Southern Image Is Rolling

For a time after Southern Image won the Santa Anita Handicap, trainer Mike Machowsky flirted with running his 4-year-old colt in the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park. Instead Machowsky chose the $500,000 Pimlico Special, which proved to be a wise option Friday when Southern Image scored a 1 1/4-length win in front of 24,471.

Southern Image, ridden by Victor Espinoza, didn’t have Funny Cide, last year’s Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner and the Special’s 2-1 morning-line favorite, to beat. Funny Cide has a respiratory problem and can run poorly in weather such as Friday’s. The temperature was 86 degrees at post time at Pimlico.

“The timing of this race was better than running later in the New York race,” Machowsky said. “Also, this horse was doing real well, and you have to run them when they’re like that. Waiting for the tomorrows in this game can lead to disappointments.”

Southern Image, extending his winning streak to five races, and Espinoza sat behind Midway Road before the winner overtook the pace-setter with about a sixteenth of a mile left in the 1 3/16-mile race.

Midway Road finished second, 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Bowman’s Band, and the rest of the order of finish was Evening Attire, Dynever and Ole Faunty. Dynever, the 17-10 favorite, was never a threat.

The second choice, Southern Image paid $5.80 to win. He hit the wire in 1:55 4/5, earning $300,000 and increasing his purse total to $1.6 million. He carried high weight of 120 pounds, spotting the opposition between three and six pounds. On behalf of six owners, Machowsky bought Southern Image at auction for $300,000 when he was an unraced 2-year-old.

Southern Image hadn’t run since the March 6 Big ‘Cap, which was his second $1-million race victory of the Santa Anita winter meet. In January, he won the $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic there.

“This was his best effort, and I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of him yet,” Machowsky said. “The race we’ll look at next is the Stephen Foster” on June 12 at Churchill Downs.

The race before the Special was also won by a California shipper. Jerry Bailey rode Bob Baffert-trained Yearly Report to 1 1/2-length win over Pawyne Princess in the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan. Yearly Report, winning for the fourth time in five starts, paid $3, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:52 3/5. Rare Gift finished third.

In other stakes here Friday, Friel’s For Real won the $150,000 Pimlico Distaff Handicap; Forest Music won the $100,000 Miss Preakness; and Go Go Baby Go, winner of the $75,000 The Very One Stakes, set a track record for five furlongs on grass with a time of 56 seconds. Forest Music was the fourth winner on the card for East Coast owner Mike Gill.

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KCBS Marketing of Los Angeles said that Stewart Elliott, who will ride Smarty Jones in the Preakness, won’t wear advertising on his pants in the race as was previously reported.