Gentlemen Saves Form With San Antonio Win

On a day when form fell apart in two other stakes, Gentlemen was Gentlemen at Santa Anita. In other words, trainer Richard Mandella’s 5-year-old continued his inexorable roll toward world recognition with a three-quarter-length victory over Alphabet Soup in the $300,300 San Antonio Handicap.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a better horse than this one,” Mandella said. “He can run fast on either dirt or turf, and he’s got the class to beat a horse like Alphabet Soup. . . . This was a big proving ground.”

Alphabet Soup, running for the first time since winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic three months ago, made up ground in the stretch with a late surge, but Gentlemen and jockey Gary Stevens were still best at the wire.

“I’ve always thought that Alphabet Soup didn’t get the respect he deserved,” Mandella said. “He scared me at the sixteenth pole.”

Gentlemen, who has been with Mandella less than a year, won his fifth consecutive race in California, the last two coming on dirt. He paid $3 to win, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 1/5 and earning $180,300.

Favorites in Santa Anita’s other important stakes didn’t run as true. Boston Harbor, last year’s champion juvenile male, made his debut as a 3-year-old and finished fourth, beaten by almost 15 lengths, as Hello, a new prospector on the trail toward the Kentucky Derby, won the $105,950 Santa Catalina Stakes. Then Editor’s Note, last year’s Belmont Stakes winner, ran last in the $500,000 Strub Stakes, but Victory Speech, his stablemate, saved the day for trainer Wayne Lukas by notching a 1 1/2-length win.

Lukas also trains Boston Harbor.

Gentlemen’s only loss under Mandella came in his first U.S. start, when the Argentine-bred ran last in an allowance on dirt at Hollywood Park last June. Since then, he has made no mistakes.

“I thought he was very, very impressive,” Stevens said. “Before the race, Dick [Mandella] asked what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to do what he does best--just run away from there and get position. It turned out that everybody else took back. I ended up on the lead, and Gentlemen kind of resented as much hold as I was taking on him. He wanted to kick on a little bit at the half-mile pole, but I didn’t allow him to. I was going to wait until the quarter pole, then kick him into gear, which he did.”

Carrying 122 pounds, the same as Alphabet Soup, Gentlemen led by three lengths with an eighth of a mile to go. Then Alphabet Soup, winner of last year’s San Antonio, surprised jockey Chris McCarron with a belated burst.

“This guy is never a beat horse,” McCarron said. “When the other horse left me turning for home, I thought I was riding for second money. But all of a sudden [Gentlemen] started coming back to me. Soup kind of sensed it, and he just kept finding more. For an instant, I thought I was going to get there. But Gentlemen kind of re-broke when I got to him.”

Mandella’s plans for Gentlemen are tentative. He may run him in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2. The only race that is definite is the $4-million Dubai World Cup on March 29.

Victory Speech, a dull second twice earlier at the meet, won for the first time since November, giving Lukas and jockey Jerry Bailey their first wins in the Strub.

“I enjoy riding this horse about as much as any,” Bailey said of Victory Speech. “We won some races together last summer, and I’ve always been impressed by his heart. He’s a light, compact horse who’s always honest and willing.”

The winning time was 2:01 2/5, with Victory Speech paying $16.60. The Barking Shark finished second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Ambivalent. Editor’s Note, asked to run 1 1/4 miles off a three-month layoff, was fourth after six furlongs, but Stevens said he never felt like his mount was a threat.

The Santa Catalina was Hello’s first race on dirt. The Irish-bred colt won three of seven races in Europe before trainer Ron McAnally saddled him for the first time in November for a grass win at Hollywood Park. Hello paid $13.60, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 3/5.

“Boston Harbor got tired,” Bailey said. “He’s a free-running horse who got caught in a fast pace. I let him run, because that’s how he does his best.”