HORSE RACING: FRANKEL'S HORSES COULD MAKE HISTORY VETERAN TRAINER ATTEMPTS TO MATCH WHITTINGHAM'S MARK.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ARCADIA - The joke used to be that to fully sum up one trainer's on-going dominance of the Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during , the race should have been renamed the Charlie Whittingham Stakes. On the same premise, this year's entire Santa Anita Handicap program should be called Bobby Frankel Day. Frankel has deserving favorite High Limit in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap this afternoon. He also has long shot Marenostrum in the 69th running of the Big 'Cap, the West Coast's most history-rich thoroughbred race. Together, High Limit and Marenostrum will try to make Frankel the only trainer other than the late Whittingham to win the Big 'Cap three times in a five-year burst. But the Big 'Cap is only part of Frankel's day. He has Latent Heat latent heat, heat change associated with a change of state or phase (see states of matter). Latent heat, also called heat of transformation, is the heat given up or absorbed by a unit mass of a substance as it changes from a solid to a liquid, from a liquid to a gas, in the $200,000 Santa Catalina Santa Catalina (săn`tə kăt'əlē`nə) or Catalina Island, S Calif., one of the Santa Barbara Islands, off Huntington Beach, Calif. It is a resort island, 22 mi (35 km) long and 1 to 8 mi (1.6–12. Stakes, providing the most intriguing opposition to 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. favorite Brother Derek Brother Derek is a thoroughbred horse. A foal of 2003, he was thought to be a contender for the Triple Crown in 2006. He was an early favorite in the Kentucky Derby. However, after starting in post position #18, he fell short in the "Run for the Roses," finishing in a dead heat for in this 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. prep. He has Cacique ca·cique n. 1. An Indian chief, especially in the Spanish West Indies and other parts of Latin America during colonial and postcolonial times. 2. A local political boss in Spain or Latin America. in the $300,000 Kilroe Mile, the 5-year-old arriving from France with the makings of a turf-course star. In all, he has entered 14 horses - believed to be a Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
Frankel, 64, shares the Santa Anita record with four victories in one day in 1976 and 1981. He said he doesn't expect to match that today. ``Every race is tough. There are no cinches,'' Frankel said on the phone from his Hollywood Park barn. ``If we win one or two, I'll be all right. If I get lucky, I could win three.'' With 23 victories this season, Frankel is three behind Bob Baffert in the Santa Anita trainer standings. With 842 wins in his career at the track, Frankel is 27 behind Whittingham on Santa Anita's all-time list. With 37 days left in the meet, it's unlikely Frankel will catch Whittingham this year. With two Santa Anita Handicap wins, Milwaukee Brew's back-to-back in 2002-03, Frankel has a long way to go to get to Whittingham's nine. But if he gets his third in five years, Frankel will equal what Whittingham did with Ack Ack, Cougar cougar: see puma. cougar or puma or mountain lion or panther Species (Puma concolor) of large, graceful cat that lives in a wide variety of habitats in the Americas, from southern Alaska to Patagonia. II and Stardust star·dust n. 1. A dreamlike, romantic, or uncritical sense of well-being. 2. A cluster of stars too distant to be seen individually, resembling a dimly luminous cloud of dust. Not in scientific use. 3. Mel in 1971, '73 and '75. High Limit, 5-2 on the morning line and ridden by leading Santa Anita jockey Patrick Valenzuela, has regrouped since the six-race losing streak that included his last-place finish in the 2005 Kentucky Derby. He edged Buckland Manor and Spellbinder spell·bind·er n. One that holds others spellbound, especially an enthralling speaker or a particularly interesting book. Noun 1. in the Jan. 7 San Pasqual Stakes and thumped Top This and That and Derby winner Giacomo in the Feb. 4 Strub Stakes to enter an early claim to leadership in Southern California's older-horses division. Giacomo (7-2) and Spellbinder (10-1) are in the Big 'Cap's nine-horse field. Frankel said he thinks Lava Man (3-1) is the one to beat based on his performances last summer. Giacomo and Lava Man are the only horses who have won stakes-level races at the Big 'Cap's 1 1/4-mile distance. High Limit's previous try was in his troubled Derby. Although High Limit, a son of Maria's Mon, finished the 1 1/8-mile Strub as if he'd be happy to go longer, Frankel says of the 4-year-old's 1 1/4-mile chances, ``Who knows?'' Latent Heat, also by Maria's Mon, broke his maiden on the second try Jan. 21. He's one of eight challengers to Brother Derek. ``Everybody says I don't have a chance (to beat Brother Derek),'' Frankel said. ``I remember another horse, Medaglia d'Oro, who went into the San Felipe off his maiden win, and everybody said I didn't have a chance. He turned out all right.'' Medaglia d'Oro won the 2002 San Felipe, and finished fourth in the Derby and second in the Belmont before winning the Travers. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 heymodesti(at)aol.com CAPTION(S): box Box: KEVIN MODESTI'S BIG 'CAP PICKS |
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