Lukas Horse Shows Some Get Up and Go

While trainer Wayne Lukas was at Saratoga, watching an undefeated filly lose for the first time, his stable was having an eventful opening day at Del Mar.

Fantastic Fellow, who had mixed it up with some top horses in England, Ireland and France, ran in the U.S. for the first time and won the first division of the Oceanside Stakes, beating Falkenham by two lengths.

Less than half an hour later before the sixth race, Storm Beauty, a Lukas filly about to make her first start, dumped jockey Alex Solis in the post parade and ran off. By the time Storm Beauty was apprehended, by track foreman Steve Wood, security guard Steve Pavka and gateman Jose Martin, she had jumped a fence, run through a parking lot and was on a ramp that leads to Via De La Valle, one of the streets that borders the track.

Storm Beauty, the 2-1 favorite when the stewards scratched her, may have covered more ground than the five furlongs the fillies ran in the race. She came back in good shape, with only a few scratches.

Lukas’ other 2-year-old filly, Love Lock, lost by two lengths to Countess Diana in the opening-day Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga, but at Del Mar, before a crowd of 28,463, Fantastic Fellow had no problems. Solis had him near the pace all the way, with the telltale move on the grass coming at the top of the stretch. The electronic timer malfunctioned, and belatedly, Fantastic Fellow’s one-mile hand-held time was announced as 1:35.

Fantastic Fellow paid $9.80 as the second choice, with The Good Life, the 2-1 favorite, finishing fourth. In the second half of the Oceanside, Churchland and his trainer, Richard Cross, both won for the first time this year, the British-bred colt outrunning the 7-5 favorite, Amerique, to win by a neck. Churchland, ridden by Goncalino Almeida, ran his mile in 1:36 and paid $46.80.

Lukas has won 45 stakes at Del Mar, which places him behind Charlie Whittingham (74) and Ron McAnally (56), but the Oceanside was only the third stakes win at this track in the last five years for his barn. The Lukas stable won only three races overall here last year, but one of them was the Del Mar Debutante with Sharp Cat, who races for Ahmed Bin Salman, the owner of Fantastic Fellow.

Salman, a member of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, was doubly pleased with Fantastic Fellow’s win, because he raced the colt’s sire, Lear Fan, and still owns 25% of the stallion. Fantastic Fellow was bred in Kentucky and was bought there last year at a Keeneland auction for $200,000.

“To start the day like this, it’s beautiful,” Salman said. “This colt lost by only [1 1/4 lengths] in the National Stakes in Ireland. He was green then. I have many horses in Europe, and if they have classic potential, I leave them there. Otherwise, I bring them over here.”

Winners of the Oceanside have become candidates for the Del Mar Derby, which will be run at 1 1/8 miles on grass Sept. 1. Salman won the 1987 Del Mar Derby with Deputy Governor.

Fantastic Fellow’s win was his third in eight starts. Churchland is three for nine, his Oceanside win ending a five-race losing streak, dating to last August, when he won a race in Ireland. His best finish in the five U.S. starts was a second at Golden Gate Fields.

“He showed a lot of ability before he came here,” Cross said, “but he seemed to have lost it. It’s taken a while to get his head back together. Softer footing helped. He’s not the best-footed animal.”

Horse Racing Notes

Owners John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery are undecided about whether Free House will run in the $1-million Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park a week from Sunday, but run or stay home, trainer Paco Gonzalez doesn’t feel the weights are fair for the New Jersey race. When weight assignments were announced Wednesday, Free House and Touch Gold were even at 125 pounds apiece. “I thought we’d be one pound under the other horse, maybe even two,” said Gonzalez, who saddled Prime It for a third-place finish Wednesday at Del Mar. “I told [Monmouth Park officials] that there wouldn’t be a track in the country that would have made them the same if they ran against each other.” The last time the horses met, Touch Gold won the Belmont Stakes and Free House was third, beaten by almost two lengths. Free House lost a photo to Silver Charm in the Preakness, with Touch Gold running fourth, but the consensus is that Touch Gold might have been the best horse with a better start and a smoother trip.