McCarron Steers Helmsman to Win

The omen for trainer Wally Dollase going into the $500,000 Strub Stakes wasn’t good. “After the third race, I felt about this tall,” Dollase said, separating his thumb from his index finger by about a half-inch.

The third at Santa Anita on Sunday was the $104,250 Santa Catalina Stakes, and Dollase’s promising 3-year-old, Alyrob, ran fourth, beaten by more than five lengths, as the 13-10 favorite.

His barn deeper with stakes runners than it has ever been, Dollase had a nice fallback position. Helmsman, dragged away from a lifetime on the grass because of the money Santa Anita throws around for 4-year-olds on dirt during the winter, sent the incredible shrinking trainer into orbit with another solid performance.

All this import runs is solid performances, and this time it earned him a two-length victory in the Strub. The horse futilely chasing Helmsman and Chris McCarron at the end was the 8-5 favorite Afternoon Deelites, whose race-long inside trip never afforded him the chance some of the others had.

Based on Helmsman’s win in the San Fernando three weeks ago--his first dirt race after three wins in nine tries on grass--Dollase wasn’t chasing a mirage. Helmsman, after all, was 4-1 as the third choice in a nine-horse field. What surprised Dollase, 58, was how convincingly Helmsman won.

“I didn’t think that he’d pull away from this group,” he said. “I expected it to be nip and tuck right down to the line.”

Since Dollase bought Helmsman from Robert Sangster for an undisclosed amount last year, the colt alternated firsts and seconds in his first four races, and now he has put together back-to-back wins. Dollase eventually will get the well-made son of El Gran Senor and Sacred Journey back on grass, but meantime there’s another main-track assignment, the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2.

“The spacing between races is right,” he said. “It would be a privilege just to run second to Cigar, and I’m sure Helmsman’s [10] owners wouldn’t mind that. I know they have to be realistic about weighting Cigar so they’ll get him to run here, but I just hope we’ll get six pounds from him.”

Helmsman earned $300,000 for the victory, almost doubling his career total, and paid $10.40 to win after reaching the wire in 2:02 3/5 on a drying-out track that was dull but officially fast by post time.

McCarron, who won the Strub with Precisionist in 1985 and Alysheba in 1988, had Helmsman in seventh place after six furlongs, while Score Quick, Mighty Magee and Gold And Steel battled for the lead. When McCarron needed to move on the far turn, Mighty Magee began to tire, giving Helmsman a small hole between horses.

“That was the only anxious moment I had,” McCarron said. “I was able to float him out a little bit. He’s the real thing, an awful nice horse. He wants to run right from the time the gate opens, and he keeps on going when you ask him. . . . he’s very, very game.”

Kent Desormeaux, riding Afternoon Deelites, broke just to the inside of Helmsman.

“It was just a matter of the other horse getting first run,” Desormeaux said. “Chris rode an excellent race. He put his colt on the outside of me, and he [dictated] my path all the way around there. As soon as he passed me, I came out around him and tried to catch him. When I got out, he absolutely lengthened his stride and just set out after the horse in front. But I think he answered any doubts about his being a mile-and-a-quarter horse.”

Mr Purple finished third, two lengths behind Afternoon Deelites and a head in front of Score Quick.

“We were in a tough position on the inside,” said Richard Mandella, Afternoon Deelites’ trainer. “We were swamped and buried down in there, and he was farther back than I wanted. This should help him for the Santa Anita Handicap. You hate to think of the Strub as a prep for the Big ‘Cap, but for us that’s what it is.”

OTHER RACES: Trainer Wayne Lukas’ Prince Of Thieves won the $104,250 Santa Catalina Stakes. C11