Unusual Double for Eddie D

Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye had never won the San Juan Capistrano Handicap before last year. Now he’s won the endurance stake twice, thanks both times to Chris McCarron.

A year ago, McCarron went down in an early race on the San Juan Capistrano card, injured his shoulder and Delahoussaye, who had been 0 for 14 in the race, replaced him as Marlin rolled to victory. McCarron rode in Texas Sunday, finishing off the board in $250,000 races with Reality Road and Futuristic, and at Santa Anita there was substitute Delahoussaye again, happily scooping up the leftovers. This time he won the $400,000 San Juan with Amerique, an 11-1 shot who prevailed by 1 1/2 lengths over favored Star Performance.

Delahoussaye, 46, couldn’t make the 113 pounds assigned to Amerique, but owner-breeder Verne Winchell and trainer Ron McAnally didn’t mind that their 4-year-old colt ran with three pounds of overweight.

“With either Eddie or Chris, you’ve got an expert going for you,” McAnally said. “The extra weight was worth it to have a rider with Eddie’s come-from-behind riding style.”

This was McAnally’s first Capistrano win since the 5-year-old John Henry won in 1980. A jockey hadn’t won successive Capistranos since Laffit Pincay rode Erins Isle and Load The Cannons in 1983-84.

Amerique was in seventh place with a half-mile left in the 1 3/4-mile marathon. There was a tight squeeze at the top of the stretch, with Delahoussaye forcing his mount through.

A neck separated Star Performance and Kessem Power, who was about 20 lengths back early in the race. Amerique, who had lost eight straight races, dating to last June, won for the third time in 14 starts, earning $240,000. His time was 2:47.

Horse Racing Notes

Neil Drysdale saddled Dance Parade for a one-length win in the $108,000 Las Cienegas Handicap. It was Drysdale’s 13th stakes win of the meet, leaving him one short of Charlie Whittingham’s 1971 record. Drysdale is running Mufattish today in the closing-day Royal Owl Handicap.

Smolderin Heart, who outfinished trainer Bob Baffert’s Shot Of Gold to win Sunday’s Lone Star Derby, is a possibility for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. . . . Classic Cat, fifth in the Santa Anita Derby and winless since October, won the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, beating Voyamerican by a head with Grand Slam finishing third, beaten by more than four lengths. Trainer David Cross, who won the Kentucky Derby with Sunny’s Halo in 1983, said that he would prefer to skip the Derby and run in the Preakness on May 16, but he will talk with Classic Cat’s owner, Gene Garber, before making a decision.

Nationalore, winless in 15 starts, worked five furlongs in :58 3/5 at Hollywood Park on Saturday and is still on the Derby list, which includes Indian Charlie, Real Quiet, Event Of The Year, Halory Hunter, Favorite Trick, Artax, Cape Town, Victory Gallop, Old Trieste, Hanuman Highway, Parade Ground, Comic Strip, Chilito, Basic Trainee, Voyamerican, Yarrow Brae, Saratoga Springs, Rock And Roll, Robinwould and Nite Dreamer. . . . Rock And Roll, third in the Tampa Bay Derby last month, is owned by Madeleine Paulson, wife of Allen Paulson, and Jenny Craig, whose husband is Sidney Craig. Rock And Roll and Favorite Trick are both trained by Bill Mott. . . . Hanuman Highway missed a workout at muddy Churchill Downs Sunday because of a rash.

With the Santa Anita meet ending today, Bob Mieszerski of The Times has clinched the handicapping title for the fourth straight season. . . . Prime Meridian and Ladies Din ran 1-2 Saturday in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.