Millennium Wind Doesn’t Disappoint

Although David Heerensperger paid $1.2 million at auction to buy Millennium Wind as a yearling, he still thought he got a bargain.

“If he had been [sired] by anybody but Cryptoclearance, he would have gone for three times that much,” said Heerensperger, a Seattle-area businessman who bought his first horse in 1979.

Cryptoclearance might not be the most fashionable of stallions, but Millennium Wind’s dam, Bali Babe, also produced Charismatic, which makes Heerensperger’s colt a half-brother to the 1999 Kentucky Derby winner.

“That bottom line is terrific,” said Heerensperger, who had never spent more than $1 million for a horse. “And I also liked the aura this horse had. I go to a sale telling myself that there’s a limit I’ll spend, but then I sit there and keep my hand up.”

Heerensperger and his wife, Jill, have never run a horse in the Kentucky Derby, but Millennium Wind might be their ticket to Churchill Downs on May 5.

“We’re starting to get excited,” said trainer David Hofmans, who saddled Millennium Wind on Sunday for his third start, second win and first stakes victory, a hard-fought, half-length decision in the $107,700 Santa Catalina at Santa Anita. A pesky second was Palmeiro, a 31-1 shot fresh off his maiden win six weeks ago at Hollywood Park.

Chris McCarron, winning his third stake in two days, rode Millennium Wind, the 3-5 favorite in the Santa Catalina. McCarron has won 11 races at the meet, six of them stakes. Millennium Wind joined The Deputy, Artax and Hello as McCarron-ridden winners of the Santa Catalina in the last five years.

“Any time you’re 3-to-5, they expect you to win easily,” McCarron said, “but he had to work to win this one. [Palmeiro] ran a huge race. I’m very pleased with my horse’s progress. He’s going in the right direction.”

Millennium Wind, who raced on the lead before losing by a length to Point Given in the Hollywood Futurity, was the stalker this time, hopping in the air just after the start before settling into third place behind Coke’s Tribute and Palmeiro in the early going. Three wide, the winner took the lead at the head of the stretch, with McCarron hitting him three times with the whip through the lane. Millennium Wind, earning $64,620, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 1/5 and paid $3.20 for $2.

“He was forced to go to the lead in the last race,” Hofmans said. “Our idea this time was to take back and try to rate. This was the way he does it in the mornings, when he runs at horses. This was a big step forward, the way he did this.”

With Swordfish scratched, only six horses ran in the Santa Catalina. Palmeiro was two lengths better than Denied, the third-place finisher. Turnberry Isle, sixth while beaten by only three lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile--his first U.S. race and first start on dirt--was the 2-1 second choice, but he outran only one horse and was beaten by almost 11 lengths.

It’s likely that Millennium Wind’s next start will be the San Felipe, another 1 1/16-mile race, on March 17.

“I didn’t have the screws turned up all the way on him for this one,” Hofmans said. “I’ll wait two months to do that. The first thing is just to see how he’s doing tomorrow morning.”

Heerensperger, a 20-year veteran of racing’s vagaries, remembers what his first trainer, John Gosden, told him.

“John said that horses are like eggs,” Heerensperger said, “and you’ve got to treat them that way.”

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For the 25th time in 27 years, no 4-year-old filly is going to sweep the La Canada series. Taisez Vous won all three races in 1978, and so did Mitterand in 1985, but Spain’s chance for a sweep evaporated when Chilukki beat the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner by 2 1/2 lengths in the $147,000 El Encino Stakes.

Spain, who had won the La Brea, the series opener, on Dec. 30, ran in third place in the four-horse race while Chilukki clicked off ho-hum fractions of :24 and :48 1/5.

“We shouldn’t have been sitting in third when they’re running in :48,” said Spain’s trainer, Wayne Lukas, who was not thrilled with Victor Espinoza’s ride on his filly. “It’s all in the other guy’s favor when you let that happen.”

Chilukki, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, finished the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 2/5 and paid $5.20 as the second choice. She has won 11 of 16 starts, but this was her first victory beyond a mile. Chilukki was fourth, 1 1/2 lengths behind Spain, in the La Brea.

Notes

Proud Tower, winner of the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, fractured a sesamoid bone in his right front ankle while galloping Friday and will be sidelined indefinitely. . . . Gary Stevens won three consecutive races on the card. . . . Laffit Pincay’s streak ended. He had won at least one race at Santa Anita for the last 10 days he rode there. Pincay holds a 26-17 lead over Victor Espinoza in the jockeys’ standings. . . . The next probable start for Bienamado, winner of Saturday’s San Marcos Stakes, is the San Luis Obispo Handicap on Feb. 17. . . . Trainer Barry Abrams, who won a shake with Bobby Frankel to claim Groover for $100,000 before his sixth-place finish Saturday, said that the horse would run in either the San Luis Obispo or the San Marino Handicap on Feb. 18. . . . Macho Uno, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is likely to make his 3-year-old debut in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 17. . . . Saddle Lake was euthanized after breaking down in Sunday’s first race. Iggy Puglisi, who rode Real Paranoide, a trailing horse in the spill, complained about a sore knee and took the rest of the day off.