Misremembered makes it a memorable Big Cap at Santa Anita

Herewith the story of Saturday’s prestigious Santa Anita Handicap, as unbelievable as it may seem:

The 73rd running of the $750,000 race was won by a horse named after a Roger Clemens verbal stumble before Congress. The horse has rookie owners affectionately known as Quick Quip Bob and Pizza George and is ridden by a jockey new enough to the scene that he didn’t even know until a few years ago that a race such as the Big Cap existed.

Going into the race, the biggest news was likely to be that they actually ran. The forecast had been for a deluge of rain, but the day brought only manageable late-afternoon showers.

In the end, the expected weather woes took a back seat to a horse named Misremembered and its wacky supporting cast.

“I bet this is the first time in the history of the Santa Anita Handicap,” said Bob Baffert, “that the winning owners actually needed the money.”

And off it went. A horse race aftermath became Comedy Central, an exercise in one-liners topping one-liners. In his next life, Baffert will be Jon Stewart.

He, of course, is about as unfamiliar in horse racing as a saddle. He has won multimillions for clients as one of the most famous trainers in the sport’s history. He is only 57, has won dozens of Grade I races, including three Kentucky Derbies, and is already in the Hall of Fame. His bright white hair is distinguishable from several football fields away.

But as an owner, and in this case also the breeder of Misremembered, he claimed to be as clueless as the man whose utterance inspired the four-year-old horse’s name.

“George and me,” he said, “we’ve poured a lot of money down the drain on horses.”

George Jacobs, owner of Georgie’s Pizza in La Canada, said, “We did this one sandwich, one horse at a time.” He also said, “I’m a living example that this can happen to anybody.”

Baffert said he met Jacobs through his friendship with Matt Young, a former Dodgers pitcher. Through Young, Jacobs had met Clemens.

“I’ve been out to dinner with him [Clemens],” Jacobs said. “When I heard him testify and say that, I told Bob we had to name the horse that.”

Baffert said at different times during post-race interviews that the horse, when born, had looked like “a camel” and “a kangaroo.” He said he told wife (and co-owner) Jill that George would name the horse and then he added that he and Jill had named a few of their own, including a successful one named Mountain Rage.

“That was after the first time I took Jill skiing,” Baffert said.

Jill said, “We named the horse as soon as we started speaking again.”

Jacobs said he had just received a text message from Young, who hadn’t been at the race.

“He misremembered we were running today,” Jacobs said.

Baffert said that he thought Clemens liked the horse’s name. Jacobs said, “I think he wants to forget it.”

Jill Baffert told of how she had been gently bitten by another horse Baffert trained, Richard’s Kid, before he won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar last summer. She said Misremembered had done the same thing to her this week, and she called it a good omen. Her husband interrupted to make sure everyone was clear that it was the horse that bit her, not him.

And so it went. All it needed was rim shots after each one-liner. Ba-Da-Bum.

The 25-year-old Garcia, a native of Mexico, didn’t start riding regularly in Southern California until 2006 and has had some of his best success recently, riding for Baffert.

“He’s a nice smart kid,” Baffert said. “He wants to be No. 1, and I like that. I’ve been molding him. Also, he’s beaten me in two stakes races, and I didn’t want him to do that again, so I put him on our horse today.”

Victor Espinoza had ridden Misremembered in his nine previous races.

Garcia also got the ride because top jockey Joel Rosario allows his agent, Vic Stauffer, to carry Garcia’s book as well, a rarity in the business. Stauffer made a good sell to Baffert on Garcia and Garcia ended up beating Rosario, who was aboard race-favorite St Trinians and finished sixth. St Trinians was the 42nd female to take a shot at beating the boys to win this legendary race, and the 42nd to fail.

Sadly, on a day that featured two more Grade I races and a Grade III as warmups for the Big Cap, the potential weather chased away the crowd. There were 23,829 in attendance on track, second-lowest in race history after the 21,494 in 1998. But the on-track handle, surprisingly, was the best since 2000, which was the only other time Baffert trained a horse to victory in the race. When General Challenge won that year, the handle was $3,655,180. Saturday, it was $3,274,569.

In the rescheduled, Grade III Sham Stakes, Alex Solis won for trainer Alexis Barba aboard Alphie’s Bet, marking Solis’ second straight Sham victory. He won last year with The Pamplemousse and thought he had a Kentucky Derby starter until the horse turned up injured the day of the Santa Anita Derby. He said he has his fingers crossed on Alphie’s Bet.

Crisp won the Grade I Santa Anita Oaks, with Rosario aboard, and trainer John Sadler said he hopes to get her to the Kentucky Oaks, the prestigious filly race the day before the Derby.

In the Grade I Frank Kilroe Mile, Mike Smith, aboard Proviso, beat Joe Talamo and Fluke with a perfect head bob at the finish.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com