SANTA ANITA DERBY : He’s a Legend in Nick of Time : Horse racing: Stevens pushes Larry The Legend to dramatic victory at the wire over Afternoon Deelites.

Craig Lewis wasn’t confident going into the race, and he wasn’t confident after most of it had been run.

But what does a trainer know?

Larry The Legend dug in for the final strides Saturday, beating Afternoon Deelites by a head in the $700,000 Santa Anita Derby, and now this pocket-size 3-year-old colt will run with his legend intact in the Kentucky Derby four weeks from now.

“I wanted to win this race, I took a shot, and fate was kind to me,” Lewis said.

Bought by Lewis last year at auction for $2,500 after the colt’s breeder went into bankruptcy, Larry The Legend was about two lengths behind at the top of the stretch and didn’t appear to be gaining.

But then Gary Stevens, on another of his successful commutes from Hong Kong, went to his left-handed whip 17 times from mid-stretch to the wire and Larry The Legend made a final winning surge. Stevens, who won in 1993 with Personal Hope and last year with Brocco, is the first jockey to win the race three years in a row.

“With three-sixteenths of a mile to go, I thought Afternoon Deelites had left us for dead,” said Lewis, who inherited about $50,000 in bills when he bought the colt.

Lewis, 47, considered bypassing the Santa Anita Derby and sending his 900-pound horse to Turfway Park in Kentucky for the $600,000 Jim Beam Stakes last week. Larry The Legend was one of the horses Santa Anita had hoped to keep by increasing its purse by $200,000.

“I was closer than the number nine is to the number 10 about going out of town,” Lewis said. “I really did equivocate. Then after I stayed, I wasn’t that confident. I thought we had a reasonable chance, but you’d have to be an idiot to be confident running against an Eclipse Award winner and two undefeated horses.”

Afternoon Deelites, the Kentucky Derby favorite before Saturday, lost for the first time in six starts. Now, the favorite’s role for Churchill Downs on May 6 is unclear, which many trainers prefer. After all, a favorite hasn’t won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979.

Afternoon Deelites finished a neck in front of Jumron, who was flying on the outside and might have won if he had been granted one more jump in the 1 1/8-mile race. Jumron was a length better than Timber Country, last year’s 2-year-old champion, who is winless in three tries this year. After Timber Country, there was a 5 1/2-length gap back to Lake George in fifth. In Character, Petionville and Fandarel Dancer were the other trailers, with Petionville, the Louisiana Derby winner, losing for the first time in five races.

Larry The Legend, named after Lewis’ brother, who coached Long Beach teams that won Little League World Series in 1992 and ‘93, was beaten in his debut when he finished second to Petionville on New Year’s eve at Santa Anita. Since then he has won four in a row, and Saturday’s $385,000 victory boosted his earnings to $548,425.

Larry The Legend, the third betting choice behind 7-5 Afternoon Deelites and 9-5 Timber Country, paid $13.60 to win and was clocked in 1:47 4/5, four-fifths of a second slower than the stakes record, set by Lucky Debonair in 1965.

There might have been a lot of spectators named Larry among the crowd of 36,003, because there was a large roar when Stevens and the horse returned to the winner’s circle.

“I can’t account for this horse’s popularity,” Lewis said. “I guess everybody named Larry must think that he’s named after them.”

Stevens, who has interrupted his 4 1/2-month stay in Hong Kong twice, to win Saturday’s race and the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap with Urgent Request, rode a cagey race. Kent Desormeaux rode Larry The Legend in his first four races, but stayed with Afternoon Deelites on Saturday.

Fandarel Dancer, who was 57-1, went to the lead, but Afternoon Deelites and Larry The Legend were in close pursuit. Halfway down the backstretch, Larry The Legend was just outside Fandarel Dancer, and Desormeaux, running with Afternoon Deelites on the inside, had no choice but to stay where he was. When Larry The Legend made a move, Desormeaux and Afternoon Deelites moved too.

“I put Kent in a position where he was forced to move a little early,” Stevens said. “I was hoping his horse would get tired in the last sixteenth of a mile. When he scooted away from me like he did at the quarter pole, I said, ‘Well, that’s it. We’re going to be second best.’ But I started asking this colt for more, and he kept giving it to me.”

In the walking ring about 10 minutes before the race, Desormeaux dismounted twice when Afternoon Deelites reacted to the crowd.

“I don’t think that had anything to do with anything,” said the colt’s trainer, Richard Mandella. “He was a little closer (to the lead) than I wanted. The hole (on the rail) opened up, and it was tempting to go up in there. But he didn’t run bad. We’re happy with his effort.”

Jumron, who trains at Santa Anita but had never run there, has five victories, two seconds and one third in eight starts. “I think people will believe in this horse a little bit more now,” said jockey Goncalino Almeida. “He ran very well against the toughest horses in California.”

Trainer Gary Lewis said that Jumron rapped himself in the leg during the race, but he didn’t think the injury was serious.

The first four finishers are expected to run in the Kentucky Derby, and Randy Bradshaw, who trains Petionville, might also try his horse again at Churchill Downs.

Craig Lewis had his best chance to go to the Derby with Music Merci in 1989, but he didn’t want to hook up with Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, who ran 1-2 in Louisville.

This time, it’s different. There’s no Sunday Silence out there and Larry The Legend is a much better horse than Music Merci.

“Most of what’s there is heart,” Lewis said. “It’s unbelievable how game this horse is.”