Santa Catalina Stakes Part of Siphonic Plan

Another race, another track. If someone in the country hasn’t seen Siphonic run by now, it’s because he or she hasn’t been paying attention.

Making his Santa Anita debut today, Siphonic will add another sticker to his trunk when he runs against five rival 3-year-olds--none of them a stakes winner--in the Santa Catalina Stakes. The 11/16-mile Santa Catalina is part of trainer David Hofmans’ three-race plan to prepare Siphonic for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4. Also on the colt’s schedule are the San Felipe Stakes on March 17 and the Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

The well-traveled Siphonic, who is considered one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby, has been described by his owners, John and Jerry Amerman, as an “intelligent horse,” and that may be a good thing, so he knows where he has been and where he’s going. His first four starts have come over different tracks and today he’ll be tested by yet another surface.

Siphonic’s racing career began at Del Mar, where he beat maidens on Aug. 26. Hofmans saw enough in that race to ramrod his horse into two-turn stakes competition, and Siphonic dusted the opposition at Keeneland, winning the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity by six lengths on Oct. 6.

After that, it was on to Belmont Park for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile three weeks later. The inside of the track was a lost cause that day, but despite drawing the No. 1 post Siphonic still ran third, behind Johannesburg and Repent. He was beaten by 21/2 lengths. Hofmans closed out the colt’s 2-year-old year on Dec. 15 with the Hollywood Futurity, a race that produced a 31/2-length win. That was Siphonic’s first race over the track on which he regularly trains.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed that he’ll continue to develop,” said John Amerman, who bought the son of Siphon and Cherokee Crossing for $210,000 at a Keeneland yearling sale. “He’s maturing nicely and has put on 50 or 60 pounds in the last couple of months. He already seems to know what it’s all about. He acts like he’s a 4- or 5-year-old. When photographers come around and he hears the camera click, he comes to attention and poses for them.”

Amerman Racing enjoyed an exceptional year, racing horses that earned almost $3 million in 2001, but most of their successes came with older horses, including Grade I winners Lido Palace and Happyanunoit. With a coast-to-coast operation, they use six trainers and turned to Hofmans, because of his reputation, to develop their young horses. In 1997, Hofmans spoiled Silver Charm’s Triple Crown bid when he saddled Touch Gold to win the Belmont Stakes. Last year, Hofmans had another precocious 3-year-old in Millennium Wind. That horse won the Santa Catalina and the Blue Grass Stakes, but while battling a skin infection dropped off the Triple Crown trail after finishing 11th in the Kentucky Derby.

The Florida-based Jerry Bailey, who set a record last year when his horses earned more than $20 million, rode Siphonic in the Breeders’ Cup and the Hollywood Futurity and will be aboard again today. Like other owners, the Amermans have been aware of Bailey’s skills for a long time, but there was an afternoon in August 2000 when it really hit home, up close and personal, just how talented he is. Snow Polina, ridden by Bailey, had just beaten Happyanunoit by one length in the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park when John Amerman turned to his wife and said: “We’ve got to get him to ride some of our horses one of these days.”

That day came in 2001, with Lido Palace in the Whitney Handicap and the Woodward, and with Siphonic in the Breeders’ Cup. Chris McCarron, who had ridden Siphonic for both his maiden win and the victory at Keeneland, elected to ride Came Home--another undefeated colt--at Belmont Park, freeing the Amermans to recruit Bailey. With his new rider, Siphonic wasn’t quite good enough against Johannesburg, the powerful Irish entry, but when Bailey got off Siphonic he said to Hofmans: “I want to ride this horse again. I’ll even pay my way there if I have to.”

A lot of good horses have won the Santa Catalina, but the last horse to use this stake as a foundation for winning the Kentucky Derby was Ferdinand in 1986. Today’s edition is a potential break-out race for all of the starters but Siphonic. National Park is running on dirt for the first time, and his trainer, Bob Hess Jr., concedes that he’ll be happy with second money. Of the others, Labamta Babe was fourth, 61/2 lengths behind Siphonic, in the Hollywood Futurity, and Cottonwood Cowboy is wading into stakes company for the first time after two fall wins at Hollywood Park.

The $100,000 Holy Bull Stakes, one of the preps for the Florida Derby, has drawn a field of seven today at Gulfstream Park. The 8-5 morning-line favorite in the 11/16-mile race is Harlan’s Holiday, who finished a distant second to Siphonic at Keeneland, then won a stake at Churchill Downs to finish his 2-year-old season. At 9-5 is Nokoma, whose last start, on Nov. 24, was a second to Saarland in the 11/8-mile Remsen at Aqueduct.