Alphabet Soup Spells Rainy Winner

When he saw rain Saturday morning, trainer Dave Hofmans gave some thought to scratching Alphabet Soup in the $304,900 San Antonio Handicap, not wishing to run the 5-year-old on a sealed, hard surface.

Once Hofmans saw the track was “getting muddier and muddier,” he decided to let the roan try for his third consecutive victory for owner Georgia Ridder.

Hofmans made the right choice. After seeming beaten only a few strides from the wire, Alphabet Soup rallied to beat favored Soul Of The Matter by a neck in 1:49 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles on a muddy track.

The 2-1 second choice won for the eighth time in 18 starts, even though Hofmans and jockey Chris Antley said they didn’t think he liked the surface.

“He likes a faster, wetter surface,” Hofmans said. “It was sticky and heavy today.”

In a field reduced to five after trainer Gary Jones scratched Luthier Fever and Kingdom Found after the fifth race, Alphabet Soup and Soul Of The Matter were content to lay off the pace set by Dare And Go and Patio De Naranjos. Alphabet Soup and Soul Of The Matter began to rally in unison on the backstretch.

Antley stayed outside while Gary Stevens and Soul Of The Matter were on the inside, and it was clear around the far turn that the San Antonio was going to be a two-horse race.

Making his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Oct. 28, Soul Of The Matter appeared to have gotten the better of Alphabet Soup near the finish, but the Pennsylvania-bred Alphabet Soup dug in and earned the $184,900 winner’s share of the purse.

“Boy, this horse ran game,” said Antley. “I got in front of [Soul Of The Matter], then he came back. He put almost a head in front on the bob. But in the last 70 yards, my horse . . . he pinned his ears and dug back in the very last three starts. He got me excited.”

After Alphabet Soup won the San Pasqual last month, Hofmans was going to skip the San Antonio, but the horse indicated other plans were in order.

“This horse is totally different,” said Hofmans. “He’s gained weight and he has more of a presence about himself. If he improves and gets a sloppy track [in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 2], we’ll be happy. I’m happy now.”

Whether or not Alphabet Soup comes back in the Big ‘Cap to race against Cigar will be a point of discussion between Hofmans and Ridder.

The trainer seems anxious to take a shot, but immediately after the race Saturday, the owner was talking about giving the horse a rest and avoiding Cigar.

Soul Of The Matter finished 4 1/2 lengths ahead of trainer Richard Mandella’s other entrant, Dare And Go, and is scheduled to make his next appearance in the $4-million Dubai World Cup on March 27.

“It was a great horse race,” said Stevens. “We came up just a bob short. That Alphabet Soup, he’s as game as they come. I thought I had him put away at the sixteenth pole. It felt like my horse was just doing enough to keep his head in front. But Alphabet Soup found just a little bit more the last 50 yards.

“[Hofmans] said that his horse hated the track. I don’t think he hated it too bad.”

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Horse Racing Notes

There is a Pick Six carryover of $323,563.62 for today. . . . Saturday was a day of firsts at Santa Anita. Jockey E.T. Baird won his first race in California when Imitate The Wind led all the way in the second; trainer Jeoff Meredith won his first race when Wish You scored an upset in the fourth and jockey Yolanda Davila and trainer Luis Seglin scored their first local victories when Puerto Seguro posted a $72.40 upset in the seventh. . . . Flying Sensation, whose only victory came in the 1993 California Cup Juvenile, lost for the 15th consecutive time Saturday. He finished third as the 2-1 favorite in the ninth race. . . . Longtime thoroughbred and quarter-horse owner-breeder Lester Smith died recently at 93. Among others, Smith owned and bred Theresa’s Pleasure, who won four of five starts in 1990, including the California Cup Juvenile Fillies. . . . Dr. Caton, the much-hyped 3-year-old from the Wayne Lukas barn, will make the first start of his career in today’s first race, at 1 1/16 miles.