ROUNDUP WITH WIN, BUD'S ROYAL BUDROYALE BIG 'CAP FAVORITE NOW.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

ARCADIA - The leading characters are set for the Santa Anita Handicap.

Budroyale, the tough, 7-year-old gelding, held off the inconsistent Cat Thief to win the $300,000 San Antonio Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita to make himself the favorite for the March 4 Big 'Cap.

A day earlier, General Challenge, the brilliant but chicken-hearted 4-year-old gelding, confirmed he's a Big 'Cap contender by winning the $500,000 Strub Stakes by 9 1/2 lengths over a light field.

``I think all three can get the distance (1 1/4 miles),'' Ted H. West, trainer of Budroyale, said of his horse, General Challenge and Cat Thief. ``It should set up as a pretty solid Big 'Cap.''

If you're looking for a quick comparison of the two California-breds, consider Budroyale covered 1 1/8 miles in the San Antonio in 1:48.70, a theoretical half-length faster than General Challenge's 1:48.81 under similar dry and sunny conditions in the Strub.

Also: Consider that in the past 15 years the San Antonio has sent three winners on to victory in the Big 'Cap - four if you include disqualified Big 'Cap winner The Wicked North in 1994 - the Strub two.

All of which points to Budroyale as the favorite, a role that would have seemed impossible 21 starts and nine victories ago, when owner Jeffrey Sengara claimed him for $50,000 at Santa Anita on Feb. 15, 1998.

``It never is going to sink in totally,'' West said of Bud's ascent from ``overachiever'' to leader of the local handicap division.

Sunday, Budroyale, with Garrett Gomez riding, left the starting gate as a narrow third choice at 2-1 behind the horses who beat him in his last two races. Cat Thief, the Breeders' Cup Classic winner who skipped the Strub to face older horses in the San Antonio, was the 8-5 favorite. Dixie Dot Com, the San Pasqual winner, also was 8-5.

While Dixie Dot Com stalked longshot Moore's Flat and Elaborate tucked in third, Budroyale sat in the clear in fourth and Cat Thief was fifth, last on the outside on the backstretch.

Budroyale attacked on the turn for home and took command at the top of the stretch. Cat Thief, left with more ground to make up than usual, closed in, but it was Budroyale by 1 1/4 lengths at the finish.

That kept Cat Thief winless in three appearances since he beat Budroyale by 1 1/4 in the Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 6 at Gulfstream Park in Florida. ``I was not really pleased with his performance,'' jockey Pat Day said of Cat Thief. ``For whatever reason he seemed to struggle with the racetrack.''

``It's a little sweet, getting revenge (for the Breeders' Cup),'' Sengara said.

Elaborate finished third, Moore's Flat fourth, nine lengths ahead of disappointment Dixie Dot Com.

Dixie Dot Com was ridden by Corey Nakatani, replacing Pat Valenzuela, who was removed from his Saturday and Sunday mounts by the Santa Anita board of stewards after testing positive for amphetamines.

Valenzuela faces a Wednesday morning hearing before stewards Pete Pedersen, Tom Ward and Ingrid Fermin, who will have his career in their hands.

They must determine if the 36-year-old jockey violated the terms of his unique, one-year ``conditional'' license, which require him to pass random drug and alcohol tests and follow a substance-abuse treatment program.

Valenzuela, best known for riding 1989 Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence, has served numerous suspensions for drug-related violations, the latest stretching nearly two years until that last-chance agreement with the California Horse Racing Board was struck last fall.

He'd had a spotless attendance record - while riding well enough to finish second to Laffit Pincay in the Hollywood Park jockey standings - until an unexcused absence Friday prompted the drug test.

--Notes: Budroyale was honored earlier in the day as the California-bred Horse of the Year for 1999. Breeder Cecilia Straub was presented with a trophy in a winner's-circle ceremony. . . . Scholars Studio ($11.40) and Nakatani led for 1 1/8 miles to upset Smooth Player in the La Canada Stakes for 4-year-old fillies. It was the first stakes victory for the daughter of Bertrando. . . . Expected for the Santa Anita Handicap: Budroyale, Cat Thief, Elaborate, General Challenge, Luftikus, Saint's Honor, Chester House and Six Below.