SANTA ANITA DERBY: BUZZARDS BAY FEASTS AT SANTA ANITA SWEET CATOMINE FINISHES FIFTH AFTER PRE-RACE PROBLEMS.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

ARCADIA - Sweet Catomine, heralded by her trainer as ``the best filly that ever lived'' leading up to the Santa Anita Derby, couldn't match the hype Saturday. Instead, Jeff Mullins made history.

Buzzards Bay, at 30-1 odds, made Mullins the first trainer to earn three consecutive wins in the Santa Anita Derby and likely earned a trip to the Kentucky Derby with a half-length win in the $750,000 Grade I race. But a post-race disclosure put the attention back on favored Sweet Catomine, who finished fifth.

Martin Wygod, Sweet Catomine's owner, admitted that the filly had suffered pulmonary bleeding after her last workout, on March 28, and also was in heat. Wygod said he was ``50-50'' during the week about whether to scratch the filly, but Wygod and trainer Julio Canani never publicly disclosed her condition.

``I should have listened to my own intuition,'' Wygod said. ``It would have been very hard to scratch her. I was going to go public but the whole (Santa Anita advertising) campaign was built around her. ... In my (television) interviews I said the horse had problems. No one asked me what kind of problems.''

``Julio thought she was perfect (Saturday) morning so we decided to run her.''

Sweet Catomine appeared to be in good position midway through the 1 1/8-mile race, but got trapped near the rail and in front of three horses, including Buzzards Bay, and faded badly in the stretch.

``That's not her; I know that,'' jockey Corey Nakatani said. ``Normally you ask her to go and she just picks it up on her own and gets in the bridle. Today she was just flat.''

Ron Charles, the executive who oversees the California racetracks including Santa Anita owned by Magna Entertainment, said he was informed of Sweet Catomine's condition on Wednesday.

``I said to Marty, 'Do what's right for the horse, but if you are going to scratch, do it early enough that we can inform the public,''' Charles said. ``It's difficult to second-guess, because they are with the horse day and night. If Julio thought the horse was fit, then yes (I'm comfortable with it).''

Buzzards Bay, with jockey Mark Guidry, took a slim lead on the backstretch and held off challenges from 60-1 shot General John B, who finished second, and third-place Wilko, the bettors' second choice.

Controversy has followed Mullins for much of this year. He was one of four trainers disciplined in February when one of his horses was found with excessive levels of carbon dioxide in its blood after a race, an infraction tied to the use of performance-enhancing ``milkshakes.''

``There's quite a bit of gratification that comes with this one, and I think (everyone) knows why,'' said Mullins, who also came under scrutiny after an interview with a Los Angeles Times columnist, during which he referred to those who bet on horse racing as idiots and addicts.

Mullins' winning percentage had dropped when, as punishment, his horses were sent to a pre-race detention barn for a 30-day period, but Mullins enhanced his reputation a great deal Saturday.

Five other trainers have won the Santa Anita Derby in consecutive years. Mullins, who also trained Buddy Gil in 2003 and Castledale in 2004, is now one Derby win behind Bob Baffert's career record of four.

Mullins said Buzzards Bay would be ``pointed toward'' the May 7 Kentucky Derby. Wygod declared Sweet Catomine out of both the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks.

``He's been as good as you could want a horse, and he loves this racetrack,'' Guidry said of Buzzards Bay. ``It was a rush, man, because I knew they were coming at me from both sides and he's a fighter.''

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Jockey Mark Guidry, right, celebrates after Buzzards Bay's first-place Santa Anita Derby finish on Saturday in Arcadia.

Danny Moloshok/Associated Press