CAME HOME RUNS FREE IN SLOW DERBY.

Byline: Art Wilson  Staff Writer

ARCADIA - The little colt whom pedigree experts like to knock for lacking the breeding to go long will get a chance to prove all the critics wrong.

Came Home strengthened his Kentucky Derby chances by winning the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby by 2 1/4 lengths Saturday in front of an on-track crowd of 36,025.

Came Home now has won six of his seven starts, including all three in 2002, and increased his earnings to $871,440.

``You can't ever measure a horse's heart,'' co-owner John Toffan said.

The victory came in the slowest Derby in 39 years, but that didn't matter to jockey Chris McCarron 

``As (former jockey) Bill Hartack used to say, time only matters when you're looking through bars,'' a relaxed McCarron said.

Came Home finished the 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:50, just faster than Candy Spots' winning time of 1:50 1/5 in 1963.

Still, Came Home passed a major hurdle on his way to Churchill Downs. For the first time in seven races, McCarron had to really whip the colt after Easy Grades briefly put his head in front at the top of the stretch.

Came Home was sitting second, off pacesetter Mayakovsky's early splits of :23, :46 4/5 and 1:10 4/5, before he gave chase around the turn. But Easy Grades and jockey Gary Stevens were moving just as quickly, and it looked like Stevens was a good bet to win his record ninth Santa Anita Derby.

``It looked like a struggle, but he did it very nicely,'' McCarron said after winning the Derby for the fourth time. ``I say it looked like a struggle because that's the most I've ever hit him in a race. I've never had to apply the stick as vigorously as I did today.''

If all goes well, owners Toffan and Trudy McCaffery will be making their third trip to the Derby after running third with Mane Minister in 1991 and Free House in '97. They said they will probably follow the same formula that they used with Free House and leave for Kentucky about 2 1/2 weeks before the race.

This was trainer Paco Gonzalez's second Santa Anita Derby victory. He also won with Free House. But this year was different. He said he lost a workout with Came Home in the last month when the colt injured himself when he fell in his stall and couldn't get up. Soon after, he developed a fever.

``This race was very hard for me,'' Gonzalez said. ``I tried so hard to get this horse to the race. He was not 100 percent for this race. For him to win the way he won it today, he must be a very good horse.''

McCarron said it would be a mistake to put much stock in the final time. He said the track was not as fast as normal. Besides, he knew the colt, after winning the San Rafael States by three lengths, could go a mile and an eighth.

Following Saturday's race, McCarron said he's just as confident now that Came Home is a legitimate Kentucky Derby threat who can win at 1 1/4 miles.

``He's got talent, he's got class, determination, he's got all those good qualities that you need to go to the Derby,'' said McCarron, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice, most recently with Go For Gin in 1994. ``He's got speed, which will hopefully bode well to alleviate any real serious problem.''

Easy Grades finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of the fast-closing Lusty Latin, a 47-1 long shot who looks like he would relish the long stretch at Churchill Downs.

``I'm tickled to death,'' said Lusty Latin's trainer, Jeff Mullins. ``He galloped out strong. It took the kid (Glenn Corbett) a long time to get him pulled up. He ran a big race.''

Mayakovsky's chances were compromised when the son of Matty G stumbled badly at the start. Jockey Patrick Valenzuela did well to straighten the colt and gain the early lead, but the poor start was too much to overcome and he finished fourth, four lengths behind the winner.

``The start took all of the punch out of him and that's just bad luck,'' Valenzuela said. ``Maybe we'll do better next time with a clean break.''

McCarron just hopes that Came Home does not get himself into any more trouble between now and May 4.

``Knock on wood, if everything goes well between now and when they enter the starting gate the first Saturday in May, he'll be a fitter horse,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Down the stretch they come, and it's Came Home, with Chris McCarron aboard, to win the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

(2) Jockey Chris McCarron has some lipstick removed between post-race pictures Saturday afternoon after riding Came Home to victory at the Santa anita Derby in Arcadia.

Sarah Reingewirtz/Staff Photographer