Change of Tactics Likely for Afternoon Deelites : Horse racing: After losing by a head to Larry The Legend in Santa Anita Derby, colt will try different approach in the Kentucky Derby.

At trainer Richard Mandella’s barn Sunday morning, jockey Kent Desormeaux sat on a tack trunk and reflected on the Santa Anita Derby the day before. Larry The Legend, the horse Desormeaux used to ride, won the $700,000 race by a head, beating favored Afternoon Deelites, the horse Desormeaux always rides.

Afternoon Deelites was beaten for the first time in six starts, and there were suggestions, some by Mandella, that Desormeaux moved too soon with the colt, giving him too much to do in the last three furlongs of the 1 1/8-mile race.

“You’ll get the next one,” one of the stablehands said to Desormeaux, referring to the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

“I’d like to get the next three,” Desormeaux said, meaning the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

Mandella said the racing tactics for Afternoon Deelites would be changed for the Derby.

“He shouldn’t have a problem with the mile and a quarter,” Mandella said, “but we’re going to have to go about it in a different way. We’re going to have to make a commitment to making just one move with him instead of three.”

When the longshot Fandarel Dancer went to the lead Saturday, Afternoon Deelites ran with him for the first half-mile, then Mandella’s colt moved through on the rail to take the lead approaching the far turn, while Larry The Legend accelerated from the outside. About two lengths in front at the head of the stretch, Afternoon Deelites was unable to hold off Larry The Legend.

“We’ve got the time to work on this,” Mandella said, “and what we’re going to have to do is get Afternoon Deelites to back off the pace. Kent had that option Saturday, but he took a different option.”

While Mandella plans to send Afternoon Deelites to Louisville in about a week, Craig Lewis, the owner-trainer of Larry The Legend, will wait to ship the horse.

Mandella asked Charlie Whittingham for advice about shipping. Whittingham won the Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand in 1986 and with Sunday Silence in 1989, after both horses had run in the Santa Anita Derby.

“Charlie’s advice was to get there early with the horse and let him settle in,” Mandella said. “So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Lewis will continue to train Larry The Legend at Santa Anita.

“I know I’ll be able to train him here,” Lewis said. “You don’t know what kind of weather conditions you might run into back there.”

Gary Stevens used Larry The Legend to notch his third consecutive Santa Anita Derby victory. Stevens has won the race five times, moving into a tie for third place with Johnny Longden in that department. Bill Shoemaker won the race a record eight times, and Laffit Pincay, still active but without a mount Saturday, won it seven times.

Stevens, who has ridden in the Santa Anita Derby 11 times, also won the race with Winning Colors, Mister Frisky, Personal Hope and Brocco. The filly Winning Colors also won the Kentucky Derby for Stevens in 1988.

Stevens, who has a 4 1/2-month contract to ride in Hong Kong until mid-June, will remain at Santa Anita for several days and then ride Urgent Request, the winner of the Santa Anita Handicap, in the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on Saturday.

Stevens and Desormeaux were both at Lewis’ barn working horses Sunday morning.

“How’s that for a couple of exercise riders?” Lewis said. “Think they’ll make the grade?”

This Santa Anita Derby will stick with Stevens more than the others.

“I was very fortunate to get the mount on this horse,” he said. “This win has more meaning because of way everything developed. The horse has such a huge following, and we won it with such a dramatic finish.”

The Santa Anita Derby may produce six starters for the Kentucky Derby. The first four finishers--Larry The Legend, Afternoon Deelites, Jumron and Timber Country--are definite for Churchill Downs, In Character is probable, and trainer Randy Bradshaw is undecided about Petionville.