On Sloppy Track, Uraib Cleans Up Just at the Wire

A switch to a sloppy main track didn’t bother Uraib in the $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap on Monday at Santa Anita.

Second to Fencelineneighbor in her only previous start on the dirt in the San Gorgonio Handicap on Jan. 8, the 5-year-old, Irish-bred mare was up in the very last stride to beat 3-2 favorite Resplendency by a nose in 1:33.72 for the mile.

Reduced to five starters after eight other fillies and mares were scratched when the continued bad weather forced a switch from grass to dirt, the Buena Vista was the fifth win in 20 starts for Uraib, who is owned by Ron Charles and Shig Katayama’s Clear Valley Stable and trained by Sandy Shulman.

Last early as Resplendency and rider Pat Valenzuela set a fast pace while pressured by Any For Love and Elusive Diva, the 8-5 second choice, Uraib came wide into the stretch and was able to prevail under jockey Jon Court.

“We got up in the last jump and that’s the way we like to see it happen,” Court said after Shulman’s first stakes win at Santa Anita since Champion Lodge won the San Luis Rey on March 15, 2003. “I thought I won it. As a matter of fact, I felt real confident, but I’ve been wrong before.”

Uraib’s cause wasn’t hurt by the fact Valenzuela lost his whip inside the final sixteenth of a mile.

Elusive Diva finished five lengths behind Resplendency, then it was seven back to Any For Love, who finished 33 lengths in front of the badly overmatched Irgunette, who has been beaten by a combined 48 lengths in her last two starts.

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Saratoga County, the 5-2 second choice, was up in the final stride to nip pacesetter and 9-5 favorite Don Six by a nose in the $200,000 General George Handicap at Laurel, Md.

Owned by Evelyn Pollard and trained by George Weaver, Saratoga County, a 4-year-old son of Valid Expectations, has won three in a row and five of 16 overall. He ran the seven furlongs in the Grade II in 1:23.43 and was ridden by Javier Castellano.

Don Six, who was seeking his third victory in a row after consecutive stakes wins at Aqueduct, finished a half-length in front of 5-2 shot Gators N Bears, and California invader Taste Of Paradise was fourth under jockey Jose Valdivia Jr.

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Acey Deucey, the longest shot in the field at 24-1, unleashed a powerful rally through the stretch to win the $81,200 Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct.

Giving jockey Diane Nelson her first stakes win in nearly five years, the 3-year-old Abaginone filly beat 5-1 shot Phyllis Sassy Girl by 1 1/4 lengths to win for the third time in five starts. Owned by Jeffrey Tucker and trained by John Morrison, Acey Deucey ran the six furlongs in 1:10.68.

“When she switched her leads off the turn, I knew I was going to win it because I hadn’t even asked her yet and she was full of run,” said Nelson. “She galloped out great. I couldn’t even pull her up.”

Megascape, the 9-10 favorite, finished third and Slew Motion, the 2-1 second choice who was making her New York debut after being purchased privately after winning consecutive starts at Golden Gate Fields, checked in fifth after setting the pace.

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Jockey David Flores, who ranks 13th in the Santa Anita standings with 11 wins from 110 mounts, is going to Japan on March 7 and will ride there for nearly two months. “They made me a good offer, so I’m going,” said Flores, who said he’ll return on April 24, which would be the third day of Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet.