Frankel Stakes Out a Place in Malibu

There was a sameness Wednesday when Santa Anita opened for the 65th time. Free calendars, mariachis and dancers, a Dixieland combo and trainer Bobby Frankel--standing in the winner’s circle, explaining another victory after a major race.

For the man who had everything in 2001, Frankel’s cup continued to runneth over when Mizzen Mast overcame a poor start and rallied from far back to win the $200,000 Malibu Stakes by 21/2 lengths. It was Frankel’s 49th stakes win of the year, his 36th in graded races and 18th in a Grade I, which are all national highs. Frankel’s year began at Santa Anita, where he racked up six stakes wins, although none of them was in a Grade I.

It has been a year of good decisions by Frankel. On Nov. 25, he was ready to run Mizzen Mast in the Hollywood Derby, but the turf was soggy across town and the 3-year-old son of Cozzene was scratched for another race. Frankel still won the Hollywood Derby with Denon, another of the European imports in his barn.

The seven-furlong Malibu didn’t seem to be the right spot for Mizzen Mast. In a nine-race career that started in France, he had never run less than a mile and the Malibu was also his first race on dirt. “He prefers firm turf, so I thought this [fast] main track would be something he’d like,” Frankel said. “He’s trained good on dirt, but moving a horse from grass to dirt is something that you can’t teach.”

If there was a difference in sameness day at Santa Anita, it was the size of the crowd. Despite the calendar giveaway, long considered one of the track’s most popular promotions, and an attractive betting card, the on-track attendance of 27,713 was the smallest opening-day turnout on a Dec. 26 and 2,000 less than last year. Forty-six of the last 53 openers have come on Dec. 26.

Santa Anita officials could not pinpoint a reason for the small crowd. For the first time since 1980, there was an eight-day gap between the close of Hollywood Park and the opening of Santa Anita, but that void, instead of whetting the appetite of horse players, may have made them forget that the game was still afoot. Wednesday was not a good day to argue for more time between meets.

Mizzen Mast’s early foot was shaky. Breaking awkwardly under jockey Kent Desormeaux, he was still able to settle into the middle of the pack after a quarter-mile. At the half-mile pole, he was in eighth place, more than four lengths from the lead.

“I didn’t think there was any chance when he fell back that far early,” Frankel said. “I didn’t expect him to finish that well.”

Brainy, a 46-1 shot, and Giant Gentleman, who was 12-1, battled for the lead until the top of the stretch, neither one of them aware that a front-runner hadn’t won a Malibu in 14 years. Mizzen Mast caught both of them in the final sixteenth of a mile. At the wire, Brainy was fourth and Giant Gentleman saved second by a neck over I Love Silver. Early Flyer, the 2-1 favorite in a field of 13, never threatened and finished eighth. Mizzen Mist, earning $120,000, was clocked in 1:22 and paid $16 as the fourth choice.

Desormeaux is the only jockey Mizzen Mast has had since Frankel saddled the colt for the first time in September in the Del Mar Derby. After beating only one horse that day, Mizzen Mast returned to win the Bien Bien Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 7.

“It’s invigorating to ride such a brilliantly talented horse,” said Desormeaux after winning his third Malibu. “When I asked him to go, it was like hitting the throttle on a motorcycle. He took off so fast, he popped a wheelie.”

The plan was to have Mizzen Mast in the thick of things early.

“He fell on his head leaving the gate,” Desormeaux said. “He could have been on the lead if the ground didn’t break out from under him.”

Giant Gentlemen, trained by Brent Sumja and ridden by Garrett Gomez for the first time, was making his first start at Santa Anita, where he had worked a solid half-mile in 47 seconds a few days before Christmas.

“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Gomez said. “He relaxed well down inside [Brainy], and when I asked him to go on, he tried to go on. He gave me what he had. He’s a nice honest horse.”

Early Flyer, ridden by Chris McCarron, went into the Malibu off a string of consistent races; he had won three times, never been worse than third in eight starts and in February won the St. Vicente at Santa Anita, at the same distance as Wednesday’s race.

“He had no excuse,” McCarron said. “He didn’t have straw in his path. It’s the worst race he’s run in his life. I can’t figure out why he ran so poorly. He trained great, but just had no gas in the tank today.”

Mizzen Mast was the biggest Malibu winner since On The Line’s 71/2-length win in 1987. Frankel said that it’s possible that his colt might return in the $200,000 San Fernando, the middle race in the series that concludes with the $400,000 Strub Stakes on Feb. 2.

Also Wednesday, Frankel’s Blue Steller, a 2-1 favorite, didn’t have the late firepower of Mizzen Mast and his run resulted in a third-place finish as Orientate won the $77,400 Sir Beaufort Stakes by two lengths. Orientate, making his first start since a 12th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, was ridden by McCarron for owners Bob and Beverly Lewis and trainer Wayne Lukas. Sigfreto finished second, 11/2lengths ahead of Blue Steller.

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The best finish for Pat Valenzuela on three mounts was his second aboard Fall For Me, a 17-1 shot, in the fourth race. Valenzuela, who has a history of substance abuse, rode for the first time since the Santa Anita stewards pulled his license in February of 2000. He was issued a one-year conditional license by the California Horse Racing Board on Dec. 14.

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Attendance: A look at on-track opening day crowds at Santa Anita:

Year Attendance

1934 30,777

1935 33,213

1936 32,128

1937 42,355

1938 35,505

1939 34,514

1940 29,545

1945 28,784

1945 45,212

1946 57,894

1947 62,440

1948 36,308

1949 65,542

1950 25,534

1951 26,626

1952 55,623

1953 57,192

1954 29,692

1955 60,934

1956 33,649

1957 37,140

1958 57,094

1959 66,681

1960 71,012

1961 37,024

1962 37,949

1963 37,114

1964 70,023

1965 41,155

1966 50,264

1967 42,320

1968 33,552

1970 26,515

1970 53,730

1971 30,881

1972 43,341

1973 37,182

1974 38,629

1975 54,648

1976 41,943

1977 42,711

1978 47,688

1979 46,074

1980 66,599

1981 68,643

1982 69,293

1983 60,923

1984 49,776

1985 49,475

1986 65,954

1987 62,461

1988 65,164

1989 50,605

1990 45,176

1991 38,144

1992 46,242

1993 44,069

1994 46,904

1995 30,695

1996 30,827

1997 39,683

1998 42,535

1999 44,018

2000 29,912

2001 27,713