Wait a While doesn’t in winning to improve to 2-0 at Santa Anita

Two weeks into the new year and Wait A While already has half as many wins as she did last year.

The 5-year-old Maria’s Mon mare, two for six in 2007 after winning five of nine as a 3-year-old, did what she was supposed to Monday, capturing the $150,000 San Gorgonio Handicap at Santa Anita.

Wait a While, the 3-10 favorite against only four opponents in the Grade II, found a huge opening along the rail under jockey Garrett Gomez into the stretch after tracking the slow pace early and went on to win by 1 1/2 lengths. The final time for the 1 1/8 miles on turf was 1:46.81.

Owned by Alan Cohen’s Arindel Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, Wait A While won for the seventh time in 10 starts on grass and improved to two for two on the Santa Anita course.

This is good news for her connections because the Breeders’ Cup will be held in Arcadia in October.

“We’re very excited the [Breeders’ Cup] is here,” Pletcher said. “She seems to like this course. We would work around the Diana [at Saratoga] as our focus race this summer and hope to come back here in the fall.”

The victory pushed the bankroll of Wait A While, who has won 10 of 20 overall, past $1.8 million. Lavender Sky, the second-longest shot in the field at nearly 14-1, was second, more than four lengths in front of pacesetter Sohgol.

“We ended up pinned down on the rail behind horses and I just had to be patient,” Gomez said. “Going to the far turn, it seemed like everybody was waiting on me. [Sohgol] came off the fence just enough to let me through and she really accelerated and opened up right there. At that point, I was glad I was sitting where I was.”

Monashee, a 7-2 shot, made a successful California debut, winning the $75,000 Paseana Handicap.

Owned by Ole Nielsen and trained by Jason Orman, the 6-year-old Wolf Power mare who had been racing in Canada, won for the 18th time in 24 starts, leading throughout under jockey Mike Smith. She ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.17.

There was still no announcement Monday as to how Santa Anita plans to solve the drainage problem with the new synthetic track, but Ron Charles, the facility’s president, said he expected to have one soon.

Charles said testing continued in a USC lab with “very encouraging results,” which would indicate that track officials hope to fix the existing track without replacing it with a sandy loam dirt surface.

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Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.

bob.mieszerski@latimes.com