Men’s Exclusive Turns Into the Comeback Kid at Age 8

After losing 14 in a row over nearly a three-year period, Men’s Exclusive has discovered how to win again.

The 8-year-old gelding made it three victories in his last five starts with a come-from-behind score in the $200,000 Palos Verdes Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita.

The race was weakened by the scratch of Kona Gold, the top sprinter in the country whose connections didn’t want the gelding to run carrying 126 pounds.

Men’s Exclusive overtook favored Freespool with less than a sixteenth of a mile to go and won by three-quarters of a length over Big Jag, another 8-year-old gelding, in 1:08 1/5, the fastest time of the meet for six furlongs.

Owned and bred by Gene Reed and trained by Wesley Ward, the son of Exclusive Ribot provided leading rider Laffit Pincay Jr. with his seventh win in the Palos Verdes and his 2,700th victory at Santa Anita. Before Sunday, he had last won the Grade II with Individualist in 1992.

A dedicated front-runner for most of his career, Men’s Exclusive has shown the ability to sit and finish during his rejuvenation. He rallied to win the Vernon O. Underwood at Hollywood Park going away last month, then, on Sunday, he saved ground while third early, then split horses late to win for the ninth time in 29 starts. He paid $12.80 as the 5-1 fourth choice in the field of six.

“He’s been a very nice horse for me over his whole career,” said Ward. “I’ve taken a lot of time with him. He’s 8, but he’s been very lightly raced.

“Fortunately, Laffit has been riding him since he was a 2-year-old, so he knows him very well. We’ve tried to send this horse his whole life, because California favors speed, but we’ve experimented with him in the mornings and he’s been coming from behind.”

Ward indicated he’d like to take Men’s Exclusive to Dubai for the $2-million Golden Shaheen on March 24. Big Jag won the race last year.

“I’d like to go,” he said. “If they give us an invite, we’re going to go. It’s a big race worth a lot of money and I think the horse would run tremendous on a straightaway.”

Making his first start since finishing seventh in Hong Kong on Dec. 17, Big Jag was the runner-up in the Palos Verdes for the second consecutive year. The winner of the race in 1999, the California-bred beat Freespool, the 3-2 favorite, by three-quarters of a length.

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Tiznow, who is likely to be announced Tuesday in New Orleans as horse of the year for 2000, will probably have only four or five rivals when he tries for his second win as a 4-year-old in the $500,000 Strub Stakes on Saturday.

A winner of four consecutive graded stakes, including the San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Jan. 13 in his most recent start, Tiznow worked six furlongs in 1:12 1/5 Saturday morning for trainer Jay Robbins.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won two of the last three Strubs with Silver Charm in 1998 and General Challenge last year, will send out a pair--Wooden Phone, who was third in the San Fernando, and Tribunal, who will be ridden for the first time by Gary Stevens. Wooden Phone will be handled by Corey Nakatani, who has won the Strub the last two years. The other possible starters are Nurdlinger, Jimmy Z and Capo Di Capo, who may instead run in Sunday’s $300,000 San Antonio Handicap.

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Captain Steve will make his 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

A three-time stakes winner in 2000, the son of Fly So Free will be making his first start since finishing third behind Tiznow and Giant’s Causeway in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6.

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Gold Mover, the even-money favorite, made it six wins in eight starts with a decisive victory in the $113,000 Forward Gal Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

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Notes

Nany’s Sweep, the upset winner of Saturday’s Santa Monica Handicap could surface in the $200,000 Santa Maria Handicap on Feb. 18 for trainer Kathy Walsh. . . . Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye had three winners Sunday.