Spring House has a finishing kick

A cool and wet wintry Saturday at Santa Anita belonged to Spring House, winner of the Grade II, $150,000 San Luis Obispo Handicap.

Spring House, owned by R.D. Hubbard and trained by Julio Canani, went off as the 8-5 favorite in the 1 1/2 -mile turf race for 4-year-olds and up. The 6-year-old kicked clear after urging by jockey Garrett Gomez to beat Church Service by 2 1/4 lengths. Finishing third was On the Acorn.

Spring House paid $5.40, $3.60 and $2.60, while 20-1 longshot Church Service, ridden by Martin Garcia, paid $15.80 and $7.60. On The Acorn, winner of the Santa Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita and the Jim Murray Handicap at Hollywood Park last year, was ridden by Victor Espinoza and paid $3.20 to show.

Gomez had Spring House back in sixth in the eight-horse field before beginning to let him go at the one-mile mark.

“I was comfortable with where I was,” Gomez said. “I thought the one horse [fourth-place finisher Porfido] would go and I was glad when the two [fifth-place finisher Sohgol] went with him.

“My horse traveled beautifully for me the whole way. My main concern was keeping him out of trouble. When I asked him to come home, he did.”

Obrigado, the winner of last year’s San Luis Obispo, was a late scratch because of the soft turf, according to John Donovan, assistant to trainer Neil Drysdale.

In the winner’s circle after the race, Canani said Spring House may ship to Dubai to run March 29 in either the $5-million Dubai Sheema Classic at 1 1/2 miles on turf or the $6- million World Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

“I hope to know something in about a week,” he said.

It was announced at Santa Anita that jockey Richard Migliore has won this year’s George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Making the announce after the sixth race was Gary Stevens, who portrayed Woolf in the 2003 movie “Seabiscuit.”

Longshot Kaiangandaia, ridden by Chantel Sutherland, won the fourth race and paid $25.40. That helped trigger a $30,886 payout to 14 winners of the Magna 5, which requires bettors to pick the winners of five races at Magna-owned tracks.

Racing resumes today at Santa Anita, highlighted by the $100,000 Honest Lady. Besides Monday’s regularly scheduled card, there will also be racing Wednesday, a makeup day.

larry.stewart@latimes.com