SANTA ANITA : Solis Scores His 100th Victory, Wins Riding Title

Six races into the 94th and final day of Santa Anita’s longest meeting, Alex Solis wrapped up his first riding title in Southern California.

Star Of Greenwood’s easy victory in a $40,000 maiden claiming sprint was Solis’ 100th victory of the season, putting him three ahead of Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux. Later, Delahoussaye won the final race aboard Onesta to edge Desormeaux for second place.

When track announcer Trevor Denman told the closing-day crowd of Solis’ accomplishment, the rider thrust a fist into the air, then was congratulated by Donn Luby, Star Of Greenwood’s trainer.

“Five years ago, I told myself I was going to work really hard and learn to be the best I can,” said Solis, 28. “I feel like I’m working hard and that I’m still learning. In this business, you keep learning something every day.

“I feel like people have accepted me now and I’m getting a chance to ride some good horses. There’s a lot of prestige (in winning the title). The best jockeys in the world are in this colony. I dreamed about being able to do this when I was growing up in Panama.”

Santa Anita’s average on-track attendance for the meeting was down 28.8% from 1990-91. The average this year was 16,293, compared to 22,893 for the 88-day meeting a year ago.

But average attendance at satellite betting locations increased by 121.4%, going from 7,575 to 16,774 this year, mainly because of the inclusion of Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos as intertrack sites.

The average handle decreased 35.7% on track, going from $5,346,255 to $3,438,540 this year. The satellite handle increased by 136.1% ($3,360,124 compared to $1,520,357).

Overall, the average attendance increased 8.5%, total parimutuel handle increased 10% and the average handle increased 2.9%. Per-capita wagering on-track decreased 9.6%.

Missionary Ridge seems to save his best for last at Santa Anita.

Winless since his wire-to-wire victory in last year’s San Jacinto Handicap, the 5-year-old Caerleon horse won the 1 1/4-mile closing-day race again, beating Fanatic Boy by three-quarters of a length.

Ridden by David Flores, Missionary Ridge, the 5-2 second choice, completed the distance in 1:59 4/5 and paid $7. The horse’s sixth victory in 25 starts was worth $65,400 to owner Peter Wall.

“He likes to be on the lead,” said Flores, who hustled the English-bred from the start. “When he takes the lead, sometimes he gets lazy and starts looking around. I like this horse and I think he likes me, too. I work him all the time.”

Kotashaan, the 3-2 favorite, started to move to the leader around the far turn after being well-positioned throughout by Chris McCarron, but suddenly lost his action when he nearly clipped the heels of Super May and finished fourth.

“I don’t know if there are any holes, but there are definitely some soft spots out there (on the turf course),” McCarron said. “I would have been fine, but he fell inward and almost hit that other horse’s heels. I had to steady him real hard.

“I had an awful lot of horse. I had just asked him to run and we was moving well. I felt pretty confident.”

Best Pal was the unanimous choice as the best older horse of the meeting in media voting.

Other winners: Paseana (older filly/mare), A.P. Indy (3-year-old), Golden Treat (3-year-old filly), Fly Till Dawn (grass horse), Kostroma (grass filly or mare), Grey Slewpy (sprinter), Abergwaun Lad (claimer), Gary Jones (trainer), Solis (jockey), Danny Velasquez Jr. (apprentice jockey), Arp (development), Gary Jones’ 12 stakes victories (achievement) and Santa Anita Handicap (race).

Horse Racing Notes

Latin American was third in the San Jacinto, then came Kotashaan, Super May, River Traffic, Sounds Fabulous and Reign Road. Theatre Critic, who had run the day before in the San Juan Capistrano, and Lovely One were scratched. . . . Mr. Integrity, who finished fourth as the favorite in Saturday’s Bates Motel, suffered a chipped ankle and will be sidelined for six months.