Santa Anita Handicap Horse Race

There was one constant during the early part of Santa Anita's 1977-78 meeting, something to which current horseplayers and Californians in general can relate: Lots and lots of rain. For 18 of the first 19 days that season in Arcadia, the main track was off and, by the end of the meeting, the track had been something other than fast on 38 of 78 days.

Barely a teenager, Doug O'Neill was one of the 72,752 who was present when John Henry, with the help of the stewards, became the first two-time winner of the Santa Anita Handicap in 1982. Accompanied by a friend, and after taking three buses from Santa Monica to get to the Arcadia track, O'Neill watched from the infield while history was made -- thanks to original winner Perrault's number being taken down -- by an extremely popular gelding.

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.

Lava Man has won eight races in a row in California, with three of them at Santa Anita. Even so, the 6-year-old gelding didn't really scare anybody away from the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap, which will be run for the 70th time late Saturday afternoon. Eight other older horses entered the 1 1/4 -mile race Wednesday morning, hoping to keep Lava Man from making history.

Quiet American, a 4-year-old colt who has run only six times and never won a stake, is still the 4-1 second choice--behind the filly Bayakoa at 3-1--in the morning line for today's $1-million Santa Anita Handicap. Trainer Wayne Lukas finds this incongruous, especially since Criminal Type, his Big 'Cap starter, has won two stakes at Santa Anita this season and is listed at 5-1. "Maybe this is one of those media horses," Lukas said, referring to Quiet American.

John Toffan was asked which is the easier adjustment for a horse, going from grass to dirt or making the switch from dirt to grass. "I wish I knew," Toffan said. Toffan, his partner Trudy McCaffery and their trainer Paco Gonzalez will find out more about the grass-to-dirt conversion Saturday, when their turf-loving 5-year-old, Bienamado, tackles horse of the year Tiznow and a gang of 10 others in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap.

The fishing boat was less than 100 feet long, crammed with 140 Vietnamese refugees and piloted by a so-called captain clueless about their destination. There were rations that might last three days, and toward the end of the third day, after a journey of more than 500 miles across the South China Sea, this desperate party found the coastline of Malaysia. Calvin Nguyen, then 9 years old, was on that boat, with his aunt and uncle and a 12-year-old brother.

Forget about today's race. Santa Anita ought to be selling tickets for Silver Charm's workouts. In preparing for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap, Silver Charm worked a mile against his stablemate and fellow Kentucky Derby winner, Real Quiet; then, five days later, Silver Charm worked five furlongs in a torrid 57 seconds, faster than the track record.

Preparing for another assault on the Santa Anita Handicap, Richard Mandella wasn't aware he has a chance to make history on Saturday. After winning the $1-million event with Siphon in 1997 and Malek a year ago, Mandella can become the first trainer to win Santa Anita's richest and most famous race three consecutive years. Mandella will be well represented on Saturday.

Even though last year's winner, Malek, will be on the sidelines, the 62nd Santa Anita Handicap is being billed as one of the toughest runnings of the race. Top to bottom in the six-horse field, there are no throw-outs. "It's the best [Big 'Cap] in 15 years," said Gary Stevens, who first rode in Santa Anita's signature race in 1985. "There have been years when you've had one or two top horses, and there have been years when you've had no superstars at all.

A former $50,000 claimer won the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday. In doing so, Lava Man, trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by Corey Nakatani, took his career earnings over the $2-million mark. As investments go, the 5-year-old gelding is proving to be a good ride. "It really is a dream come true," said co-owner Steve Kenly, who claimed the horse at Del Mar in 2004 for what, in racing terms, amounts to little more than loose change. "From a claimer to the Big 'Cap. It's amazing."

Dan Hendricks will have to wait another year to saddle his first starter in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap. The trainer was going to run Top This And That in the Grade I, which will be run for the 69th time today, but a foot problem discovered Wednesday morning kept Hendricks from entering the 4-year-old gray gelding, who had finished second at 18-1 in the Strub Stakes on Feb. 4. Still, Big 'Cap Day will be very important to Hendricks.

A mainstay on the local circuit for more than 30 years, trainer Mike Mitchell has had starters in the Breeders' Cup, the Arlington Million and the Hollywood Gold Cup. Saturday, however, the Bakersfield-born Mitchell will have his first runner in his home state's most historic race, the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap. Texcess, a California-bred gelding who has been in Mitchell's barn slightly more than a month, is among nine entries scheduled to run 1 1/4 miles in the 69th Big 'Cap.

The last time the Kentucky Derby winner returned to win the Santa Anita Handicap was 1988, when Alysheba beat 1986 Derby winner Ferdinand. Giacomo will try to join that exclusive club Saturday when he and eight others compete in the $1-million Big 'Cap, which will be run for the 69th time. Other Derby winners who completed the parlay in the Santa Anita Handicap are Spectacular Bid, Affirmed and Lucky Debonair. At this point, Giacomo can't be compared to any of these greats.

Saint Liam had come from Florida with the reputation, a supposed training advantage and much of the crowd's money behind him. "There were a lot of naysayers," Ernie Moody was saying about his horse, Rock Hard Ten. "That he was a one-turn horse, that he couldn't get a mile and a quarter." If Rock Hard Ten was underestimated, so were his trainer and jockey, even though they're old hands at getting a horse to the winner's circle in the Santa Anita Handicap.

A visitor to David Bernstein's barn at Santa Anita handed the trainer a yellowed, tattered copy of the Daily Racing Form's chart of the 1994 Santa Anita Handicap. Bernstein held the newspaper clipping in his hand. Many a horseman in Bernstein's position might have wadded it up and fired it into the nearest wastebasket. "Yes, this is it," Bernstein said, squinting to look at the chart. "I get asked about this a lot. But there's nothing you can do about it now, is there?"

Lava Man has won eight races in a row in California, with three of them at Santa Anita. Even so, the 6-year-old gelding didn't really scare anybody away from the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap, which will be run for the 70th time late Saturday afternoon. Eight other older horses entered the 1 1/4 -mile race Wednesday morning, hoping to keep Lava Man from making history.

The last time the Kentucky Derby winner returned to win the Santa Anita Handicap was 1988, when Alysheba beat 1986 Derby winner Ferdinand. Giacomo will try to join that exclusive club Saturday when he and eight others compete in the $1-million Big 'Cap, which will be run for the 69th time. Other Derby winners who completed the parlay in the Santa Anita Handicap are Spectacular Bid, Affirmed and Lucky Debonair. At this point, Giacomo can't be compared to any of these greats.

Saint Liam, who is scheduled to arrive from Florida on Thursday, was given high weight of 122 pounds for the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap, which will be run for the 68th time Saturday. A 5-year-old Saint Ballado horse owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Warren Jr. and trained by Rick Dutrow Jr., Saint Liam began 2005 with a decisive win over Roses In May in the Donn Handicap on Feb. 5 at Gulfstream Park. It was his fourth win in seven starts since joining the Dutrow barn.

On a day of upsets at Santa Anita, the biggest was provided by 43-1 shot Pico Central in the $150,000 San Carlos Handicap. Making his second start in this country after winning four of eight in his native Brazil, the 5-year-old son of Spend A Buck led every step of the way under jockey David Flores in the Grade II. Trained by Paulo Lobo, who is best known for his work with Farda Amiga, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2002, Pico Central beat 5-1 third choice Publication by two lengths in 1:21.