going, and it was history from there. It was almost like a morning workout. I showed him the whip once or twice. I touched him real easy left-handed once because he was a little close to the fence. But I pretty much hand-rode him. I looked back once, and I sure liked what I saw.”

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Between six and eight horses will run in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby, with Petionville and In Character not definite. In Character’s trainer, Bruce Jackson, also is considering the Blue Grass Stakes or the Wood Memorial for his Louisiana Derby runner-up. Trainer Randy Bradshaw plans to enter Petionville, the undefeated Louisiana Derby winner, but may not run if the horse draws an outside post position.

Considered definite for the race are undefeated Afternoon Deelites, Timber Country, Larry The Legend, Lake George, Jumron and Fandarel Dancer.