Flores a Big Winner Going Away

David Flores’ father, who’s 90, went to Santa Anita every day.

The elder Flores, whose first name is also David, used to ride at Agua Caliente in Tijuana, and after that he was an exercise rider at Southern California tracks.

“This meet at Santa Anita is the toughest in all the world,” he said to his son recently.

Father and son were talking about Santa Anita in the context of the jockey standings, and Monday, as the 84-day meet rolled to a close, the younger Flores rode three more winners and finished atop that list. David Flores’ proud father can now tell everyone that his son is numero uno in the No. 1 meet in all the world.

“Because of all the good riders here, leading this meet means quite a lot,” Flores said. “I led Pomona [Fairplex Park] six straight years [1989- 94], but this is Santa Anita. I’ve worked hard the whole meet and gotten a lot of good horses to ride.”

Flores, 31, rode in 422 races, more than any other jockey, and won 75 of them, a .179 batting average. Alex Solis finished second with 65 victories. Eight riders won 41 or more races as Flores nailed down his first major-meet title with the lowest win total at Santa Anita since 1970, when Laffit Pincay led the standings with 71 wins in a season shortened to 48 days because of a management dispute with mutuel clerks.

Flores got his 74th win Monday in the fourth race when his 3-year-old filly, Perfect Six, nosed out the 7-10 favorite, Olympic Charmer, in the $77,249 Santa Paula Stakes. That was Flores’ 11th stakes win of the meet, two fewer than Gary Stevens had.

Flores also won the second and fifth races--both allowances--at Santa Anita.

His most important stakes horse is Prime Timber, who will give him a good chance to win his first Kentucky Derby when they team up at Churchill Downs on May 1.

Prime Timber is trained by Bob Baffert, who uses Flores a lot, but has sometimes replaced him with more high-profile riders, such as Stevens. For instance, General Challenge, Baffert’s other threat in the Derby, broke his maiden as a 2-year-old for Flores, but has been ridden by Stevens ever since. Flores also was the rider when Excellent Meeting, Baffert’s brilliant filly, broke her maiden, but he hasn’t ridden her since last year.

General Challenge beat Prime Timber by 3 1/2 lengths in the Santa Anita Derby, but Prime Timber and Flores could still go off the favorite at Churchill Downs. Prime Timber, suffering from a bruised left rear foot, was lame the day before the Santa Anita race, and didn’t run until after Flores gave Baffert the green light in the post parade. Then early in the race, Prime Timber lost his right rear shoe going into the clubhouse turn.

“He lost his power when the shoe went,” Flores said. “But he still came on at the end. It could have made a difference. A horse won’t always give you everything when he’s running without a shoe. I think Prime Timber will be tough in the Kentucky Derby.”

Flores’ Kentucky Derby experience consists of a third-place finish with Free House in 1997 and a seventh-place run with Hanuman Highway last year. Kent Desormeaux, who had won the Santa Anita Derby with Free House, regained the mount for the Preakness, which they lost by a head to Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm, and Flores hasn’t ridden Free House since.

Before the Santa Anita Derby, Baffert said that Flores would be the Kentucky Derby rider on Prime Timber, no matter what happened. After the race, Aaron Jones, the owner of Prime Timber, reinforced Baffert’s promise. In Louisville in less than two weeks, David Flores will have one of the best seats in the house. He could make a 90-year-old ex-jockey prouder still.

Horse Racing Notes

Laffit Pincay, who rode Enjoy The Moment to victory in the $107,900 Valiant Pete Handicap, had 58 wins, his third-place finish the best since he led the meet in 1989. Pincay will begin the Hollywood Park meet Friday night with 8,731 wins, 102 short of Bill Shoemaker’s record 8,833. Pincay won at least one race on each of the last nine days of the meet.

At Churchill Downs on Monday, the filly Excellent Meeting, undefeated this year, worked five furlongs in an impressive 59 4/5 seconds, while some colts bound for the Kentucky Derby did less. Ecton Park’s time was 1:02 2/5, Menifee showed 1:03 3/5 and Adonis produced a 1:04 1/5.

In San Diego, John Mabee of Golden Eagle Farm said that 10 days ago he and Baffert were committed to the Kentucky Oaks on April 30 instead of the Kentucky Derby the next day. “Now, we’re leaving our options open and playing it by ear,” Mabee said.

Baffert led the Santa Anita meet with 42 wins, setting a stakes record with 16 wins. Ron McAnally and Richard Mandella, with 19 apiece, were second in overall wins as Baffert’s margin in the standings was the largest in track history.

Offering full cards from out-of-state tracks for the first time, Santa Anita averaged $11.8 million a day in handle, an increase of 1 1/2% over last year. On-track betting, which averaged $2.5 million a day, increased at about the same rate. Attendance averaged 12,482 a day, up about 1%.