‘Wonderboy Isn’t the One

In the eyes of many at Santa Anita on Saturday, the wrong horse won the $147,000 San Rafael Stakes.

Don’t count trainer Dan Hendricks, owner Cecil Peacock or jockey Alex Solis among them.

Brother Derek, a California-bred son of Benchmark that Hendricks trains for Peacock, spoiled the 2006 debut of Stevie Wonderboy, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and soon-to-be 2-year-old Eclipse Award winner, with a wire-to-wire victory under Solis over a track moistened by rain earlier in the day.

This evened the score between the 3-year-olds at one win apiece. Stevie Wonderboy, whose three-race winning streak ended, had trounced Brother Derek, who finished fourth, by 8 1/2 lengths in the Juvenile Oct. 29 at Belmont Park.

In a field reduced to four after longshots M.J. Pkay and Sailors Sunset were scratched, Brother Derek, the 13-10 second choice, was able to control the pace through moderate fractions (23.48 and 46.80 for the first half-mile) and had more than enough left to contain the late run of the 3-5 favorite. The margin at the end of the mile in 1:36.11 was 1 1/2 lengths.

Purchased for $275,000 at the Barretts March sale last year, Brother Derek now has four wins in six starts and one more graded stakes victory than does Stevie Wonderboy. Before the San Rafael, Brother Derek had taken the Norfolk and the Hollywood Futurity.

“There’s no doubt about it, this is the best horse I’ve had,” said Peacock, a Canadian oilman. “But I’ve only been at this for 35 years. It took a long time to get him.

“I’m not thinking about the [Kentucky Derby] at all. It’s quite a ways until the Derby, but I guess it is in the back of your mind. This is almost more exciting [than a big oil strike], but I shouldn’t admit that.”

Trainer Doug O’Neill was disappointed but hardly discouraged by the defeat of Stevie Wonderboy, who is trying to become the first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner to also win the Kentucky Derby.

“I thought he ran dynamite,” O’Neill said. “I thought he ran a winning race. Anytime you let a horse like Brother Derek get a lead like that it’s going to be trouble. We got beat by a legitimate horse.

“I wouldn’t trade horses [with Hendricks], but I wouldn’t mind having him in my barn. We’ll be all right.”

Gomez won the $200,000 San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes later with 7-2 shot Unbridled Energy.

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Chris McCarron, the Hall of Fame jockey who retired in 2002, became the fourth jockey to have a bronze bust placed in the paddock gardens after a dedication ceremony on Saturday. McCarron joins other honorees John Longden, Bill Shoemaker and Laffit Pincay Jr.

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Lawyer Ron won his third in a row, easily winning the $250,000 Risen Star for 3-year-olds at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. In the other stakes on the card, Rodeo’s Castle won the $250,000 Duncan F. Kenner Breeders’ Cup Handicap, Baghdaria upset the previously unbeaten French Park in the $250,000 Silverbulletday and favored Snowdrops won the $250,000 Bayou Breeders’ Cup Handicap.