FROM THE FIELD : BELLE'S FLAG WINS LA CANADA.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Usually a horse wins a big race, then they build a monument to her.

But not when it's Belle's Flag, the California-bred who led seven other 4-year-old fillies from gate to wire in the $213,200 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Belle's Flag acted up in the paddock before recent races. So trainer Darrell Vienna asked the stewards if he could saddle her in the receiving barn Sunday.

They said no. But they agreed to have Santa Anita carpenters build a three-sided enclosure at the west end of the paddock so that Belle's Flag wouldn't be bothered by the crowd.

It's not clear what horse-watching handicappers thought of having their view blocked, but it worked for Belle's Flag, and Vienna said he expects the eight-foot-high wooden shack to be used by fractious horses in the future.

Which would be quite a legacy for Belle's Flag, who already had victories in the California Cup Matron and the El Encino next to her name in the history books.

``This is the best she's gone into a race out of the paddock,'' said Vienna, who also schooled Belle's Flag at the starting gate ``six or seven times'' since the El Encino.

She and jockey Corey Nakatani, expected to be lonely front-runners, were pressed by 8-1 Chile Chatte early in the 1-1/8-mile race. But the pace wasn't fast and speedsters were winning all day.

Belle's Flag ($4.40) won by 1-3/4 lengths and was clocked in 1:48.26, making this one of the fastest La Canadas. Chile Chatte held on for second and Housa Dancer closed for third. Listening, the Hollywood Oaks winner, was sixth.

Notes: The pick-six, which carried over Saturday, paid $1,051.60. . . . At Gulfstream Park, Storm Song became the latest Breeders' Cup champion to lose a 1997 debut, finishing fifth to nine-length winner Glitter Woman ($4.40) in the Davona Dale. . . . The March 2 Santa Anita Handicap might be next for Formal Gold, the 3-year-old who upset Skip Away at Gulfstream on Saturday.