Surfside Runs at Low Ebb, but Still on Derby Course

Surrounded on both sides at the finish line, Surfside won the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks on Sunday in less than blinding fashion, but the filly’s owner and trainer are not rethinking their plan to run her in the Kentucky Derby.

The horses Surfside beat by less than a length were longshots in the five-horse field, Kumari Continent having only broken her maiden five weeks ago and Classy Cara, a Washington-bred filly who ran three times before she won. At Sunday’s wire, Kumari Continent was on the outside of Surfside, beaten by three-quarters of a length, and Classy Cara was on the inside, another nose back in third place.

Winning Colors, the horse to whom Surfside will be compared, because she is the last filly to win the Derby, won the 1988 Santa Anita Oaks and Santa Derby by a combined 15 1/2 lengths.

“Surfside is not brilliant the way Winning Colors was,” said Wayne Lukas, who has trained both fillies. “It’s not Surfside’s style to come off the turn and kick by everybody. The key word here is that Surfside won. If she hadn’t, I would have been very disappointed. She’s got the kind of style where I can see her getting the lead in the Derby and then just staying there, staying there, staying there.”

William T. Young, who bred and races Surfside, won the 1996 Derby with Grindstone, who was the third of Lukas’ four Derby winners.

“I don’t pretend to be a horseman,” Young said. “But I won’t be coy about it, I’d really like to win another Derby. I’d rather win the Derby than several Kentucky Oaks. This filly makes your heart beat faster, but if she’s good enough, she’s going to run in the Derby. We’re going to let nature take its course. If she got the hell beat out of her in the Santa Anita Derby, we might change our minds.”

The Oaks, traditionally run the day before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, is for 3-year-old fillies. Young has another contender for the Oaks in Shawnee Country, who won Saturday’s Fair Grounds Oaks, and besides that filly, Lukas is also likely to saddle Cash Run, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, in the Oaks.

Lukas has the Derby more well-covered than the Oaks, although three of his colts were beaten over the weekend: On Saturday, High Yield lost by a head to Hal’s Hope in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and True Confidence was second to Remember Sheikh in the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows; on Sunday, Exchange Rate was fourth, about 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner, Mighty, in the Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds.

Having started 35 horses in the Derby--and not having missed the race since 1981--Lukas is aware that the roses in Louisville frequently go to a horse that hasn’t won the final prep. Charismatic, who won last year’s Derby for Lukas, was the first winner in eight years to go into the race after a victory.

Pushing on, Lukas has the Santa Anita Derby, April 8, penciled in for Surfside. Parceling out the others, he said Sunday that the Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 15 (and a rematch with Hal’s Hope) is next for High Yield; Exchange Rate will run in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 15; True Command is headed for the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 15; and Commendable, who has yet to win a stake, will run Sunday in the San Felipe at Santa Anita and then the Lexington Stakes on April 22 at Keeneland. The Kentucky Kentucky Derby will be run on May 6.

Lukas said that there had been no discussion with Pat Day, but the trainer thought that Surfside’s jockey would stick with the filly, creating the need to hire a jockey for High Yield in the Blue Grass.

As for Surfside’s win Sunday, Day said: “My filly was starting to labor a little in the stretch. I had to get after her [with the whip] a bit. Hopefully, this will be good for her. She needs to keep stepping up to the plate and work hard to keep moving forward. Her status is not diminished in my eyes. She keeps on winning. She’s got those No. 1’s by her name.”

The time for the 1 1/16-mile Santa Anita Oaks--which is three-sixteenths of a mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby--was 1:44, the second slowest in 18 years. All of Lukas’ seven other Oaks winners ran faster. Winning her fourth in a row and her seventh in nine starts, Surfside paid $2.80 to win and earned $180,000.

“It’ll get tougher,” Lukas said. “But we feel like we’re on course. We’re comfortable with where we are with her in March, and we’ve got 30 days until the next one.”

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Horse Racing Notes

Mighty, trained by Frank Brothers and ridden by Shane Sellers, came from last place--and 10 lengths behind--to beat More Than Ready by two lengths in the Louisiana Derby. More Than Ready finished a half-length ahead of Captain Steve, the 2-1 favorite. Bob Baffert, who trains Captain Steve, finished last with Tribunal, his other entrant. Mighty had finished second five times while winning only two of his previous nine starts. He had been beaten by Exchange Rate, Captain Steve and More Than Ready in other races. The son of Lord At War, the Argentine-bred winner of the 1985 Santa Anita Handicap, Mighty ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 1/5 and paid $14. He is likely to run next in the Blue Grass.