STRUB STAKES: GIACOMO IS LIMITED HIGH LIMIT BEATS DERBY WINNER.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

ARCADIA - For a few moments there, Giacomo and jockey Mike Smith were showing the fans at Saturday's Strub Stakes a replay of last year's Kentucky Derby. Then High Limit and Patrick Valenzuela tapped the ``erase'' button.

Giacomo, competing for the first time since June, launched his familiar surge from the back of a large pack and went all the way to third in mid-homestretch.

But as Giacomo's rally fizzled, High Limit seized the lead and drew away to a 4 1/2 length victory in the $300,000 Strub in front of 20,263at Santa Anita.

Giacomo won the 2005 Kentucky Derby. High Limit finished 20th and last in the Derby, more than 44 lengths behind.

The Derby seems like a long time ago now.

Smith and trainer John Shirreffs professed to be pleased with the third- place finish for Giacomo, who needed surgery to remove bone chips after his seventh-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

``He ran his style of race, came from off the pace and made a nice little run,'' Shirreffs said.

But Giacomo failed to go past non-stakes winner Top This and That, and Alex Solis, in the stretch drive. Giacomo finished one-half length behind Top This and That and five behind High Limit in the 11-horse race.

Expected to face High Limit again in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 4, Giacomo (now two for 11) still must prove his Derby victory wasn't a fluke.

Fans weren't swayed by Giacomo's Derby-winning aura when it came time to bet on the Strub, the nation's most famous race restricted to 4-year-olds. They made the gray son of Holy Bull a 9-2 fourth choice.

Favored Canteen finished 10th, third choice Greeley's Galaxy finished fourth, and High Limit paid $8.80.

For now, Bobby Frankel-trained High Limit is the favorite for the Santa Anita Handicap. The last major prep for the Big 'Cap is today's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap, featuring the four horses who finished right behind High Limit in last month's San Pasqual.

High Limit, trained by Bobby Frankel and owned by Gary and Mary West, has won two in a row after a six-race losing streak that included the nightmarish Derby. High Limit was cut on a hind leg by another horse early in the Derby and dropped back steadily.

``My vet (said), 'If somebody hit you on the back of the leg with a baseball bat, how well do you think you'd run?' '' West said.

The Strub's 1:49.14 clocking for 1 1/8 miles wasn't fast. But the convincing victory seemed to show that High Limit can go beyond the 1 1/16-mile distance of his Louisiana Derby win last March.

In other racing Saturday:

--Bob and John, with Victor Espinoza, toyed with four opponents in the $102,500 Sham Stakes. Trainer Bob Baffert's top Derby hope won by 4 1/2 lengths and paid $2.80. The 3-year-old ran 1 1/8 miles only .01 slower than 4-year-old High Limit.

--On a sloppy track at Gulfstream Park, unbeaten 3-year-old Barbaro ($5.20) scored his first main-track victory in the 1 1/8 Holy Bull Stakes, shortly after Keyed Entry ($7.40) upset First Samurai in the 7-furlong Hutcheson Stakes.

--Also at Gulfstream, Brass Hat ($18.60) upset Suave (sixth) and Magna Graduate (fourth) in the Donn Handicap, Florida's top race for older horses.

Kevin Modesti, [phone]

heymodesti(at)aol.com