Affluent Does the Dirty Work

Xtra Heat may be the fastest 3-year-old filly in the country, but Affluent is easily the most versatile.

A chestnut daughter of Affirmed owned and bred by Janis Whitham and trained by Ron McAnally, Affluent now has a Grade I win on dirt to go along with another on turf after her come-from-behind victory in the $200,000 La Brea Stakes Saturday at Santa Anita.

Making her first start since winning the Queen Elizabeth II Cup some 21/2 months ago on the Keeneland turf, Affluent picked up her first win in a one-turn race since she broke her maiden in her debut exactly a year ago.

Successful in five of 11 lifetime, the 4-1 third choice has three victories on the dirt to go with two on turf, and has won at distances ranging from six furlongs to 11/8 miles.

Such versatility means she should have a productive 2002. She has blossomed in recent months for McAnally, who won the La Brea for the third time. His other wins came with Savannah Slew in 1985 and Brought To Mind in 1990.

Not surprisingly, Affluent was far back early under jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, while 2-1 favorite Above Perfection set quick fractions (214/5, 441/5 and 1:083/5) while pressured by 48-1 shot Royally Chosen and 3-1 second choice Love At Noon.

Very wide while beginning her rally, the winner was still more than 41/2 lengths off the lead with a furlong to go, but she finished strong and was going away at the wire.

She had 11/2 lengths on Royally Chosen at the end and completed the seven furlongs in 1:211/5.

“Once I learned what she wanted to do, it’s been easy to ride her after that,” said Delahoussaye, who is three for five with Affluent. “She’s got so much talent.

“I really didn’t want to be that far out of it down the backside, but I said to myself that if I change my way of riding and she doesn’t finish, then I would be worse off than if I did the right thing. She just blew by ‘em at the sixteenth pole.”

Besides being the final Grade I race of the year, the La Brea began the three-race La Canada series for soon-to-be 4-year-old fillies. The next leg is the $150,000 El Encino Stakes on Jan. 20.

Whether Affluent shows up for that one remains to be seen, according to McAnally.

“She seems to do best when she has time between her races,” he said. “We’ll see how she comes out of this and then make a decision.

“It had been awhile since she raced and I thought she would at least show enough speed where she would lay close enough to mow them down in the stretch.

“That [441/5] half-mile helped us out too.”

A California-bred making her first appearance in a graded stake and her first start since Oct. 14, Royally Chosen beat Love At Noon by a nose for second, then came Warren’s Whistle, Above Perfection, Freefourracing, Graceful Cat, Rolly Polly, Cindy’s Hero, Mon Ange, Hall Of Gold and Little Hottie.

After a two-day carryover, there were 18 winning tickets in the pick six, each worth $94,244.60.

Jockey Laffit Pincay celebrated his 55th birthday with two wins. He took the fourth with 5-1 shot Natural Born Star and the sixth with first-time starter Got The Message, a 2-year-old son of Memo who impressed trainer Bill Spawr.

Profit Option, an 18-1 shot, was the biggest of four surprise winners in a quartet of graded stakes run at Calder.

A 6-year-old son of Alleged owned by a partnership that includes trainer Ken Hoffman, Profit Option picked up his second win of the year in beating 5-1 Deeliteful Irving by a half-length. Profit Option completed the 11/2 miles on turf in 2:274/5.

Earlier, jockey Pat Day guided Krisada ($18.60) to a neck victory over Sweetest Thing in the $150,000 La Prevoyante Handicap, Vague Memory ($22.40) took the $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap by a nose over 13-10 choice Gold Mover and Kiss A Native ($8) won the $100,000 Fred W. Hooper Handicap, with 7-10 favorite Best Of The Rest finishing fourth.

A regular in the $115,400 Gallant Fox Handicap, Coyote Lakes won the race for the second time at Aqueduct.

A 7-year-old, Arizona-bred gelding trained by Bruce Levine for owner Roddy Valente, Coyote Lakes, who has now run in the Gallant Fox four times, surged to the lead in the final yards and went on to win by nearly three lengths over 10-1 shot Pleasant Divorce.

The 3-1 second choice, he paid $8.40 and completed the 15/8 miles in 2:453/5.