Sicy d’Alsace Has Cautious Trainer

If Sicy d’Alsace wins the $250,000 Del Mar Oaks today, trainer Nick Canani won’t be running down any stairs to meet the French-bred filly in the winner’s circle.

“I’ll take the elevator this time,” he said.

When Sicy d’Alsace rallied from last to win the $112,500 San Clemente Handicap by a nose at 41-1 in her U.S. debut on July 25 and gave Canani, 24, his first stakes victory, he scurried down several flights of stairs from the turf club, understandably eager to get down to the track. “I thought they might take the picture without me,” he said.

In his haste, Canani tore ligaments in his right foot and had to get around with the help of crutches for more than a week. “She came out of the race a lot better than I did,” he said.

Canani is fine now and, so he says, is Sicy D’Alsace, who will try to show her San Clemente win was no fluke with another in the Oaks, a Grade I race in which she will have nine opponents. She is the 9-2 second choice on Jeff Tufts’ morning line behind the 7-2 favorite, Eastern horse Who Did It And Run.

Trainer Julio Canani, Nick’s father and partner, added to what has already been a successful meeting for father and son when Tuzla rolled to a record-setting win in the $108,700 Osunitas Handicap Saturday.

The 9-10 favorite in a field of seven, the 4-year-old Panoramic filly won by 2 1/2 lengths under jockey Corey Nakatani and was timed in an Osunitas record 1:41 for the 1 1/16 miles on turf. Kostroma set the old mark of 1:41 1/5 in 1991.

Through 29 days of the 42-day meeting, the Cananis are a combined 10 for 18, with the son four for six and father six for 12, including two other stakes victories from Ladies Din in a division of the Oceanside and the La Jolla Handicap.

In a race where all the starters will carry 121 pounds, Nick Canani is confident Sicy D’Alsace, a 3-year-old daughter of Sicyos, who is a son of Lyphard, will run well again today.

“She’s been training awesome,” he said. “She breezed six furlongs afterward in 1:14 4/5 and she went a half-mile in 49 on Wednesday morning when she went the last quarter in 23 [seconds] flat. I think she’s stronger now than she was when she won last time.”

Purchased at the recommendation of blood-stock agent Hubert Guy and owned by a partnership headed by Jack Preston and Jeff DeHaven, Sicy d’Alsace’s win in the prep for the Oaks was her third in 15 starts.

Her shocker under Nakatani, who will be aboard again in the Oaks, came less than a month after she lost her final race in France by a nose at 25-1 and only days after she arrived in California. Sicy d’Alsace cleared quarantine on July 23, galloped the following morning, then jogged hours before the race.

A lot of European horses who run well off the plane regress in their second start in this country, but Canani believes that won’t happen with his filly. “She’s not your typical European,” he said. “A lot of them are keen and want to run off, but she drops the bridle and relaxes. She’s a total princess. Nothing seems to bother her. “

Manistique’s bubble burst Saturday at Saratoga in New York when the previously unbeaten Unbridled filly finished a distant third as the 1-2 favorite in the $250,000 Alabama Stakes.

Banshee Breeze, the 2-1 second choice in the field of six 3-year-old fillies, won the Grade I by six lengths in 2:03 2/5 for the 1 1/4 miles. Lu Ravi, a 10-1 longshot, got up in the final strides to beat Manistique, who had won her first three races by a combined 31 lengths, in the final strides for second.

Afterward, there was concern about Manistique’s health.

“She’s a good filly and has all the tools and talent to be the best 3-year-old filly,” said jockey Gary Stevens. “Obviously, something went wrong because she had problems breathing.”

Horse Racing Notes

Tuzla is likely to return in the $125,000 Palomar Handicap on Sept. 9, the final day of the meeting. . . . Ron McAnally moved into a tie with Farrell Jones at the top of the all-time trainer standings at Del Mar when The Relentless Cat won the fourth race on Saturday. McAnally and Jones both have 374 wins here.