A CHESTNUT OF A TRIUMPH SAN RAFAEL VICTORY IS STEP TOWARD DERBY.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ARCADIA - If Spanish Chestnut's 3-year-old season goes just a little better than Lion Heart's, Patrick Biancone Patrick Louis Biancone (born June 7, 1952 in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France) is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He is currently based in the United States, but has enjoyed success in both Europe and Hong Kong earlier in his career. will be tres joyeux. So far, so good. Spanish Chestnut began his push toward the Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. with a front-running victory Saturday under Gary Stevens
``It's very difficult to have the story repeat, but he's got the same style as Lion Heart,'' said Biancone, the French-born trainer of both colts. ''Maybe I learned something from Lion Heart.'' Lion Heart developed a runner-up habit, setting the pace but fading to second against Imperialism in the San Rafael, The Cliff's Edge in the Blue Grass and Smarty Jones in the Kentucky Derby before eventually winning a big one in the Haskell. Spanish Chestnut's destiny may hinge on whether he is taught to ``manage his speed,'' as Biancone put it after the Florida-bred son of Horse Chestnut horse chestnut, common name for some members of the Hippocastanaceae, a family of trees and shrubs of the north temperate zones and of South America. The horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, recorded his third victory in five starts and his first at the stakes level. A step slow out of the gate, Spanish Chestnut ($9) pulled Stevens to the lead outside Kirkendahl, who finished last, and held off 9-1 Iced Out by three-quarters of a length after 1 mile in 1:36.69. Texcess was a close third after trainer Paul Aguirre changed plans to go to the Golden Gate Derby The Golden Gate Derby is a race for thoroughbred horses run each year at Golden Gate Fields at a distance of one and one sixteenth of a mile and open to three-year-olds. A Grade III event, also known as the California Derby, it offers a purse of $100,000. . ``He belongs with the best (3-year-olds) around here,'' Stevens said of Spanish Chestnut. ''It's a big step.'' It was a full day on several fronts: --Also at Santa Anita, Minister Eric ($16) and jockey Rene Douglas inched clear of Mass Media and Patrick Valenzuela in the San Fernando Stakes to give trainer Richard Mandella his third graded-stakes win of the three-week-old meet. Minister Eric's first stakes victory - he ran second to Action This Day in the 2003 Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. - sets up a match with Mandella's Rock Hard Ten in the Feb. 5 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds. --Valenzuela, riding for the first time since July 1 after a suspension was overturned last week, didn't win a race but finished second with three of his six mounts, capping the day with Eastern Sand's narrow loss to Chattahoochee War ($5) in the Hill Rise Stakes. --At Golden State Fields in Albany, north of Oakland, Buzzards Bay ($5) and Mark Guidry edged Sharp Writer in a head-and-head duel in the Golden Gate Derby. Buzzard's Bay came out of a fourth-place finish in a Hollywood Park allowance-level race for trainer Jeff Mullins. --At the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Storm Surge ($4) and Robby Albarado won the Lecomte Stakes for 3-year-olds in a photo with Smooth Bid and Kansas City Boy. Dallas Stewart trains the son of Storm Cat for Overbrook Farm. But it was Spanish Chestnut's victory in the San Rafael for owners Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor - who owned the now-retired Lion Heart - that may resonate loudest down the road. Biancone sketched plans to run Spanish Chestnut in the March 5 Santa Catalina Stakes and April 9 Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. on his way to the May 7 Kentucky Derby. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 heymodesti(at)aol.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Spanish Chestnut and jockey Gary Stevens, right, hold off Iced Out and Tyler Baze in the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita. Associated Press |
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