Stute Gets a Charge Out of Funontherun

Funontherun was once favored in a race that included both Silver Charm and Free House. But that was a year and two knee surgeries ago.

Silver Charm won the race, the San Vicente Stakes last February, and although Funontherun finished a respectable third, his trainer, Mel Stute, decided the prudent thing was to leave town.

That’s when Funontherun’s problems began, and Stute blames himself. “I didn’t think I was going to beat Silver Charm, and I was told the horses back in Kentucky were nothing,” he said.

In the Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park on March 29, Funontherun was caught behind Inexcessivelygood’s fatal breakdown and didn’t finish. Three weeks later, Funontherun was eased again, as the 6-5 favorite in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

“We checked him all over and couldn’t find anything wrong,” Stute said. “Then they finally found [bone] chips everywhere. I got him back [from surgery] in November.”

Thinking rain and an off track were on the way, Stute entered Funontherun for Saturday’s $200,000 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita, where the gray colt had won a maiden race by 11 lengths in the mud 13 months ago.

The rain held off, but Funontherun was still the fastest on a fast track, winning by a half-length against a field that included Elmhurst, making his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November.

Red, winner of the California Cup Sprint last fall, finished second, a half-length ahead of Elmhurst, who came from last place in the nine-horse field to nose out Paying Dues for third.

“El Nino didn’t show up, but I’m still happy,” Stute said after Funontherun’s 1:08 4/5 six furlongs and $29.40 win payoff in his first race in 9 1/2 months. The victory, Funontherun’s third in seven starts, was worth $120,000 to the colt’s owners, David Alpert and his trumpet-playing brother Herb.

Funontherun’s rider, Goncalino Almeida, is also back on the mend. Almeida suffered four cracked ribs and a hairline fracture of his right foot in a spill on Dec. 30; Saturday’s win was his first since then and only his second of the season.

Funontherun outran Paying Dues through a :44 3/5 opening half-mile and was never headed.

“I had a lot of confidence at the three-eighths pole,” Almeida said. “I knew I had a lot of horse. As we came home, I just pushed him a little bit. It’s a nice birthday gift for me and my daughter.”

Almeida turned 42 on Wednesday and his daughter celebrated a birthday Thursday.

Elmhurst hadn’t run since the Breeders’ Cup.

“[It] wasn’t a disgrace at all,” jockey Corey Nakatani said. “He made his big run, but he had too much to do coming from far back.”

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There were two races for high-profile horses at Gulfstream Park Saturday, and Jerry Bailey won both. He won the $100,000 Hutcheson Stakes by a neck aboard Time Limit and won an allowance race by 6 1/4 lengths with Lil’s Lad.

After Time Limit barely held off 4-5 favorite Coronado’s Quest in the seven-furlong Hutcheson, Bailey didn’t sound like a jockey who thinks the colt will stretch out to 1 1/4 miles in the Kentucky Derby.

“He’s a very, very good sprinter,” he said. “The question is whether he can go long or not. So far, he’s really been solid on the shorter races.”

Mike Smith, the jockey on Coronado’s Quest, was thrown by the high-strung colt in the paddock and didn’t remount to stay until the post parade.

Lil’s Lad, one of the early future-book favorites for the Derby, demolished an ordinary field in the allowance race, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 4/5. Bob and Beverly Lewis, who race Silver Charm, recently bought a 10% interest in the colt.

Lil’s Lad and Coronado’s Quest are likely to meet in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on Feb. 21. Trainer Wayne Lukas’ Cape Town is also a probable for the Fountain of Youth, and Lukas said that Time Limit’s next start might be in the Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 22.