Charity and Big Payoffs at Oak Tree’s Opener

In a trying time, the opening of the Oak Tree Racing Assn.’s annual fall meet at Santa Anita had a warm glow all around. Jockey Laffit Pincay promised all of Wednesday’s earnings to the families of terrorist victims, and backed it up by booting home a longshot; a surprisingly strong crowd of 11,521 contributed more than $12,000 to the American Red Cross; and Oak Tree rounded off those totals by bringing the overall collection to $50,000.

The 32-day Oak Tree season is Southern California’s first major meet since the terrorist hijackers crashed their planes in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11. Before the first post, the day started with a winner’s circle tribute to the dead from those attacks, and Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of the Oak Tree group, said that before the meet ends at least one more project--betting-related--will raise additional money for the relief fund.

The opening crowd was about 4,000 more than last year, when a bus strike kept many patrons away, and was about 1,500 more than the meet’s first day in 1999. A La Reine’s victory in the $110,400 Sen. Ken Maddy Memorial Handicap was almost overshadowed by a hopeless maiden’s longshot win the race before. Dini Dee’s unexpected victory at 62-1, and a second-place finish by Quick Save at 104-1, set off some record Santa Anita payoffs.

With River Of Truth, who was 5-2, running third, the sixth-race trifecta paid a whopping $52,892.50 for $1, breaking the track record by more than $31,000. The Dini Dee-Quick Save $2 quinella kicked in for $1,949.60, about $500 better than the previous track high that was set six years ago. The $1 exacta on Dini Dee and Quick Save, while not a record for Santa Anita, was worth $3,022.20.

Dini Dee, who won by a neck under Felipe Martinez, paid $126.80, $40.60 and $14.20. Quick Save’s mutuels were $74.60 and $28 and River Of Truth’s show price was $5. Dini Dee, losing all 17 previous starts, is a 4-year-old filly trained by Brinnard Millington, whose barn had won only one race this year from 42 starters.

In the race that followed, A La Reine’s half-length victory over Nanogram was hardly an insult to form. Trainer Richard Mandella’s 4-year-old filly had never run in a stake, but while competing in allowance company and against optional claimers she had still cranked out a series of solid races. As the third choice in the betting, A La Reine paid $10.80 for $2 and earned $66,240. With five wins, five seconds and three thirds in 14 starts, A La Reine has banked more than $260,000 in purses for her owners, Jerry and Ann Moss.

Mandella horses had won this stake four times before, but in the days when the Oak Tree’s opening feature was called the Autumn Days Handicap. In 1999, the name of the race was changed to honor the state legislator--and horse owner--who had supported many bills favorable to racing.

“It’s an honor win a race named after Ken Maddy,” Mandella said. “Racing never had a better friend.”

Pincay was able to toss $1,560--his share of the winning purse--into the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund after he rode Love Lane to a 14-1 upset victory in the eighth race. The Irish-bred gelding, winless since 1999, had lost all eight of his U.S. starts, many of them by wide margins, but when his trainer, Bill Spawr, and Pincay hook up, magical things are not uncommon. Spawr and Pincay teamed to win 16 races at the Oak Tree meet last year.

A La Reine, a Canadian-bred, had run mostly on dirt until this year. Her last start was a win at a mile at Del Mar on July 20.

“She’s had a few problems, and we’ve had to nurse her along,” Mandella said. “But you can check her record and see that she pays us back when we nurse her.”

Favored Serenita, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, had the lead with an eighth of a mile to run, but at least five other horses had a chance to win. Global, who had won four of her last five starts, looked like a winner again, until the closers bore down. A La Reine, who was next to last after the first half-mile, came from the outside to hold off Nanogram and Tyler Baze, who were the widest of all.

“I wanted to be a little closer than I was, but they were going very fast,” winning jockey Alex Solis said. “I was a little out of position, so I took it easy and waited to make just one run. I knew she could come from off the pace. At about the three-sixteenths [mark], I had to find some room and luckily I found it right away. When I got her in the clear, she took off. She fought that other filly all the way to the wire. She was very game.”

The time for the distance of about 61/2 furlongs was 1:12 1/5, fastest running of the stake since 1996.

“When my filly kicked in,” Baze said of Nanogram, “she tried and gave me all she had. This was a tough bunch of horses.”

Mandella said that he has no immediate plans for A La Reine.

“We’ll savor this one for a while,” he said.