Now She’s a Handful for Foes

After Honest Lady stormed to a 4 1/2-length win on Sunday in the $103,292 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita, the 3-year-old filly’s trainer, Bobby Frankel, gave much of the credit to Stevens.

Not Gary Stevens, the jockey. That’s Nikki Stevens, the jockey’s wife and the exercise rider who transformed Honest Lady from a mulish filly into a willing worker at Del Mar last summer.

“Until Nikki worked with her,” Frankel said, “I thought I’d never be able to train her. She was just like her mother [Toussaud]. She just wouldn’t go. She’d refuse to gallop. I might not have gotten this filly to the races without Nikki. Now anyone can gallop Honest Lady.”

Gary Stevens rode one of the three horses that tried to beat Honest Lady in the seven-furlong Santa Ynez. Stevens’ mount, Controlled, had won four out of five while running in races limited to California-breds but finished third, beaten by 6 1/2 lengths. Rayelle, making her first start since a last-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, ran second and Perfect Six finished fourth.

Honest Lady’s winning time of 1:21 3/5 missed Terlingua’s 1979 stakes record by two-fifths of a second.

Honest Lady is a daughter of Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown champion. Her dam, Toussaud, was another recalcitrant sort, but settled down long enough to win four consecutive stakes at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita in 1993 before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Frankel, who won successive turf Eclipse awards with Possibly Perfect, Wandesta and Ryafan in the mid-1990s, ranked Toussaud with all of them, and he said Sunday that Honest Lady is the best 2-year-old filly he’s ever had.

“By far,” he said.

Many trainers would be thinking about the Kentucky Oaks, Churchill Downs’ premier race for 3-year-old fillies run the day before the Kentucky Derby. But Frankel is setting his sights on the Derby itself, which will be run May 1.

“She’s nominated [for the Triple Crown races],” Frankel said. “This is a very talented filly, and she can run all day long. She’s just unbelievable. I hope to win the Kentucky Derby.”

Honest Lady is undefeated in just two starts. She broke her maiden at Hollywood Park on Nov. 27, beating trainer Ron McAnally’s Olympic Charmer, who came back to win a month later.

“She beat McAnally’s filly with only seven works,” Frankel said. “Then she got sick on me, but that was probably a blessing.”

Kent Desormeaux has ridden Honest Lady in both of her races.

“I’ll tell you, it takes Derbies and a race like this to raise the hair on my back,” Desormeaux said. “[Controlled] really took off at the three-eighths pole, and this filly, without being asked, just loomed up boldly and blew past. I rode her mom several times. Everything comes so easy for this filly. She is obviously very, very special.”

Horse Racing Notes

Silver Charm, wrapping up his Santa Anita preparations for next Saturday’s Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, worked seven furlongs in 1:21 4/5. He’ll carry 126 pounds, one pound more than he toted while winning the San Pasqual Handicap on Jan. 10. Other weights for the Donn are Puerto Madero and Sir Bear, both 120 pounds; Frisk Me Now, 117; Crypto Star, 114; Behrens, 113; Unruled and Early Warning, 112 apiece; Truluck, 111; and Hanarsaan, 110. Silver Charm and Puerto Madero will be on a plane that flies them to Florida on Tuesday. . . . The Louisville Courier-Journal’s first Kentucky Derby poll ranked Exploit at the top. The consensus of turf writers gave Answer Lively the second spot, followed by Aly’s Alley, Cat Thief, The Groom Is Red, Worldly Manner, Vicar, Private Timber, Menifee and General Challenge. Exploit, undefeated in four starts as a 2-year-old, is scheduled to make his 1999 debut in the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 6. . . . Honest Lady was bred by and races for Juddmonte Farms, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. . . . Forestry, a Storm Cat colt that cost Aaron and Marie Jones $1.5 million as a yearling, came through on the rail in the sixth race to win for the first time with a clocking of 1:22 for seven furlongs. Forestry didn’t run with the blinkers he wore while finishing second on Jan. 2 in his first start.