Big Victory for a Young Rider

Any jockey coming out of Louisiana has a tough act to follow. Eric Guerin, Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux, to name a few, went from Cajunville to the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Casey Fusilier, an 18-year-old rider who’s trying to hit the big-time at Santa Anita, is from Carencro, La., where Evangeline Downs is located. Shane Sellers and Mark Guidry, both well past the 4,000 mark in winners, notched their first wins at Evangeline. John Henry, a two-time horse of the year, was a nobody when he won his first stakes race at Evangeline.

Fusilier (pronounced few-zha-LAY), whose California debut was marked by two wins at Del Mar this summer, has been getting on horses for trainer Bob Baffert, and one of them, with Fusilier in charge, won Friday’s $113,550 Monrovia Handicap. Resplendency enabled Fusilier to ring out 2004 in high style, as he racked up the first $100,000 stake of his career.

“This is a dream come true,” said Fusilier, the son of a jockey, who won eight races at the recently completed Hollywood Park meet to finish in a tie for 13th in the standings.

The last time Santa Anita was open, for the Oak Tree meet this fall, Fusilier won five races.

The 6 1/2 -furlong Monrovia, scheduled to be run on grass, was switched to the dirt track because of a soggy turf course that has absorbed almost eight inches of rain since Santa Anita opened last Sunday.

Resplendency had never run on grass in winning two of six pre-Monrovia starts, and Baffert said he would have scratched the filly had Friday’s race stayed on the turf.

Fusilier is not the youngest in the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita -- Kyle Kaenel, 16, has that distinction -- but at 5 feet 7 he is among the tallest. Fusilier said that his growth stopped about three years ago.

Resplendency, owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, who paid $500,000 for her at auction in 2002, had an easier task when Belleski, who’s on a three-race win streak, became one of seven Monrovia defections. Puxa Saco finished second, one length behind Resplendency and three lengths ahead of Market Garden, who ran third.

The entry of Market Garden and Chapeau went off the 7-5 favorite. Resplendency, clocked in 1:15 1/5 over a sloppy track, paid $12.60 as she won her first stake.

Fusilier and Baffert just missed consecutive wins when Sparkling Forest, running in the race after the Monrovia, was beaten on the wire by the longshot Dynalook.

“I appreciate the opportunity [the Lewises] and [Baffert] gave me,” Fusilier said. “The track was sloppy, but it felt great to me. I won a few stakes in Louisiana, but this is the biggest one so far.

“Bob [Baffert] just told me that the horse was doing great, and all I had to do was not mess it up. She had a lot left and gave me everything she possibly had in the tank.”

Fusilier rode his first winner at Delta Downs, another Louisiana track, on Feb. 15, 2003. About two months later, still 16, he became the youngest jockey to ever win a race at Lone Star Park near Dallas.

Mike Smith rode Puxa Saco, who was 10-1 and next to last after a half-mile.

“She came up a little bit short,” Smith said. “I just couldn’t mow down [Resplendency]. The other filly handled the mud real well, and we had to take the worst of it, getting covered with it from where we were.”

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Fusaichi Samurai and Roman Ruler, two of the prominent 3-year-olds at Santa Anita this winter, are among the nine horses nominated for the $100,000 San Miguel Stakes on Jan. 9.

Fusaichi Samurai, a $4.5-million buy at auction in February and the son of Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 Kentucky Derby winner, has worked twice since he broke his maiden in his first start, at Hollywood Park on Dec. 11. The colt went six furlongs in 1:12 3/5 on Dec. 24, which was the fastest of the 35 horses who worked that distance at Hollywood that morning.

Roman Ruler, second to Declan’s Moon, the expected 2-year-old male champion, in the Del Mar Futurity and then winner of the Norfolk at Santa Anita in October, ran fifth as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Lone Star Park.

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Nine horses, including the co-high weights, McCann’s Mojave and Bluesthestandard, are entered in Sunday’s $100,000 El Conejo Handicap.... Jockey Rene Douglas’ third-race win was the 2,995th of his career.