Morey Is a Happy Camper After Win by Dixie Dot Com

When trainer Bill Morey Jr. journeyed from his Northern California headquarters to Hollywood Park a few months ago, he called it more of a “camp-out” than an invasion.

“We thought we had some horses that might fit down here,” Morey said, “so we set up with our R.V. on the beach.”

When Santa Anita opened, Morey wanted to move his seven-horse stable across town, but there was a shortage of stalls.

“They finally squeezed us in,” Morey said.

As for finding a fit for his horses, Morey has appeared to have done so with Dixie Dot Com, who, after a string of second-place finishes, upset the more vaunted contenders with a 4 1/2-length victory in the $316,000 San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes. Event Of The Year, who also started his career in Northern California, finished second as the 6-5 favorite; Artax, the second choice, faded from second to seventh in the eight-horse field; and Run Man Run, the opening-day Malibu Stakes winner, was fourth.

Dixie Dot Com, the fourth choice in the race at 5-1, ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41, nearly four-fifths of a second faster than Silver Charm’s clocking in the San Pasqual Handicap last Sunday. The 4-year-old son of Dixie Brass earned $190,800 with his fourth victory in nine starts for an ownership group that includes Ron and Carol Chaiken and Barton Heller.

In 1997, at a Barretts sale in Pomona, they bought six horses ranging in price from $100,000 to $21,000, and Dixie Dot Com was the cheapest of the lot. Saturday’s win pushed his purse total to $482,775.

Dixie Dot Com had finished second in his previous three starts . On dirt, he missed by a neck of winning in the Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park and lost by two lengths in the Laz Barrera Handicap at Hollywood. He was then moved to grass and lost by 1 3/4 lengths in the Hollywood Derby on Nov. 29.

“I’ve just got so much confidence in this horse,” jockey David Flores said. “Even when he got beat, he tried so hard. I was in a great position [Saturday]. I was just sitting there, waiting for the last turn, and finally I could wait no longer and I just let him roll.”

Dixie Dot Com was fourth after the opening half-mile, but less than two lengths off the lead, then got the jump on Event Of The Year and was pulling away in the stretch.

“This is a great way to end the seconditis,” said Morey, enjoying the biggest win of a 30-year career. “When Event Of The Year and my horse were both up North, Russell Baze, who was riding both of them, said Event Of The Year was better, and it brought a crocodile tear to my cheeks. Looking at Event Of The Year in the paddock today, I think my horse has developed physically more than he has in the past year.”

Undefeated in three races as a 2-year-old, Dixie Dot Com made his 3-year-old debut at Bay Meadows last February and suffered a broken cannon bone in his lower left foreleg. Time off healed the leg and he returned to racing in September, winning the Foothill Stakes at Fairplex Park before the rash of second-place finishes.

“That [Bay Meadows race] was his only bad race, when we ran him in the mud and he got hurt,” Morey said. “He’s had some tough seconds, but today we put it together. We’ve had a lot of fun with him. I might be looking for a new camper.”

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See You Soon and Sonja’s Faith are not that much apart in ability, although See You Soon usually outruns the other mare, as she did by a neck in the $150,000 San Gorgonio Handicap.

Sonja’s Faith, ridden by Alex Solis, led most of the way before See You Soon, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, outfinished her in the final strides of the 1 1/8-mile race on turf.

“[Sonja’s Faith] doesn’t give races away,” Desormeaux said. “You have to go get her. We were really running that last eighth of a mile, and it didn’t come easy.”

The San Gorgonio was the fourth time they’ve met. See You Soon has outfinished Sonja’s Faith three times, although Fiji beat them both in last November’s Matriarch. See You Soon was a half-length winner over Sonja’s Faith in the Ramona Handicap, and Sonja’s Faith turned the tables, by 1 1/2 lengths, in the Las Palmas Handicap.

See You Soon, giving trainer Bobby Frankel his third San Gorgonio win in the last four years, was timed in 1:49 on a firm course. Both See You Soon and Sonja’s Faith went off at 7-5 and carried 118 pounds.

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The road to the Kentucky Derby began with a couple of stakes on both coasts. In Florida, the gelding Grits’n Hard Toast scored a surprise at 14-1 in Gulfstream Park’s $100,000 Holy Bull Stakes, while Doneraile Court finished second and Vicar, favored at 6-5, wound up fifth. On a drying-out track that was listed as good, Grits’n Hard Toast, ridden by Robbie Davis, overhauled Doneraile Court in the last 70 yards to win the 1 1/16-mile race by 1 3/4 lengths in a time of 1:45 1/5. Trained by T.V. Smith, Grits’n Hard Toast--a son of Bates Motel--won two of six starts in Kentucky. In his only other stakes race--the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28--he was a distant third behind Exploit and Vicar. . . . In Northern California, trainer Jeff Bonde ran 1-2 in the $150,000 Golden Gate Derby with Epic Honor and Blue Tune, who lost to his stablemate by 1 1/2 lengths. Lonnie Meche rode Epic Honor, who had only a maiden-race win in six previous tries. Epic Honor paid $9, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 2/5 over a muddy track. Brave Gun finished third while Absolute Harmony and Voice Of Destiny, favored at 1-2 as an entry, ran fifth and seventh, respectively.