‘Rock Star Is Worthy of Encore

Trainer Bob Baffert left Roman Ruler in the barn with a bad hoof, but he still won Sunday’s $150,000 San Vicente at Santa Anita with Fusaichi Rock Star, who beat the three remaining starters for his first stakes win.

Fusaichi Rock Star, ridden by David Flores, beat the rallying Don’t Get Mad by one length and paid $17 as the longest shot on the board. Kirkendahl, missing second by a neck, finished third, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Consolidator, who went off the favorite after Roman Ruler was scratched. The time for seven furlongs was 1:10 1/5 .

Baffert has won four of the last eight runnings of the stake. His 1997 winner, Silver Charm, also won the Kentucky Derby.

Baffert said that Fusaichi Rock Star, who cost $825,000 at an auction of unraced 2-year-olds last year, hadn’t run in six months because of throat surgery to correct a displaced palate. Fusaichi Rock Star, who has won two of five starts, is owned by Fusao Sekiguchi, the Tokyo businessman who won the 2000 Derby with Fusaichi Pegasus. Sekiguchi’s No. 1 Derby contender this year, Fusaichi Samurai, has been injured and will miss the race.

Flores hadn’t ridden Fusaichi Rock Star since the colt broke his maiden in August at Del Mar, in his second start.

“His breathing is his problem, because he’s got the ability,” Flores said. “He was pretty much in a nice and easy pace, which was a good advantage to save a little horse and finish. If he can just learn how to relax and get by the first part, he can compete with good horses.”

Consolidator, a $1.25-million yearling, ran longer distances than the San Vicente late last year, winning a stake and finishing fourth in October in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. This was his first start since then.

“I think he’s going to be better when they go a little bit farther,” jockey Victor Espinoza said.

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Miss Loren, a 7-year-old mare who was the oldest horse in the field, gave Argentine-born trainer Luis Seglin his first Grade I win in the U.S. when she beat Good Student by a nose in the $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap. Hollywood Story, the 3-1 favorite, ran into traffic near the rail during the stretch run, but after an inquiry the stewards didn’t change the order of finish.

Miss Loren, who paid $12.40, is the oldest horse to win the Santa Maria since Kings Mistake, another 7-year-old, won for Bill Shoemaker in 1957.

Jose Valdivia Jr. rode the winner, as he did when she captured the Paseana Handicap in her last start.

“It’s my first Grade I here, and I hope it’s not the last,” said Seglin, who started training in 1986 and moved to the U.S. in 1995.

Miss Loren, who has 13 wins in 45 starts, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 2/5 .

“I got a little bit cocky and hand-rode her the last 10 yards or so,” Valdivia said. “After I crossed the wire [Tyler Baze, aboard Good Student] was pulling up his horse, patting her and saying how close it was, and I thought, ‘Don’t tell me he came up and got me.’ ”

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Ema Bovary, the 6-year-old sprinter who won 13 of 19 starts and earned $721,642, has been retired after suffering an ankle injury while training at Golden Gate Fields.