Artax Runs as if It Were May

Ernie Paragallo has been there, but not done that.

The New York computer-software businessman has been to the Kentucky Derby, and in 1996 his Unbridled’s Song was added to a list of beaten favorites that now extends to 18 horses at Churchill Downs.

Unbridled’s Song had hoof problems that compromised his training before the Derby, but now the cocky Paragallo is back with another Kentucky contender who has May 2 written all over him.

“Right now I’d put him up against any of them,” trainer Randy Bradshaw said at Santa Anita on Sunday after Paragallo’s Artax won the $107,200 Santa Catalina Stakes by 5 1/2 lengths. The field included Souvenir Copy, who made his first start as a 3-year-old after winning the Del Mar Futurity and the Norfolk Stakes last year.

Souvenir Copy, sent off the slight 19-10 favorite after betting yo-yoed between him and Artax, hung with Bradshaw’s big colt until the winner and jockey Chris McCarron sped away in the final sixteenth of a mile. Artax, paying $6.20 as the second choice, earned $64,320 for running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 1/5--four-fifths of a second slower than the stakes record, but faster than Ferdinand ran the Santa Catalina en route to his Derby win in 1986.

Allen’s Oop, who was 20-1, finished third, beaten by 8 1/2 lengths. Futuristic, who had beaten Artax in an allowance race at the same distance Jan. 2, broke badly and was fourth. Artax carried 114 pounds, six fewer than Souvenir Copy.

“Money-wise, this wasn’t a big race, but stature-wise it was,” said Bradshaw, a former Wayne Lukas assistant. Lukas, the first to congratulate Bradshaw trackside after the Santa Catalina, had a tough day, running last with Skeaping in the stake and 30 minutes earlier finishing last with a $1.5-million yearling purchase, Historic, in a maiden race won by Wayne’s Choice, a former Lukas trainee.

Bradshaw envisioned Artax running in third place early, but instead the son of Marquetry was on the lead, and Souvenir Copy, with Kent Desormeaux, rushed up to contest the pace near the far turn.

“My intention was to be in front, and that was destroyed leaving the gate,” Desormeaux said. “They were coming back at me [on the backstretch] and I wasn’t moving. [When] we both pressed the button, the other guy got the better of me.”

Artax, bought as a weanling for $85,000, has won two of five starts. His maiden win, at Hollywood Park in November, came by nine lengths as Bradshaw raced him around two turns on his second try.

“I think he’ll get a mile and a quarter [the Derby distance],” Bradshaw said. “We’ve got to work on relaxing him, slowing down his workouts. The good thing about him is that he’s got natural speed that can put you anywhere you want in a race.”

Next for Artax is the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe on March 14, probably followed by the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby on April 4.