Santa Anita Handicap

Poor old Noor should be allowed to rest in peace. He earned that with a thoroughbred racing season in 1950 that track old-timers remember fondly. Endangering Noor's after-life resting place is that great American symbol of progress and ingenuity, the real estate development. Noor currently rests in Grass Valley, in the old gold mining country near Nevada City, Calif. His resting place is the former site of Loma Rica Ranch, which is on the drawing boards for eventual bulldozers, leading to cement and condominiums.

Apparently, it takes a village for a lot of things. Case in point: the 75th running of the Santa Anita Handicap, won by Ron The Greek on Saturday. This 5-year-old, with 16 lifetime starts before going to the gate in Santa Anita's prestigious $750,000 test, was on his fourth trainer and his ninth jockey. He is also jointly owned by three people. His most recent trainer is veteran Bill Mott, the man who trained Cigar to world fame. Mott trains mostly in the East and in Florida and, in keeping with the team approach, sent assistant trainer Rudolf Basset to handle things when they flew the horse in Wednesday.

Apparently, it takes a village for a lot of things. Case in point: the 75th running of the Santa Anita Handicap, won by Ron The Greek on Saturday. This 5-year-old, with 16 lifetime starts before going to the gate in Santa Anita's prestigious $750,000 test, was on his fourth trainer and his ninth jockey. He is also jointly owned by three people. His most recent trainer is veteran Bill Mott, the man who trained Cigar to world fame. Mott trains mostly in the East and in Florida and, in keeping with the team approach, sent assistant trainer Rudolf Basset to handle things when they flew the horse in Wednesday.

The richest day of the prestigious annual Del Mar thoroughbred meeting will take place Sunday, and it will feature three races totaling $1.45 million in purses, led by the $1-million TVG Pacific Classic. The Classic will go off as the ninth race on an 11-race card. It will be preceded by the $200,000 Del Mar Handicap, the third race of the day, and the $250,000 Pat O'Brien Stakes, the fifth race of the day. The Classic is run over 11/4 miles on the main synthetic track; the Handicap 13/8 miles on the turf and the Pat O'Brien seven furlongs on the main track.

There are a million stories in the naked city, and almost that many today at Santa Anita, on Big 'Cap Day. The legendary Santa Anita Handicap, the 72nd, is the highlight. The hope is that with Magna Entertainment Corp., the owner of a still-profitable Santa Anita, now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, there will be a 73rd. Life without Santa Anita in Southern California would be like life without newspapers. But that's another story for another day.

Gates Open: 10 a.m. Saturday First Post: Noon Big 'Cap Post: Ninth race, Approx. 4:15 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Net 2 Listed in post position order (odds in parentheses): * CAGNEY (8-1) Owner: Stud T N T (Goncalo Borges Torrealba). Trainer: Richard Mandella. Jockey: Mike Smith. Lowdown: A five-time winner on the grass, Cagney has not raced on the main track since he finished sixth in his career debut in Brazil more than two years ago.

Diazo, winner of the Strub Stakes and one of the favorites for Saturday's Santa Anita Handicap, suffered a broken bone in his lower left foreleg during a workout Sunday and has been withdrawn from the $1-million race. "The timing was bad on this," trainer Bill Shoemaker said Monday. "But they tell me that it's not a real bad fracture and there's a 75% to 85% chance that he'll be able to run again."

Look! If a cool, benevolent-looking fellow with fringe around his bald pate that makes him look a little bit like Dickens' Mr. Pickwick comes up to your friendly Saturday night poker game and says, "Mind if I sit in?" you say, "Sorry, this is for family and friends only." If a guy in a ratty old sweater, with old clubs and a shy smile comes up to your group on the first tee and says, "Mind if I join you?" say you're awfully sorry, "but we already got three." Otherwise, you go home in a barrel.

The way Cigar won the $300,000 Donn Handicap Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., in his 1996 debut, 130 pounds looks about right for him in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 2. Picking up where he left off, 1995's Horse of the Year made it 13 consecutive victories while winning his first race since the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 28.

