GOLDEN GLIMPSES #60 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #60 EAST VS. WEST IN TRIPLE CROWN: HERE'S 'MUD' IN YOUR EYE
East versus West.
Pulpit versus Mud Route.
Pulpit did his part, winning the Fountain of Youth Stakes by an authoritative 1 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park, to remain unbeaten and untested in three starts. Now all Mud Route has to do is win Sunday's $200,000 San Rafael Stakes to keep both colts on course to the Kentucky Derby. Of course, there's a long way to go until May 3.
Mud Route, a son of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, is the "now" 3-year-old on the West Coast. The eyes of the racing world will be on him when he takes on 2-year-old champion Boston Harbor, Bagshot, Inexcessivelygood, Swiss Yodeler, and others in the one-mile San Rafael.
"Yes, the pressure is on," admitted Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, "but I think he's as good a 3-year-old prospect as I've ever had. He's given me no reason to think otherwise. He does everything so easily, without any effort." Mud Route had his final major San Rafael prep on Saturday, working seven furlongs in a bullet 1:24 4/5, handily.
McAnally, who has never won a Triple Crown race in a career of nearly 40 years, has another legitimate colt in the Irish-bred, Hello.
"The main thing now is to keep both horses separated as long as I can," said McAnally, who plans to run Hello in the San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 16.
McAnally, meanwhile, wasn't about to accept Mud Route's rave reviews without deflecting some of the hype.
"I don't know if he's the best in the west," McAnally said. "There's a horse up north who's unbeaten." McAnally was speaking of Wild Wonder, a son of Wild Again who has won all four starts. But the gray colt has received little national attention. He's wasn't even listed in the latest Kentucky Derby future book.
Chris McCarron, who opted to ride Mud Route in the San Rafael over Silver Charm (who will miss the race due to a fever) knows a good horse when he sits on one. "Some horses just scream class when you get on them," said the Hall of Fame rider who won the Kentucky Derby on Alysheba in 1987 and Go For Gin in 1994. "Mud Route is that way. You can tell by his demeanor, the way he carries himself."
Mud Route broke his maiden by 11 lengths, then came back to win comfortably by 2 1/4. He lost his first start, but McCarron can explain that third-place finish, in which he was beaten six lengths.
"He probably would have been in front in all three of his starts," McCarron said. "But the first time he ran, he broke slowly and I elected to ease him back and drop him in. That was counter-productive, because I got stopped on the turn. But he's got a ton of speed."
Meanwhile, San Vicente Stakes winner Silver Charm is being pointed to the San Felipe Stakes on March 16.
"A mile against those kind of horses won't really tell you what kind of horse you have anyway," reasoned Silver Charm's trainer, Bob Baffert. "The sprinters are still very effective going a mile. I think I'm better off going a mile-and-a-sixteenth, the way my horse is training right now. Before, he wouldn't work. He was lazy. But now, he's working unbelievable.
"At a mile, the pace is different. A horse can go :22 and :45 and keep going. But that extra distance can make a difference. Silver Charm ran harder than I really wanted (in the seven-furlong San Vicente), but he came out of the race fine. And from here on out, you have to have a healthy horse (to reach the Kentucky Derby)."
GOLDEN PICKS
ONETIMESONEISONE -- Closed resolutely in deep stretch after two-month layoff. Improved Cal-bred ready for bigger things.
REED -- Daughter of Woodman had very eventful trip in first start in four months, still managed to get third. Breaks maiden with clean trip.
SHY MARFA -- First-time starter closed gobs of ground, can handle claiming maidens going six furlongs or longer.
THE HOMESTRETCH: Don't bet your last deuce on settlement anytime soon of the simulcast stalemate between California's tracks and the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association. "It doesn't look good, and I've been one of the optimists," said Santa Anita president Cliff Goodrich. "There could be some word next week, but everyone's sort of run out of ideas." Through Saturday, with the 86-day meet more than half over, not one penny had been generated from Nevada. "Last year," said VP of marketing and publicity Mark Stephens, "our daily average from Nevada was $562,000 a day. Forty-four days are in the books with no action. So the best guess you could make (on how much the deadlock has cost Santa Anita) would be to take that $562,000, multiply it by 44, and that's $24,728,000 in total handle." . . . Director of Racing Tom Robbins says it's too early to tell how much the horse population has been replenished by the eight-race weekday programs. "It's hard to compare from a business standpoint, because of all the scratches during January's rains. But horsewise, it's a great advantage. It helps us immensely in our ultimate goal of trying to present a better product." . . . David Hofmans has no return date for Breeders' Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup, who will miss the Santa Anita Handicap due to a wrenched left front ankle. "I haven't even tracked him yet," the trainer said, "but he hasn't been turned out. He's in his barn at Hollywood Park." . . . Most heart-warming moment of the ceremony during which Alex Solis received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award came when McCarron gave Solis a congratulatory embrace. Business for both riders is handled by Scott McClellan, but it was obvious during that moment their competition is reserved for the race track.
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