OAK TREE : Blanc Gets First Stakes Victory Aboard Onceinabluemamoon

On Aug. 23, owner Louis Roussel and trainer Jack Van Berg claimed the 4-year-old filly Onceinabluemamoon for $100,000, tying a Del Mar record.

On Sunday morning, Van Berg, on the phone to Roussel in New Orleans, had to talk the owner into running Onceinabluemamoon in the afternoon’s $132,650 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita. Roussel wanted to wait for an easier spot, the $50,000 Old English Rancho Handicap at Bay Meadows next Sunday.

“We’ll get just as much [purse money] if we finish second [at Santa Anita],” Van Berg told Roussel.

With Russell Baze aboard, Onceinabluemamoon won the Hillsborough Handicap at Bay Meadows less than two weeks after the daughter of Al Mamoon and Little Password had been claimed from trainer Brent Sumja at Del Mar.

For the Las Palmas, a 1 1/8-mile grass race, Van Berg hired Brice Blanc, the 22-year-old French-born apprentice who had won with only three of 53 mounts at the Oak Tree meeting. Blanc, who scored his first career victory at Santa Anita in February, promptly won his first stake, riding Onceinabluemamoon to a three-length victory over Yearly Tour, the 11-10 favorite.

Van Berg didn’t have a lot of options in the Santa Anita jockeys’ room Sunday. Corey Nakatani, Kent Desormeaux and Gary Stevens were busy riding in rich races in Canada. The Hall of Fame trainer told Blanc at entry time, on Friday, that there was no guarantee that Roussel would green-light Onceinabluemamoon to run.

Yearly Tour, incredibly consistent with a record of eight wins, five seconds and four thirds in 18 starts before Sunday, was pushed for the lead most of the way by Don’t Read My Lips, who was 34-1. Onceinabluemamoon, lodged in third place early, went by both of them with about a sixteenth of a mile left. The winner, timed in 1:50 1/5, paid $30.20 for $2 and earned $76,400. Yearly Tour finished second, one length better than Don’t Read My Lips. Onceinabluemamoon carried 116 pounds, one less than three horses, including Yearly Tour, who carried high weight.

“I haven’t been so excited since I rode my first winner,” Blanc said. “My instructions were to just sit behind the leaders. My filly was very relaxed. I tapped her on the shoulder at the three-eighths pole, and she took off. I saw nobody was coming. I felt very confident.”

Van Berg predicts a bright future for Blanc.

“He’s going to be a good one,” the trainer said. “All he needs is the seasoning. I’ll tell you one thing: When he rides one of your horses, he comes back doing a better job than anybody in telling you how the horse ran and how the race went. He’s going to be a terrific rider on grass.”

Like Yearly Tour, Onceinabluemamoon has been consistent. She has won six of her last 10 races, with four seconds in the other starts. Onceinabluemamoon had run against one of Roussel’s fillies in Louisiana, and when she turned up at Del Mar, he called Van Berg and said: “Take a look at her. If she looks all right, let’s take her.”

Onceinabluemamoon’s claim is the most spent at Del Mar for a filly.

“This filly has really blossomed,” Van Berg said. “When we got her, she was nervous and fidgety. Now, nothing bothers her. Pam Eckert [one of Van Berg’s assistants] has worked with her a lot in the mornings. Also, the filly has matured. She’s put on about 75 to 100 pounds since we got her.”

Roussel, who was co-owner and trainer of Risen Star, winner of the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in 1988, has told Van Berg that he plans to campaign more horses in California.

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While Talloires and Boyce battled for the lead through the stretch, Lassigny outfinished both of them to score a half-length victory Sunday in the $1,088,750 Rothmans International at Woodbine.

Mecke, another late-running horse, finished second, two lengths ahead of Hasten To Add, with Talloires fourth and Boyce fifth. Presenting, the 5-2 favorite, finished 14th in the 15-horse field.

Lassigny, ridden by Pat Day and trained by Bill Mott, earned $653,250 for his owner, Prince Sultan Al Kabeer. The 4-year-old colt paid $17.40 to win at Woodbine and ran 1 1/2 miles on a grass course labeled good in 2:29 4/5. The winner carried 126 pounds, eight pounds more than Mecke.

Horse Racing Notes

In another race at Woodbine, Timarida, a filly owned by the Aga Khan, beat Matiara by 3 1/2 lengths to win the $355,200 E.P. Taylor Stakes. . . . Best Pal, who hasn’t run since finishing fifth in the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 2, will run in the $65,000 Skywalker Stakes on Wednesday at Santa Anita. Also among the six entered in the one-mile race are Slew Of Damascus, who won the Gold Cup in 1994. . . . Batroyale, fourth as the 1-2 favorite in the Oak Leaf Stakes, will run in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 11 instead of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park on Oct. 28. . . . Tipically Irish, winner of the Oak Leaf, is headed for the Breeders’ Cup. She will have to be supplemented into the Juvenile Fillies at a cost of $120,000.