DEL MAR : Alvarado’s Eternity Star Rises

DEL MAR —  The other morning, jockey agent John DeSantis brought his rider, Frank Alvarado, to trainer Wayne Lukas’ barn.

“Here’s the best-kept secret at Del Mar,” DeSantis said by way of introducing Alvarado.

“Sorry,” Lukas said. “I don’t have anything (horses to ride). This barn gets a pretty early start.”

“I know,” DeSantis said. “I missed you at the coffee shop at 4 this morning.”

DeSantis is hustling mounts for Alvarado these days because Jose Santos, one of the best riders in the country, couldn’t get rolling in California and returned to New York toward the end of the Hollywood Park season. DeSantis found out that he was losing Santos via a phone call from a reporter for the Racing Times. That’s racing, a game of handshakes and sometimes not even that.

After Sunday’s $300,000 Del Mar Derby, Frank Alvarado is no longer a secret. The 22-year-old Panamanian gave Eternity Star a daring rail-skimming ride through the stretch and they scored a three-quarter-length victory at 39-1 in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby, a stunning outcome for the crowd of 24,417.

Eternity Star, whose last race was three weeks ago in France, was the longest price on the board and paid $79, completing a weekend of stakes upsets. On Saturday, Campagnarde won the Ramona Handicap at 12-1 and earlier Sunday the $105,100 Rancho Bernardo Breeders’ Cup Stake was won by Cascading Gold, who at 6-1 was the top longshot in the five-horse field.

Stark South, the colt Eternity Star had to squeeze past in order to make his winning move near the fence, finished second, a head better than June’s Reward, and it was only another head back to Repriced, the 2-1 favorite, in fourth place. Eternity Star, earning $165,000 for Peter Wall, a Vancouver, Canada, businessman, ran 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:49 1/5.

In the race within the race, the dash to the wire, there was a charge in the middle of the track, with Unduplicated, the leader from the start, trying to hang on and June’s Reward attempting a rally. Trying to sneak through on the inside were Eternity Star and Stark South. There was room for Eternity Star inside of Unduplicated, but not for Stark South. Jockey Alex Solis thought June’s Reward might have won with a better trip.

“My horse and the winner got the same trip,” said Corey Nakatani, who rode Stark South. “The winner got through on the fence and I didn’t. My horse got brushed in the stretch, but I don’t think it bothered him.”

This was Alvarado’s biggest victory. “I stayed on the fence all the way around,” the jockey said. “I was saving ground and looking for an opening. I got it in the stretch.”

Even with the big guns in his barn, Exbourne and Marquetry, awaiting races out of town, Bobby Frankel became the first trainer at Del Mar to saddle three stakes winners at the meet with Eternity Star.

Alvarado, who has seven winners from 41 mounts for the meet, won an earlier race for Frankel at Del Mar, and that horse paid $48.40. “I could have gotten other riders to take this horse, but I like the way this kid rides,” Frankel said. “I think the horse was overlooked because of the rider. He rides every horse right. This will put him on the map.”

Eternity Star, a son of Majestic Light and Northern Eternity, a Northern Dancer mare, ran in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park last October and didn’t beat a horse in his only start on dirt. Then he was sold to Wall and sent back to France, where he had a victory, a third and a fifth-place finish in three starts earlier this year.

“I’ve got to give credit to the trainer (Alan Falourd) in France,” Frankel said. “He did a great job with him over there. When I got him, they said he would like a firm turf, and that’s what he got. The trainer and the jock did a great job and made me look like a genius.”

The Rancho Bernardo field was reduced by the scratches of Akinemod, Tiny Kristin and Streamer. Akinemod, who hasn’t run since January, was the morning-line favorite and didn’t run because of an abscess on her left hind hoof.

“There was no use risking an injury,” assistant trainer Brett Fanning said about Akinemod. Trainer Jerry Fanning, his father, was also unhappy that Akinemod had been assigned 120 pounds, the same high weight as Survive.

Cascading Gold, ridden by Laffit Pincay, who picked up his third victory of the day, rallied in the center of the track to win by 3 1/2 lengths. Magic Sister, Suziqcute and Forest Fealty were battling for the lead when Cascading Gold shot past them, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 2/5.

Survive, who finished second, won the A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park on April 27, beating Cascading Gold by seven lengths. Cascading Gold carried 117 pounds Sunday.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Julio Garcia is expected to be fined by the Los Alamitos stewards for not honoring his mounts Saturday night at the Orange County Fair meeting. Earlier in the day, Garcia earned an estimated $19,625--a rider’s customary 10% of the purse--for riding Campagnarde to victory in the Ramona Handicap at Del Mar. After the Ramona, Garcia said he would be returning to Puerto Rico, reportedly to straighten out personal problems. Garcia’s scheduled mounts at Del Mar Sunday were scratched. Before leaving, Garcia told the Del Mar stewards that he would be back to ride on today’s card. Garcia was fined $100 earlier in the season for not honoring his mounts and missed nine racing days at Del Mar before returning Saturday.

Burnished Bronze, whose racing career ended when he broke down during a morning gallop Saturday at Del Mar, may be saved through surgery this week, but his breeding career has been clouded because of a rare condition that affects his reproductive organs. Neither of the 2-year-old colt’s testicles is descended, and John Mabee, who owns Burnished Bronze, doubts that surgery can correct the problem. It is believed that Burnished Bronze, a son of Seattle Slew, would not be able to get mares in foal in his present condition.

Burnished Bronze would have been a heavy favorite in Wednesday’s Balboa Stakes, but now the seven-furlong race is wide-open and 11 horses have been entered. Included in the field is Scherando, who upset Burnished Bronze in the Hollywood Juvenile. The other entrants are Star Recruit, Prince Wild, Sebring, Fax News, El Anelo, Waki Warrior, Bullet Points, Zurich, Roan Shark and Overstock. Prince Wild ran second in the Hollywood Park race.

Exbourne and Marquetry will both have a change of jockeys when they run next, trainer Bobby Frankel said Sunday. Pat Eddery takes over on Exbourne in the Arlington Million on Sept. 1 and Gary Stevens will ride Marquetry in the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park the same day. Stevens and Chris McCarron have ridden Exbourne to recent victories. Eddery is the stable rider in Ireland for Juddmonte Farms and he won the Arlington race with Tolomeo in 1983.