New Day for Afternoon Deelites : Horse racing: Colt returns from tendon injury as Santa Anita opens season with $150,000 Malibu Stakes.

Bettors loved him. Jockey Kent Desormeaux raved about him. Owner-breeder Burt Bacharach rushed home from concert appearances to watch him run. Trainer Richard Mandella cut himself off in mid-sentence, fearful that he might prematurely canonize him.

Then undefeated Afternoon Deelites lost by a head to Larry The Legend in the Santa Anita Derby in April, and all four wheels feel off the bandwagon. When Afternoon Deelites and Mandella arrived at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, they were generally ignored. They got the by-the-way press notices that are usually reserved for 100-1 shots from the Fair Grounds.

Tejano Run, winless as a 3-year-old, got more pre-Derby attention. Timber Country, thought to be the best of trainer Wayne Lukas’ Derby contenders, was a hyped horse, even though Afternoon Deelites had finished ahead of him twice at Santa Anita. Talkin Man, winner of a watered-down Wood Memorial, was a popular horse. There were even some distant trumpets for Eltish, the import from England, and Ski Captain, who came all the way from Japan.

Larry The Legend wasn’t there, having been injured. All that kept Afternoon Deelites from going into the Derby as the undefeated, odds-on favorite was Larry The Legend’s head at Santa Anita. Instead, Afternoon Deelites went off at almost 9-1. Win bets on Jumron, the late-running third in the Santa Anita Derby, exceeded the interest in Afternoon Deelites by more than $300,000.

Afternoon Deelites never threatened, and his manners weren’t much either. He tried to take a bite out of Jumron as the horses came down the stretch the first time, and he finished eighth, reaching the wire seven lengths behind the winner, Thunder Gulch.

It turned out that Afternoon Deelites had reasons to run a disappointing race. A post-Derby examination showed that he had a throat infection, and a later checkup revealed a torn tendon in his left foreleg. Tendon injuries frequently mean the end of a horse’s career, but Afternoon Deelites has recovered, he’s been training splendidly, and he’s the headliner today as Santa Anita opens its 59th season with a nine-race card that includes the $150,000 Malibu Stakes.

Mandella wasn’t always sure that Afternoon Deelites would make the seven-furlong Malibu, which is the opener of the three-race Strub series that also includes the San Fernando at 1 1/8 miles on Jan. 13 and the 1 1/4-mile Strub Stakes on Feb. 4. Only foals of 1992 are eligible.

A succession of dazzling workouts convinced Mandella that his West Virginia-bred is ready. Last Tuesday, Afternoon Deelites worked seven furlongs in 1:22 2/5 at Hollywood Park. That’s a time that would have won some of the Malibus, and is within a second or so of the times registered by Malibu winners in recent years.

“I don’t usually train a horse this hard,” Mandella said. “I’ve put a lot of pressure on him because I wanted to make sure he hasn’t sprung any leaks.”

After the Kentucky Derby, a veterinarian at Churchill Downs told Mandella that Afternoon Deelites had pharyngitis, or a sore throat.

“That’s what stopped him,” the veterinarian said.

“I don’t think so,” Mandella said. “It would take something a lot worse than pharyngitis to make a horse this good run as bad as he did.”

That’s when Mandella had Afternoon Deelites further examined.

“It was just a slight tear, so there was never any thought of retiring him,” Mandella said. “He spent five months at Sid and Jenny Craigs’ ranch near Del Mar. Then I got him back three months ago.”

On closing day at Hollywood Park Sunday, Mandella schooled Afternoon Deelites in the paddock.

“It was great to see him out there again,” Bacharach said. “It’s a thrill to have him back.”

Afternoon Deelites, who scored the first of his five victories in his first start, against maidens at Santa Anita in October 1994, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Malibu, with Desormeaux riding for the eighth consecutive race. Next in the odds, at 4-1, is Score Quick, a Mel Stute trainee who’s making his 19th start this year. Score Quick is on a three-race winning streak, the most recent victory in the Laz Barrera Handicap at Hollywood Park a month ago.

A year ago at this time, Santa Anita officials were salivating about the possibility of Holy Bull, the horse of the year for 1994, running in the Santa Anita Handicap, but he was injured in a prep race in Florida and forced into retirement. Now the buzz is about Cigar, the best horse of 1995, who is a possibility for the Big ‘Cap on March 2. The Big ‘Cap and the Santa Anita Derby, on April 6, give the track two races worth $1 million apiece. Last year the Santa Anita Derby was a $700,000 race.

While the mood may be upbeat for dirt racing at the track, horsemen are edgy about running over the turf course, which has been roundly criticized since more than $2 million was spent to overhaul it last summer. There was limited grass racing at Santa Anita during the Oak Tree meeting this fall.

“I’m not terribly thrilled with the grass course,” said Tom Robbins, Santa Anita’s director of racing. “Natural irrigation helps it grow, but the rain we’ve had lately is too little too late. We are going to continue to race over it. We will have to back off using it if we get heavy rain during the meet. We might have to take races off the grass for three or four days instead of two or three days with the old course.”

Last season, there were 25 off tracks, and rain scuttled full or partial cards three times. No grass races are on the card today, but 13 turf races are scheduled through the first 11 days of the meet. The first grass stake is the $125,000 San Gabriel Handicap on New Year’s Day, and the richest is the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap on April 21, the next-to-last day of the 87-day meet.

Horse Racing Notes

Afternoon Deelites probably won’t run if there’s an off track. . . . Richard Mandella will be training all of his horses at Hollywood Park. “It’s just something I want to try,” Mandella said. “We’ll see how it works out.” . . . First post today is noon. After a dark day Wednesday, post time will be 12:30 p.m. from Thursday through next Monday. . . . Favorites won almost 35% of the races last season, highest percentage at the track since 1983. . . . Serena’s Song, the best 3-year-old filly this year, may make her first 1996 start in the El Encino Stakes on Jan. 20. . . . Racing for 2-year-olds will be offered for the first time since 1974. A schedule of 10 quarter-mile races begins in mid-March.