The Kentucky Derby is America's race. It has Stephen Foster, mint juleps, bluegrass, the Run for the Roses, Col. Matt Winn and David Harum, an entry that's pretty hard to beat. Tied for second would be the Preakness and the Belmont. But the Santa Anita Handicap is California's race. It always has been and always will be. The run for the geraniums. It was the audacious idea of Dr. Charles Henry Strub in the bleak Depression year of 1935.

With the absence of retired Zenyatta, thoroughbred racing has been searching for a horse to provide star power, and Twirling Candy could be ready to come to the rescue. "He's one of the most talented horses I've ever trained," John Sadler said. Twirling Candy, a 4-year-old son of Candy Ride, is the 4-5 favorite for the biggest race of the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting, the $500,000 Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday at 11/4 miles. Set to be run as the eighth race in a 10-race card, the Hollywood Gold Cup brings together eight top older horses bidding for a guaranteed spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.

Poor old Noor should be allowed to rest in peace. He earned that with a thoroughbred racing season in 1950 that track old-timers remember fondly. Endangering Noor's after-life resting place is that great American symbol of progress and ingenuity, the real estate development. Noor currently rests in Grass Valley, in the old gold mining country near Nevada City, Calif. His resting place is the former site of Loma Rica Ranch, which is on the drawing boards for eventual bulldozers, leading to cement and condominiums.

It was the same old story in horse racing Saturday at Santa Anita. Females ruled. Women stole most of the show. Especially a two-legged one. The result of the main race of the day, the $250,000 Las Virgenes for 3-year-old fillies, rang familiar. The winner was owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, is named after a record album from the 1980s, was found and recommended by David Ingordo and beat the favorite with a courageous stretch run. No, Zenyatta has not been taken off the farm in Kentucky to race again.

Sunday might be as significant a day as there has been in Southern California horse racing. It is subtle. There is a Grade II race at Hollywood Park, the $150,000 Bayakoa Handicap. That's business as usual. The Triple Crown season is well behind us, as is the Breeders' Cup. And the local run of headliner races, such as the Santa Anita Handicap and Derby, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic, are mere distant thoughts for a new year. Sunday is a big deal because of Zenyatta and dirt.

In the 36th start of his racing career, the 7-year-old gelding Awesome Gem finally became a Grade I winner on Saturday, rallying along the rail under jockey David Flores to pull off a half-length victory over heavily favored Rail Trip in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. "He's like fine wine. He's just getting better with age," trainer Craig Dollase said. A patient, ground-saving ride by Flores was critical to the victory. Compari led from the start of the 1¼-mile race, setting relatively slow fractions.

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.

Tom Gentry and his son, Olin, were in the walking ring before a race at Santa Anita a week ago, watching one of their horses about to leave for the track. Olin was getting eyeballed by his father. "Don't you have a suit or a sport coat?" Tom Gentry said. He was thinking about a possible trip to the winner's circle, and Olin was wearing a sport shirt, with no coat. "I'll be all right," Olin Gentry said. "Well, it'd be better if at least you'd be wearing a coat," Tom Gentry said.

Precisionist, who would have been the top-weighted starter in the Santa Anita Handicap, was scratched Thursday from the $450,000 race March 3. "He'll stay in the barn," trainer Ross Fenstermaker said. "He's lost too much training time, and it wouldn't be fair to the horse to run him in such a tough spot if he's not ready." Precisionist became only the fifth horse to sweep the three-race Strub series, but a week after winning the Strub Stakes Feb. 3, the 4-year-old colt developed a cough.

Thursday was a postcard day for horse racing at Santa Anita. Blue skies, soft clouds, swaying palm trees. The homes halfway up the San Gabriel Mountains were in clear view. Had you just dropped in from Mars, you would be certain you'd found racing heaven. It's not. At least not at the moment. All the attention should be on Saturday's Santa Anita Handicap. It's the featured race of four months of featured races. They once had 85,527 people show up for it, back in 1985.

Numbers speak clearly to the chances of 5-year-old mare St. Trinians in Saturday's Santa Anita Handicap. A female horse has gone to the gate in the Big Cap 41 of the 72 times it has been run. All 41 times, the female has been walked past the winner's circle and back to the barn. The closest was Next Move, who lost by a neck in 1951. But then, there are reasons to believe that attempt No. 42 will be the charm, and those reasons are not merely based on this mini-racing era of girl power.