A ‘Big Goof’ Wins Big ‘Cap

Co-owner John Mabee calls General Challenge “that big white-legged character.” Trainer Bob Baffert has been known to call General Challenge “a big goof.” Flattery gets you a Santa Anita Handicap winner, every time.

On his best behavior with the recent arrival of Corey Nakatani as his jockey, General Challenge came from next to last Saturday to win the 63rd Big ‘Cap by 1 1/4 lengths over Budroyale, giving John and Betty Mabee their second victory in the race.

“We’re seasoned at this, I guess you could say, but it’s still a thrill,” said John Mabee, the master of Golden Eagle Farm near Ramona, Calif., where the gelded son of General Meeting and Excellent Lady was bred. The Mabees won the 1992 Big ‘Cap with another homebred, Best Pal, who also was the last favorite to win the race. General Challenge, barely favored over Cat Thief on Saturday, paid $6 for winning the $1-million race, but he went off at a higher price than his 9-5 listing on the morning line.

“This guy [General Challenge]) has more ability than Best Pal had,” Mabee said. “On his best day, General Challenge has more ability than Behrens back East or any of the rest of them. But Best Pal was probably the most popular horse that ever ran in California. I was telling Mrs. Mabee on the way in to the track today, we’re going to have to work on that. Best Pal had a fan club, and we’re going to have to see what we can do to build up this horse’s fan following.”

There should be a groundswell of new General Challenge supporters after Saturday’s race before 30,122 at Santa Anita. A big failure out of town in last year’s Kentucky Derby (11th) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (10th), he has won nine of 12 starts in California. Saturday’s 1 1/4-mile win, in a time of 2:01 2/5 over a track listed as good, was worth $600,000 and increased the 4-year-old’s career earnings to almost $1.8 million.

“Two in a row,” said Baffert, who won his first Big ‘Cap. “He’s now like the horse I’ve been bragging about for the last couple of years. We just turned Corey loose, and he found out the right style the first time he rode him.”

With Nakatani aboard for the first time, General Challenge won the Strub Stakes by 9 1/2 lengths a month ago, but that was against only three opponents, none of whom showed up Saturday. Although Cat Thief, who beat General Challenge by 10 lengths when he won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November, was second in the betting, the major threat was thought to be Budroyale, the former claimer who carried high weight of 122 pounds, one more than the winner.

Sandwiched between the other speed, Cat Thief and Dixie Dot Com, in the early going, Budroyale had clear sailing before General Challenge charged past at the top of the stretch. Budroyale finished one length ahead of Puerto Madero, the late-running third-place horse. Malek, the 1998 Big ‘Cap winner who was making his first start in six months, was fourth, followed by Bagshot, Cat Thief, Invitato Mio and Dixie Dot Com.

“I saw the winner coming at the five-sixteenths pole,” said Ted H. West, who trains Budroyale. “I was hoping that we could have put Cat Thief away sooner than we did. I don’t think my horse ever saw the winner coming. It was like in last year’s Hollywood Gold Cup, when Real Quiet went by him.”

Going into the race, Baffert had feared Budroyale.

“Budroyale’s a warrior,” he said after the race. “When you get close to him, you’ve got to go right on by, not just engage him, and that’s what Corey did.”

Jockey Garrett Gomez couldn’t fault Budroyale’s race.

“He ran his eyeballs out,” he said. “He quickened when I asked him to quicken. He wasn’t the best today, but I think he was at his best.”

Puerto Madero, fifth in last year’s Big ‘Cap, hadn’t run in more than six months when he finished last in mid-January in the San Pasqual Handicap, his only prep for Saturday’s race. Replacing Kent Desormeaux on the Chilean-bred was Laffit Pincay, whose first of five Big ‘Cap wins came in 1973, three years after Nakatani was born.

Puerto Madero was still seventh at the quarter pole, with Pincay moving him off the rail and to the outside.

“I took the turn a little bit too wide, or it probably would have been very close for second,” Pincay said. “I got very excited coming down the stretch. I really thought I had a chance.”

Richard Mandella, who trains Puerto Madero and Malek, said Puerto Madero’s owners would discuss the possibility of running in the $6-million Dubai World Cup on March 25.

Trainer Wayne Lukas thought that Cat Thief wasn’t getting a hold of the wet track.

“I thought we were kicking along pretty comfortably down the backside,” jockey Pat Day said. “Then Budroyale went by him [nearing the far turn], and my horse just didn’t insist. He normally plays cat and mouse at that point. In the Breeders’ Cup, Budroyale ran up on the outside at the half-mile pole, and my horse was insisting on staying there. He didn’t do that today. Then when we got to the head of the stretch, I was done. I had no horse.”

The silver-haired Baffert had started only one horse in previous Big ‘Caps, finishing third last year with Silver Charm, who had been scratched on the eve of the 1998 race because of a bruised foot.

“Any brown I might have had in my hair is white now because of General Challenge,” Baffert said. “But he’s so talented, we’re going to have a lot of fun with him this year.”

Winless in three starts outside California, General Challenge will have to hit the road again, to fill in some gaps before the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup in July. Baffert said he doesn’t have a plan, but the obvious spots are the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on April 8 and the $750,000 Pimlico Special in Maryland on May 13.

Pumped with the confidence that a Santa Anita Handicap win can bring, John Mabee thinks General Challenge’s road horrors are behind him.

“We’ve got this horse figured out now,” Mabee said. “He’s going to win some races outside California.”

Big ‘Cap Finish

1. GENERAL CHALLENGE

Jockey: Corey Nakatani

Paid: $6 $3.60 $2.80

2. BUDROYALE

Jockey: Garrett Gomez

Paid: $3.80 $3

3. PUERTO MADERO

Jockey: Laffit Pincay

Paid: $5.40

THE WINNING RAFAEL TICKET

Favored War Chant remained unbeaten in three starts with his half-length victory in the San Rafael Stakes. Page 12