A Lucky Claim Pays Off

Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz could easily come up with the word that describes the spring day when he and his trainer, John Sadler, claimed Victory Encounter out of a race: serendipitous.

Sadler wanted to claim a horse out of an early race last April at Santa Anita, but three other trainers also had put in claims and Sadler lost the roll of numbered pills that determined the new owner. So two races later, Sadler and Mankiewicz settled for a filly who went on to beat maidens by nine lengths, buying Victory Encounter for $32,000 from trainer Nick Canani.

“If we had won the shake on the first horse, we wouldn’t have been around to claim [Victory Encounter],” Mankiewicz said Sunday. “Sometimes the racing gods just open the skies and reach down and pick you out.”

Mankiewicz, whose credits include some James Bond films, the movie “Dragnet” and the “Hart to Hart” television series, had just won the $150,000 El Encino Stakes with Victory Encounter, who prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths under an aggressive ride by Mike Smith. The racing gods smiled on the 4-year-old filly in another way when Island Fashion, the 4-5 morning-line favorite, was scratched from the Grade II stake because her owner, Jeff Nielsen, would like to try to win a Grade I race with her in the Santa Monica Handicap next Sunday.

Victory Encounter gave Mankiewicz his first graded stakes win. Since the claim, the filly has won five of six starts, including Del Mar’s Torrey Pines Stakes, which was her last start more than four months ago.

“She came from a different area code to win that day,” Mankiewicz said.

In the 1 1/16-mile El Encino, the horses in front early -- including Island Fashion’s stablemate, Voodoo’s Sister -- were nowhere to be found at the wire. Personal Legend, the 2-1 favorite, finished second, a half-length ahead of Cat Fighter. Victory Encounter, the second choice, registered a time of 1:42 2/5 and paid $8.80.

Victory Encounter is undefeated in four starts at 1 1/16 miles. Her only loss under Sadler came when the trainer switched her to grass and she ran third at Hollywood Park in June.

“She’s absolutely surpassed my expectations,” Sadler said. “When you claim a horse like this, you just expect to make a nice claim and win a few races, but she’s just improved steadily since we got her.”

Smith is undefeated in four rides with Victory Encounter. They were next to last, seven lengths from the front, after the opening half-mile, but moved to the front at the top of the stretch. “I hit the front a bit too soon with her,” Smith said. “She got to looking around when I made the lead, but I had more horse left. As soon as the others got close enough for her to see them, she picked it up.”

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