Lukas’ Surfside Could Be in the Mix for Big ‘Cap

Officials at Santa Anita should be hoping for a huge effort from Surfside in the $200,000 Santa Maria Handicap on Sunday.

If the daughter of Seattle Slew and the 2000 Eclipse award winner as the nation’s top 3-year-old filly excels in the Grade I, she probably will make her next start in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 3.

Surfside’s presence in the Big ‘Cap would add spice to the 64th running of the track’s most famous race.

It would not be Surfside’s first time taking on the boys. In her final start of last year for trainer Wayne Lukas, she humbled eight rivals in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs.

On the lead throughout under rider Pat Day, Surfside went on to win by four lengths. At the time, critics wondered about the quality of the field she defeated, but the runner-up has made some noise of late.

In two starts since, Guided Tour has won the Louisiana Handicap at the New Orleans Fair Grounds on Dec. 30, then, in his California debut, won the $300,000 San Antonio Handicap earlier this month. Still stabled locally, Guided Tour may also return in the ‘Big Cap.

Of course, Surfside, owned and bred by Bill Young’s Overbrook Farm, has to get through Sunday first. In the Santa Maria, she will be looking for her ninth career win and her third Grade I victory at Santa Anita.

Her main rival figures to be Feverish, a consistent Pirate’s Bounty mare who has won the Bayakoa and Paseana Handicaps since Dec. 23. Feverish has not been worse than second in her last nine races for owners Marty and Pam Wygod and trainer Dan Hendricks.

In her first race of the year, Surfside was third as the 3-5 favorite in the seven-furlong Santa Monica. Over a track labeled wet fast, she wound up four lengths behind upset winner Nany’s Sweep.

“She didn’t have any stickers or grabs [on her feet] that day,” said Lukas, speaking on the phone from Gulfstream Park. “Pat said she just wasn’t comfortable. Whatever she did, she did on her class.

“She’s really doing well. The weather is our only concern, but things supposedly are starting to look more positive in that direction. I think you’ll see the real Surfside Sunday, and she is a very special filly. She’s one of the exceptional fillies I’ve ever had.”

Given the failure of Tiznow in the Strub and with Captain Steve pointing for the $6-million Dubai World Cup on March 24, it can be understood why Lukas would ponder the Santa Anita Handicap for Surfside. The rest of the local handicap division is hardly overwhelming.

“If she was to win impressively or run a good, solid race, we would consider it,” he said. “Some of the horses are coming off pretty hard fall campaigns and I just saw what you saw in the Strub.

“I think it’s a good, solid bunch, but there are no Spectacular Bids in there. I know she would add some pizazz to the Big ‘Cap if she was to run.”

Before he returns to California, Lukas will saddle 12-1 longshot High Cascade in the $200,000 Fountain Of Youth on Saturday in Florida. The race is the final major prep for next month’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream.

A chestnut son of Woodman owned by Satish Sanan’s Padua Stables, High Cascade has won once in four starts. In his first race of 2001, he was second behind longshot Hoovergetthekeys in the Golden Gate Derby on Jan. 13 at Golden Gate Fields.

“He’s a pretty good colt who is getting better,” Lukas said. “He was short for the race at Golden Gate, but it was a good step for him. We’ll have to wait and see with him.

“The whole 3-year-old picture is wide open. Some of the proven horses, like Point Given and A P Valentine, haven’t started this year, so you don’t know where they’re at yet. A lot of us as trainers are in the same boat. If you were going to bet in the future book, you might have to take about 10 of them to have some sort of chance.”

Lukas indicated no firm plans for Gold Trader, a son of Storm Cat owned and bred by Young who won the $100,000 Golden State Mile last Saturday in his first career two-turn race.

Out of the stakes-winning mare Golden Attraction, Gold Trader has won two of three. He could show up in the $200,000 San Rafael Stakes on March 3 at Santa Anita, return to Golden Gate Fields for the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby a week later or head to the Fair Grounds for the $750,000 Louisiana Derby on March 11.

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Jockey Pat Valenzuela, suspended more than a year ago after testing positive for amphetamines, is scheduled to appear before the Santa Anita stewards on Feb. 24 about the possibility of resuming his riding career.

Valenzuela, 38, who has had a long history of substance abuse problems and who has had his career interrupted numerous times because of suspensions, will have to be re-licensed by stewards Ingrid Fermin, Pete Pedersen and Tom Ward.

Notes

Trainer Wayne Lukas will have an interest in another colt in the Fountain Of Youth. Buckle Down Ben, the 3-1 morning line choice, was recently purchased by owner Michael Tabor and will be turned over to Lukas after the race. . . . From the rail out, here’s the field for the Fountain Of Youth: Talk Is Money, High Cascade, Songandaprayer, Global Gait, City Zip, Outofthebox, Buckle Down Ben, Radical Riley, Cee Dee, Holiday Thunder and Meeyouathebrig. . . . Bienamado, who would have been heavily favored to win Saturday’s $200,000 San Luis Obispo Handicap at Santa Anita, wasn’t entered in the 1 1/2-mile turf race and instead will run in the Santa Anita Handicap. The son of Bien Bien who is owned by John Toffan, Robert Sangster and Trudy McCaffery and trained by Paco Gonzalez, will be making his first start on the dirt. . . . Nany’s Sweep, who upset Surfside in the Santa Monica, will again be ridden by Kent Desormeaux when she participates in Saturday’s Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park in Maryland.