Air Commander tries to double up

Silver Charm was the last 4-year-old to win the San Fernando and Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

The gray son of Silver Buck, who was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame last summer, completed the parlay for owners Bob and Beverly Lewis and trainer Bob Baffert in 1998.

A decade later, Baffert is hoping another colt can duplicate his San Fernando victory in the $300,000 Strub when Air Commander takes on eight others in the Grade II.

The Strub is the last of five consecutive stakes races on today’s program in Arcadia. The others are the $200,000 Robert B. Lewis for 3-year-olds, the $100,000 La Habra for 3-year-old fillies, the $75,000 Thunder Road for older horses and the $250,000 Santa Monica Handicap for older fillies and mares.

The lone Grade I, the Santa Monica was originally scheduled for last Sunday, but was postponed when racing was canceled because of weather and main track issues.

A son of Point Given owned by Robert N. Clay and Faisal Salman, Air Commander was 52-1 when he won the San Fernando by a nose on Jan. 12. He had been fourth in allowance races in his first two starts after a layoff of nearly eight months, but tracked the pace set by Johnny Eves most of the way and prevailed for the third time in eight outings.

One of his victims that day was Tiago, who finished third as the 7-5 favorite in his first race since he was a well-beaten fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Oct. 27 at Monmouth Park.

The winner of last year’s Santa Anita Derby, Tiago should improve with a race behind him and he is three for three at 1 1/8 miles, the Strub distance.

Baffert will be trying to win the seven-furlong Santa Monica for a second year in a row with Pussycat Doll, who will be making her first start since being purchased for $2.3 million by Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables on Nov. 4. If successful, the 6-year-old Real Quiet mare would become only the third two-time winner of the Santa Monica, joining Chop House (1964-65) and Pine Tree Lane (1987-88).

The Lewis, a Grade II at 1 1/16 miles, is another step toward the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 5.

The small field of five does not include a single stakes winner. The most accomplished in terms of earnings is Indian Sun, an Indian Charlie colt who has a win and three seconds in five starts.

Indian Sun, trained by Dan Hendricks for owner Cecil Peacock, who combined to win the Santa Anita Derby and the Lewis -- when it was called the Santa Catalina -- with Brother Derek in 2006, has placed in three graded stakes.

The $140,000 2-year-old purchase was second in the Generous and San Rafael and third in the Hollywood CashCall Futurity.

Jockey Russell Baze became the first U.S.-based rider to win 10,000 races in his career when he won the third race by a nose on favored Two Step Cat on Friday at Golden Gate Fields.

Baze, who surpassed Laffit Pincay Jr. in December 2006 to become the all-time winningest rider in North America, isn’t the first jockey to reach the milestone.

On Jan. 9, Jorge Ricardo, a Brazilian rider, won the 10,000th race of his career in Argentina.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com