Grass Is Also Green for Lewises

The Lewises won the first division of the Oceanside Stakes on Del Mar’s opening day Wednesday, and somebody handed Beverly Lewis a big bouquet of roses in the winner’s circle. Just like the 1997 Kentucky Derby, with Silver Charm. Just like the 1999 Kentucky Derby, with Charismatic.

But unlike Silver Charm and Charismatic, Duke Of Green, the early Oceanside winner, is a grass specialist, and the 3-year-old colt could broaden the horizons for Bob and Beverly Lewis, a couple whose horizons seemed about as broad as Texas to begin with.

“This is the first stakes race we’ve ever won on grass,” Bob Lewis said, and then thinking a moment added: “Shoot, it might be the first grass race we’ve ever won, period. At least right now, I can’t think of any others.”

It also was the Lewises’ first win with Ron McAnally, a Hall of Fame trainer who is encroaching on territory already staked out by Wayne Lukas, another Hall of Famer and the trainer of Charismatic, and Bob Baffert, a three-time Eclipse Award winner and the trainer of Silver Charm.

Approached about a year ago by Bob Lewis, McAnally and Emanuel De Seroux, a bloodstock agent, went far afield to buy five horses with a proclivity for grass. Duke Of Green came from Italy, and the others were purchased in Argentina, Ireland and England. Lewis said he paid about $2 million for all five.

“Just like in business,” said Lewis, a Pomona beer distributor, “the whole idea is to cover as much of the market as you can. So what is it, about 20% of the races [in the U.S.] are run on grass? So if you don’t have any grass horses in your stable, then you’re not even in that part of the fray.”

What led Lewis to McAnally was the 68-year-old trainer’s record with established horses, many of them foreign imports. McAnally’s resume bulges with them, including the Argentine-breds Bayakoa and Paseana, who rung up Breeders’ Cup wins and Eclipse Awards several years ago.

“We’re off to a great start,” McAnally said. “Bob’s a super guy who lets you do your thing, which is the right way to do it.”

McAnally was unable to pull off an Oceanside sweep as Tender Offer, a colt owned by Sid Craig, finished fifth in the division that was won by Stormy Jack, a Baffert trainee. By a full second, Duke Of Green was the faster of the two winners as he finished the mile in 1:35 3/5 and paid $5 as the favorite. The second-division favorite, Whyome, finished fourth, with Stormy Jack, at 6-1, leading a string of longshots to the wire. Buster B Bimbo, who was 35-1, almost lasted and finished second, and with Jekyll And Hyde, a 24-1 shot, finishing third, the $1 trifecta paid $2,227.50.

A crowd of 31,494, third largest in track history, came for the seaside track’s 61st opening. The only bigger crowds have been the 44,181 for Dare And Go’s upset of Cigar in 1996, and the opening-day turnout of 34,697 in 1994.

Baffert, the leading trainer here the last three years, won the last three races on the card. Before Stormy Jack’s win, Flame Thrower, a son of Saint Bellado making his first start, beat 2-year-old maidens, and in the last race Tenfortyblues won against 3-year-old maiden fillies. Corey Nakatani, who rode Flame Thrower and Tenfortyblues for owner Gary Garber, had a four-win day in pursuit of his third Del Mar riding crown.

Baffert gave jockey Victor Espinoza credit for removing the blinkers on Stormy Jack, who had finished second or third in his last five starts after beginning his career with a couple of wins at Del Mar last year.

“The horse was relaxing fine with the blinkers,” Baffert said, “but when horses came up to him, he wouldn’t see them.”

Stormy Jack, a son of Bertrando, was bred and is owned by Jack and Florence Arnold.

“It’s fun to win for those people,” Baffert said. “It’s a namesake, after Jack. He’s a guy who’s been racing forever, and he was so excited about this one. You can tell how much it really means to them. It was like winning the Derby for them.”

Espinoza is fresh from winning the riding title at Hollywood Park.

“We tried something different with this horse today,” Espinoza said. “We slowed him down. Last time I rode him, he got up there too close. So we took the blinkers off and I took a hold of him. When I asked him to fire, he fired.”

A little more than a length separated the first five finishers, with front-running Buster B Bimbo and jockey David Flores coming within a neck of stealing the race.

Although Chris McCarron is McAnally’s rider of choice, he was riding Duke Of Green for the first time. Eddie Delahoussaye and Laffit Pincay partnered the colt in his first two U.S. starts, second-place finishes in the Cinema and Will Rogers Handicaps at Hollywood Park.

“Chris was out of town and not available for those other two races,” McAnally said.

Duke Of Green egded Designed For Luck and Kent Desormeaux by a half-length. Designed For Luck virtually drew even with Duke Of Green in the stretch, before the winner responded to McCarron’s whip.