It’s a Longshot, but at Least He Has a Shot

Bob Wheeler, the late trainer who is a finalist this year for racing’s Hall of Fame, won the Santa Margarita Handicap and the Santa Anita Oaks in 1959. No other trainer has done that, before or since.

Forty-seven years ago, wearing the colors of owner C. V. Whitney, Bug Brush won the Santa Margarita under jockey Angel Valenzuela. Silver Spoon and jockey Ray York took the Oaks.

Now, trainer Wally Dollase has a chance to match Wheeler’s feat, although his representatives will be longshots when the Santa Margarita is run for the 69th time today and the Santa Anita Oaks is run for the 67th time Sunday,

Dollase, who won the Santa Margarita with Jewel Princess in 1997, will run Bending Strings in the Grade I for older fillies and mares today, then will return in the Oaks with the lightly raced, 3-year-old Sweet Belle.

Owned by breeder John Gunther, Bending Strings, a 5-year-old American Chance mare, will be trying to upset a field that includes millionaires Dream Of Summer and Star Parade, although rain could keep Star Parade out of the race.

A winner of six of 25 and earner of $833,385, Bending Strings will be making her first start since an ugly effort in the Falls City Handicap last Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs. She finished ninth in the field of 10, beaten by 28 lengths.

Dollase took over as the mare’s trainer four races ago, after she had spent most of her career with Kiaran McLaughlin. He suggests that bettors not hold that last race against her.

“The track was frozen that day and she did not handle it at all,” he said. “We shouldn’t have run her that day, but we did.

“She’s fresh as a daisy now. She’s doing really well and I think she’ll run a big race, but we may be asking a lot of her.”

Bending Strings has run only twice before at Santa Anita. She was fourth in the Santa Ynez Stakes -- when in the barn of original trainer Jerry Hollendorfer -- on Jan. 19, 2004, then was second for McLaughlin as the 8-5 favorite in the La Brea Stakes more than 11 months later.

In search of her first victory at the Santa Margarita distance of 1 1/8 miles, she will be ridden by Corey Nakatani, who will also be aboard Sweet Belle.

Owned by a partnership that includes Jim Ford and Michael Jarvis, Sweet Belle is a daughter of Deputy Commander, a multiple stakes winner Dollase also trained. In 1997, Deputy Commander won the Travers at Saratoga and the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

Sweet Belle, out of the Miswaki mare Sanibel Sole, has a long way to go to match her sire’s accomplishments but is off to a good start. She has won her last two at a mile after missing by a head in her debut at seven furlongs last Nov. 8 at Churchill.

In the Oaks, a Grade I at 1 1/16 miles, Sweet Belle will be taking on Balance and Wild Fit, considered by many the top two 3-year-old fillies in the country.

“She’s doing really well and we’ll get a chance to find out how good she is ... She’s a good-looking filly, very light and athletic and she has a very good mind,” Dollase said.

“The one thing in our favor is that the Deputy Commanders are just getting going at a mile, so she should like more distance.”

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Besides Star Parade, Dream Of Summer and Bending Strings, entered in the Santa Margarita on Thursday morning were Healthy Addiction, Hollywood Story, Santa Candida, Awesome Lady, Proposed, Seafree and Play Ballado. The size of the field could shrink if wet weather persists.

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Mark Guidry will become the 57th recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award during a ceremony between races Sunday. Guidry was voted the award honoring riders whose “careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of thoroughbred racing.”

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The other stakes on the card at Santa Anita today is the $80,000 China Doll for 3-year-old fillies. The race is scheduled for one mile on the turf.

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Coronado’s Quest, who won the Travers, Wood Memorial and Haskell Invitational as a 3-year-old in 1998, died of an apparent heart attack earlier this week in Japan. The 11-year-old son of Forty Niner had been a stallion there since being sold by Claiborne Farm to Japanese interests.

Trained by Shug McGaughey, Coronado’s Quest, the sire of multiple Grade I winner Society Selection, won 10 of 17 starts.