Golden Ballet Turns Into a Big Shot

That large hole in trainer Jenine Sahadi’s barn, created when The Deputy was retired, is being amply filled by a huge filly who has shown no weaknesses. Golden Ballet might get Sahadi back to Churchill Downs, for the Kentucky Oaks instead of the Kentucky Derby this time.

The Deputy, winner of the Santa Anita Derby before finishing a disappointing 14th as the second choice in the Kentucky Derby, was injured late last year and sent to stud, just about the time Sahadi was revving up Golden Ballet for her first start as a 3-year-old. That was a seven-length win in the Santa Ynez Stakes on Jan. 20, and Saturday the California-bred daughter of Moscow Ballet and Golden Jewel Box rebounded for another victory, this time defeating Two Item Limit by 2 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita.

“I never had a 3-year-old colt as good as The Deputy, and I’ve never had a 3-year-old filly as good as this one,” Sahadi said. “So all this is very exciting.”

Golden Ballet is one of the pieces that are fitting together for a signal Santa Anita season for jockey Chris McCarron. With 21 wins, the 45-year-old rider is not close to Laffit Pincay at the top of the jockey standings, but 10 of McCarron’s victories have come in stakes, which is more than double the total of any other rider. The Las Virgenes was also career win No. 6,979 for McCarron. Friday was the 27th anniversary of his first victory.

There is no bigger horse, male or female, under Sahadi’s care than Golden Ballet, whose career began with trainer Jerry Dutton. Jeff Siegel, vice president of the same Team Valor outfit that raced The Deputy, saw a tape of Golden Ballet’s eight-length victory in the Cinderella Stakes at Hollywood Park last June and not long afterward a deal was struck. Golden Ballet’s syndication fee was $550,000, with Team Valor racing her in a 50-50 partnership with William Heiligbrodt of Houston.

“This was always an enormous filly,” Siegel said. “She looked like a colt, and although she had run in nothing but sprints, we were sure she’d run a lot farther than 4 1/2 furlongs.”

Golden Ballet made the lead easily Saturday and pulled away from the opposition in midstretch. In a Grade I stake known for its low payoffs, she ran the mile in 1:36 4/5 and returned $2.80. Surfside’s win price was $2.40 when she won the Las Virgenes last year, and Excellent Meeting was a $2.20 winner the year before. First place Saturday was worth $120,000.

Two Item Limit, an invader from Florida, finished one length in front of Affluent, the third-place finisher. Trainer Steve DiMauro wasn’t sure whether Two Item Limit would remain in California for another shot at Golden Ballet in the Santa Anita Oaks on March 10.

There were two scratches--Flute and Thewholebag. The track was bombarded with rain but bounced back fast for Saturday’s entire card. Sahadi said that she was on the phone about 15 times with Barry Irwin, the Team Valor president who lives in Versailles, Ky., but when McCarron assured them the track was safe after he won the fifth race, they stayed with their decision to run.

Not long after Team Valor bought Golden Ballet, she was ill twice at Del Mar last summer because of a high white-cell blood count. When the filly recovered, the decision was made to wait for 2001 rather than rush her into any season-ending races last year.

“Maybe all that has been a blessing in disguise,” Sahadi said.

Siegel said that after Golden Ballet runs in the Santa Anita Oaks, the filly will be reevaluated. There’s always the temptation to race against colts, but Siegel doubted that the future includes the Kentucky Derby instead of the Kentucky Oaks for fillies. The Kentucky Oaks is May 4, the day before the Derby.

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Trainer Wayne Lukas said that Spain was compromised last time when Chilukki loped along under easy early fractions in the El Encino Stakes. How Spain and her jockey, Victor Espinoza, adjust to that scenario will go a long way toward deciding today’s La Canada Stakes.

Spain, who will carry 122 pounds, three more than Chilukki, will be trying to disprove a notion that Santa Anita isn’t the best place for her to run. Beaten by 2 1/2 lengths in the El Encino, Spain is now one for five at the Arcadia track, although three of the defeats came well before she peaked by winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs in November.

While winning 11 and posting two seconds in 16 starts, Chilukki has never run as far as the La Canada distance of 1 1/8 miles. Chilukki had run 1 1/16 miles three times and never won until her victory in the El Encino.

Notes

Is Cash Asmussen’s brilliant riding career over? It is in Europe, at least, where the 38-year-old jockey has ridden successfully since he left Santa Anita in 1982 to sign a contract with Stavros Niarchos in France. The Niarchos family didn’t renew Asmussen’s contract for this year. He’s returning to his family’s farm and training center in Laredo, Texas, without announcing any specific plans. “All I can say,” Asmussen said, “is that I have no plans to ride in the immediate future.” Asmussen has won more than 3,000 races, including the Arc de Triomphe and Japan Cup. He has four victories in the French Derby and two in the Irish Derby. He won the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Spinning World at Hollywood Park in 1997. . . . Global Gait, who is in training at Santa Anita with Bob Baffert, will ship to Florida to run in next Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes, the prep for the Florida Derby. Another California shipper who is a Fountain of Youth probable is trainer Wayne Lukas’ High Cascade, the second-place finisher in the Golden Gate Derby.

Subtle Power, finding room on the inside, prevailed in a three-horse photo finish to win the $200,000 Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Handicap. Trained by Bill Mott for Prince Ahmed Salman’s Thoroughbred Corp., Subtle Power, who paid $23.80 to win, was ridden by Pat Day for the first time. Manndar, the Hollywood Park shipper who was trying to end a four-race losing streak, faded to seventh after looming in contention at the head of the stretch. . . . Another upset was registered at Aqueduct, where Regal Shivers, at 8-1, won the $78,850 Whirlaway for 3-year-olds by 5 3/4 lengths. . . . Hallowed Dreams won for the 19th time in 20 starts in the $75,000 Pan Zareta Handicap at the New Orleans Fair Grounds. The 4-year-old filly’s only loss, last August at Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, La., ended her 16-race winning streak.