SANTA ANITA : Wekiva Springs’ Streak Is on Line in Strub Stakes

Sometimes a bad thing can be a good thing in disguise. A virus last fall knocked Wekiva Springs out of his sprint mode, and now the high-riding 4-year-old colt is on the threshold of the two biggest races of his career, both at 1 1/4 miles.

Race No. 1 is Sunday’s $500,000 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

“It’s the best race of the year, so far,” said Bob Hess Jr., Wekiva Springs’ 29-year-old trainer, and he will be saying the same thing if his horse does well Sunday and moves on to tackle Holy Bull, the 1994 horse of the year, in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 11.

Wekiva Springs, who has won six in a row since running sixth in the first race of his career, was a 1 1/2-length winner in the 1 1/8-mile San Fernando Stakes three weeks ago, but the horses that finished in the three spots just behind him--Dramatic Gold, Dare And Go and Strodes Creek--are back for more. The only new challenger is College Town, whose sire, Snow Chief, won the Strub for the same trainer, Mel Stute, in 1987.

A possible starter, Colonel Collins, unraced since August and with no experience on dirt, will stay in the barn Sunday while Wekiva Springs and his four rivals give the Strub its smallest field since Precisionist beat four horses in 1985. In the 48 runnings of the Strub, the only smaller field was in 1980, when an outbreak of sagacity along Santa Anita’s backstretch prevented all but three horses from running against Spectacular Bid. The gun-metal gray won in a time of 1:57 4/5, breaking Noor’s American record.

Wekiva Springs, a thinnish pewter-gray colt who’s finally packed on the pounds that escaped him late last year, drew the No. 4 post. Dare And Go is at the rail, with Alex Solis riding him for the first time. Next to him in the gate will be Strodes Creek and Eddie Delahoussaye, then Dramatic Gold and Corey Nakatani, Wekiva Springs and Kent Desormeaux, and College Town and Laffit Pincay. The Strub weights, based on earnings, call for Dramatic Gold to carry the high impost of 124 pounds, two more than Wekiva Springs and College Town, and six more than Dare And Go and Strodes Creek.

Hess, the son of a trainer and a Stanford graduate, expects the Strub to unfold much the way the San Fernando did.

“Dramatic Gold and Dare And Go are formidable opponents,” he said. “They’ll be the horses we have to catch at the quarter pole.”

In October, Hess was preparing Wekiva Springs for the six-furlong Ancient Title Handicap at Santa Anita, which was to be a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint three weeks later. About 10 days before the Ancient Title, the colt lost his appetite.

“Usually, he eats everything in sight,” Hess said.

Wekiva Springs was also running a temperature, and was hospitalized for a checkup.

“I was told not to track him for a month,” Hess said. “But he bounced back so quickly that we had him going again in 2 1/2 weeks.”

By then, though, Wekiva Springs was 150 pounds lighter and the Breeders’ Cup was out of the question. He returned to the races for the six-furlong Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 10, winning by 1 1/2 lengths after trailing by 5 1/2 in sixth place early. It’s a rallying style that served Wekiva Springs equally well in the San Fernando, which was his first try around two turns in almost a year.

Hess said, “When I was sprinting him last year, people were telling me that he’d get speed-crazy and I’d never be able to run him long, but that hasn’t been the case. He’s no Silky Sullivan, coming from way out of the pack, but he’s very versatile. He’s recovered from the stomach virus 100%. For a long time, he didn’t put on that much of the weight he’d lost. But then--bing!--he started to put it back on, and now I think he’s perfect.”

Dramatic Gold, who has earned $1.3 million, more than any Strub starter, has won only one of his past six starts, but since a ninth-place finish in the Florida Derby early last year, he has put together a string of consistently tough races. He was third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic before the stretch proved to be too long in the San Fernando. Dare And Go, running on dirt for the first time, had a tough time through the first turn, then jumped a piece of paper in the stretch of the San Fernando, getting beaten by 2 1/4 lengths.

The heavy rain and muddy tracks were a problem for all the trainers preparing for the San Fernando. To get in a needed workout, Hess vanned Wekiva Springs across town to Hollywood Park, where the surface hadn’t been abused by the weather as well as racing.

“This time,” Hess said Friday, “I think we’re in much better shape. We’ve had a much better regimen and I’ve got a stronger horse going into this one.”

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Horse Racing Notes

Wekiva Springs has won all four of his starts at Santa Anita, suffering his only loss at Del Mar. . . . College Town worked half a mile Friday in :46 2/5. “That was a sensational work,” trainer Mel Stute said. “But Wekiva Springs will be double tough.” . . . In another stake Sunday, Paseana will carry 123 pounds, spotting the opposition three to 12 pounds in the $150,000 Santa Maria Handicap. Corrazona is also in the five-horse field, with 120 pounds, and others entered are Queens Court Queen, Desert Orchid and the undefeated Key Phrase, who’s stretching out to 1 1/16 miles.

With purses of $2.9 million, Paseana is fourth on the distaffers’ money list, about $300,000 behind the retired Dance Smartly. Also ahead of the 8-year-old mare are two horse-of-the-year champions, Lady’s Secret and All Along. . . . Trainer Vincent Timphony said that he will appeal a $2,000 fine and a year’s probation that he was handed by the Santa Anita stewards last month. Call Me Wild, tested positive for a prohibited medication after winning a race at Santa Anita in October.

Starting today, Santa Anita will add a race to all cards on weekend days and holidays. The track will also run 10 races on closing day, April 24, as it makes up for the three cards that were wiped out by rain last month.