OAK TREE: YELLOW RIBBON FRAYS AT END GOLDEN APPLES WINS; FAVORITE STRANDED.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

ARCADIA - In three weeks, Golden Apples and Banks Hill will meet again, and perhaps then horse racing fans will be treated to a stirring stretch run.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen Saturday at Santa Anita in the $500,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes, as Banks Hill got caught in traffic going into the stretch and Golden Apples went on for an anticlimactic one-length victory in the World Thoroughbred Championships prep race.

Banks Hill, the defending Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf champion who shipped from Europe, will get a chance to defend her title and another shot at Golden Apples on Oct. 26 at Arlington Park in Illinois, but Golden Apples looked strong in the 1 1/4-mile Yellow Ribbon on turf.

Golden Apples stalked early leaders Nepenthe and Noches De Rosa for the first half of the race but made her charge going into the final turn and pulled away. Banks Hill tried to get through on the inside but found no room and had to swing outside to finish third, three lengths behind Voodoo Dancer.

Golden Apples, an Irish-bred 4-year-old trained by Ben Cecil, has won both starts with jockey Patrick Valenzuela aboard after a victory in the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes in August over the same Arlington Park track that will host the World Thoroughbred Championships.

``I think we'll be 3 for 3 after the Breeders' Cup,'' Valenzuela said.

Saturday's Oak Tree card at Santa Anita featured four Breeders' Cup preps, but one of the biggest winners won't make the trip to Arlington Park.

Kalookan Queen, a 6-year-old mare, pulled the upset in the $200,000 Ancient Title Breeders' Cup Handicap, a Breeders' Cup Sprint prep, but trainer Bruce Headley said before the race the horse wouldn't get a chance at the big race regardless of Saturday's result, and he didn't change his mind.

Swept Overboard won the Ancient Title in record time last year and looked to be in good position going into the turn Saturday but tired in the stretch. Kalookan Queen, placed well early in the six-furlong race, passed front-running Rio Oro at the top of the stretch and held off Crafty C.T. to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

Kalookan Queen became the first female to win the Ancient Title since Track Gal in 1995.

``I got a little lucky around the turn,'' jockey Alex Solis said. ``I had to move a little bit to keep her in there because I still had a lot of horse. But then, she flew home.''

Kona Gold, also trained by Headley, skipped the prep race in order to run fresh in the Breeders' Cup.

In the $200,000 Norfolk Stakes, a prep for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, two Bob Baffert-trained colts battled to the wire before favored Kafwain edged Bull Market.

A few minutes earlier, across the country, another Baffert 2-year-old, Icecoldbeeratreds, finished second to Toccet as the favorite in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park.

Bull Market, coming off a surprisingly poor sixth-place finish in the Del Mar Futurity, took the early lead in the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk, with Kafwain far off the quick pace.

Kafwain, with Victor Espinoza aboard, made his move on the turn and pulled ahead of Bull Market in midstretch. Bull Market battled back, and the two raced side-by-side to the wire, where Kafwain inched ahead to win in his first time around two turns.

Both horses will go on to the Juvenile, Baffert said, but only two Norfolk winners have gone on to win the Juvenile, and none since 1986.

Baffert's day turned sour again in the next race, the $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile, when favored Congaree, making his first start on turf, faded badly in the stretch and wound up seventh in the eight-horse field in the Breeders' Cup Mile prep.

Night Patrol, trained by Nick Canani and ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr., won in a tight finish between four horses. Congaree, who had struggled at longer distances on dirt, led by 3 1/2 lengths at the half-mile mark.