SANTA ANITA : Prized Runs Down Hawkster, Wins the San Luis Rey Stakes

Prized might be stabled at Hollywood Park, but he’s just as much at home at Santa Anita. On Sunday, the 4-year-old colt caught a tiring Hawkster at the wire, winning the $315,000 San Luis Rey Stakes by three-quarters of a length and going over the $2-million mark in earnings in only his 13th start.

Hawkster, who set a world record for 1 1/2 miles on the turf, the San Luis Rey distance, in the Oak Tree Invitational at Santa Anita last October, tried to run even faster Sunday despite strong restraint from Pat Valenzuela. While Frankly Perfect and Chris McCarron stayed reasonably close, a patient Eddie Delahoussaye dropped Prized about 10 lengths off the lead.

Jeff Siegel, one of Prized’s owners, thought Delahoussaye was the difference. “The key was Eddie not chasing Hawkster early,” Siegel said. “He just sat and sat and sat. I’m not taking anything away from our trainer (Neil Drysdale) or the horse. But when you’ve got the horse, a superb trainer and get a great ride like this one, you should be able to win.”

Hawkster, who had never been beaten in the United States on grass, finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Frankly Perfect, and it was another half-length back to a late-running El Senor, who ran an exceptional race after shipping in from Florida. Delegant and Just as Lucky completed the six-horse field.

The San Luis Rey was Prized’s third victory in as many tries at Santa Anita. He won the Bradbury, on dirt, a year ago, and he made his 1990 debut on grass March 4, beating Steinlen, last year’s male grass champion, in the Arcadia Handicap.

Prized earned $180,000 for Clover Racing Stable and Barbara LaCroix, giving him a total of $2.1 million. Of the 40 other horses who have earned at least $2 million, only two--Sunday Silence and Risen Star--have started fewer times. Sunday Silence, with $4.6 million, has run 12 times and Risen Star, just over the $2-million mark, ran in 11 races, and both horses won $1-million bonuses in the Triple Crown series.

Delahoussaye has been Prized’s jockey ever since the horse arrived in California from Florida early last year. Together they’ve had six wins, one third and one fourth in eight starts.

“I knew they were rolling up front,” Delahoussaye said after he won the San Luis Rey for the third time in the last four years. “My horse is a one-run horse, so I just waited. My horse switched leads (to the left foot) near the far turn this time, something he didn’t do in the last race. I was determined to get him to do that this time.”

The crowd of 36,200 made Prized a slight favorite over Frankly Perfect and Hawkster and he paid $5.40 to win. The time was 2:25 1/5, over a course playing considerably slower than last fall, when Hawkster set the world record with a 2:22 4/5 clocking.

“He handled the course fine, but I guarantee you that if the turf was firmer like it was at Oak Tree, they would have never beaten him,” Valenzuela said. “It’s looser than it was then and not as hard. The horse had tracks behind him today. At Oak Tree, you couldn’t see those tracks.”

Prized, whose overall record is eight wins, two seconds and two thirds in 13 races, responded to Delahoussaye’s right-handed whip through the stretch and passed Hawkster with about 10 yards left. Hawkster, who held a six-length lead after three-quarters of a mile, bobbled at the eighth pole and returned to the unsaddling area bleeding from the mouth, but trainer Ron McAnally didn’t offer any excuses.

“We brought him back a little quick from the last race,” McAnally said. “The stumble only hurt a little bit. The bleeding came from the bit, where Pat was taking a hold on him early. It pinched his cheeks against his teeth. The grass has been growing more and the course is slower now.”

After finding a home on grass, Hawkster’s owner, Shelly Meredith, wanted to run the colt on dirt again, the results being a third-place finish in the Strub and a ninth-place performance in the Santa Anita Handicap March 4.

“We got beat by a better horse today,” Meredith said. “But he’ll see us again.”

That Prized-Hawkster rematch may come in the 1 1/4-mile Hollywood Turf Handicap May 28. Prized could also run in the Hollywood Gold Cup June 24, but otherwise the year’s schedule calls for grass races.

“This horse is so versatile that I think that even if they shortened him up, he’d run good,” Delahoussaye said. “He’s a lot better on grass than he is on dirt. The main thing is that he’s an honest horse. He always runs his race. And those kind are far and few between.”

Frankly Perfect won the San Luis Rey last year for Delahoussaye and had come into Sunday’s race off victories in the Hollywood Turf Cup and the San Luis Obispo Handicap. The Kings’ Wayne Gretzky, one of Frankly Perfect’s owners, was watching the 5-year-old run for the first time. Gretzky signed autographs all the way from the walking ring back to the turf club in the minutes before the race.

“I was sitting exactly where I wanted, except afterward,” McCarron said of his ride aboard Frankly Perfect. “I wasn’t getting my picture taken. I thought I was a winner turning for home. I didn’t hear Prized coming yet, and I had dead aim on the leader, but I just couldn’t get to him.”

Drysdale, who has been critical of Santa Anita’s dirt track, trains most of his horses at Hollywood Park.

“Eddie (Delahoussaye) realized the other horses were going fast,” Drysdale said. “I’m glad he waited like he did. He’s a superb rider in the big events.”

Drysdale was asked whether he would run Prized on dirt or grass if he had the choice of two big races on the same day.

“I run him in the race with the biggest purse,” the trainer said.

Horse racing notes

Eddie Delahoussaye’s other San Luis Rey victories were with Zoffany in 1987 and Frankly Perfect last year. In 1988, he finished fourth with the favorite, Mohamed Abdu . . . Delahoussaye won two other races on the card . . . Prized and Zoffany are the only horses not trained by Charlie Whittingham to win the San Luis Rey in the last six years . . . Laffit Pincay, riding El Senor for the first time, gives him a good chance to win the San Juan Capistrano Handicap April 22.

Mister Frisky, who will be favored in the Santa Anita Derby on April 7, worked a mile Sunday in 1:40 2/5. Trainer Laz Barrera was especially pleased with the last-quarter time of :24 2/5. Mister Frisky is undefeated in 15 starts, all but two of them in Puerto Rico . . . Wednesday’s Baldwin Stakes has drawn Farma Way, Robyn Dancer and Flying Reb, 3-year-olds who couldn’t beat Real Cash in the San Felipe Handicap, and will also mark another appearance for Magical Mile, who stumbled leaving the gate and ran third at 2-5 in his last start.

David Mona, the driver of the four-horse hackney coach that takes Santa Anita’s patrol judges to their positions before races, was thrown in an incident before Sunday’s first race. Leigh Gray, the coach’s footman, took over the reins, and the coach wasn’t brought to a halt until one of the horses stumbled and went down in the stretch chute. Neither Mona nor the horses were seriously injured. Mona thought he heard the sound of exploding firecrackers from the parking lot and felt that this frightened the horses.