Day for Stevens to Get Even

A winner only four times in the first 20 days of the Santa Anita meet, jockey Gary Stevens nearly equaled his output Monday.

The Hall of Fame rider won with his three mounts and swept both stakes, capturing the $150,000 Santa Ynez with 18-1 longshot Dancing, then winning a thriller on 2-1 second choice Irish Prize in the $150,000 San Marcos.

Of course, an exciting finish is usually a given when Irish Prize is involved. The largest margin of victory for the gelding in his four previous victories was a neck and he cut it even closer in his initial race of 2002.

Well-positioned behind a slow early pace, the 6-year-old son of Irish River swung to the outside in the stretch to beat 13-1 outsider Continental Red by a nose in 2:011/5 for the 11/4 miles on turf.

Owned by Sheik Maktoum al Maktoum and trained by Neil Drysdale, who had collaborated with Stevens to win the seventh race with Sunday Break, Irish Prize earned his 10th victory in 25 starts in his first attempt at 10 furlongs.

“I thought I had it won at the eighth pole,” said Stevens, who has had 46 mounts so far at Santa Anita. “He gives me just a ton of confidence. He’s got this aura about him. When he gets in the thick of things, he doesn’t lose too many of them.

“I was pretty confident coming into the stretch. I had a lot of horse and he really accelerated at the eighth pole. Even though [the margin was only a nose], I was pretty confident about the whole thing.”

This was the third win in four starts on the Santa Anita turf for Irish Prize and the $90,000 check pushed his earnings to $1,212,353.

“Honestly, 10 yards from the wire I didn’t think he was going to get there,” Drysdale said. “This horse really reaches. He has a tremendous desire to win. Gary said the other day [after the gelding’s win in the nine-furlong San Gabriel Handicap on Dec. 30] that he relaxes so well now he didn’t think the extra distance would be a problem.”

Lord Flasheart, the even-money favorite on the strength of his comeback victory Dec. 30, never really got involved, finishing fifth in a field reduced to six after Kerrygold and Blue Steller were scratched earlier in the day.

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Dancing’s victory gave trainer Jenine Sahadi an unexpected second consecutive win in the Santa Ynez, a Grade II she had won last year with the since-retired Golden Ballet.

A winner once in three starts on the turf in Ireland last year, Dancing, a 3-year-old English-bred filly owned by Howard Baker, rallied from well off the pace to beat 6-1 third choice Respectful by a half-length.

Racing with Lasix for the first time, Dancing paid $38 and ran the seven furlongs in 1:23.

Lady George, who was looking for her second stakes victory of the meet after taking the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes on Dec. 28, was third and Ayanna, the 6-5 favorite, finished last in the field of eight after pressing the early pace.

“I had nothing to do with this,” Sahadi said. “I asked [Baker] what he wanted to do and he said, ‘We’re running in this race.’

“He sent the horse to me from Europe. When I got her, I was working from scratch. I worked her three-eighths [of a mile] the first time because I really didn’t know if she had breezed or if she was fit.”

A winner of three of six and never worse than second in five previous races around one turn, Ayanna was outrun for the early lead by Rich Musique through 22 and 443/5 fractions and finished nearly 16 lengths behind the winner.

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Squirtle Squirt, who capped his 2001 season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is scheduled to make his first start of the year in the $150,000 Palos Verdes Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita.

Trained by Bobby Frankel for owner David Lanzman, Squirtle Squirt is among six probables for the six-furlong Palos Verdes, a Grade II.

The field is also expected to include Snow Ridge, , Explicit, Men’s Exclusive, Silky Sweep and Ceeband.