Stalwars Gets Victory With Blinkers Off

Blinkers on, blinkers off--trainer Gary Jones has been going through this eternal dilemma all season at Santa Anita with a variety of horses.

On Wednesday, Jones took the blinkers off Stalwars for the $80,150 Bradbury Stakes, because he felt the hood was the reason for him losing last time, and the change was at least partially successful, because the colt responded with a casual 2-length win in a race restricted to 3-year-olds with limited credentials.

Stalwars is not yet as good as Jones thinks he is, but he’s probably also not as slow as the time of 1:49 1/5 for the 1 1/8-mile race would indicate. Contributing to the clocking were the slowness of the Santa Anita track and continued gawking and head-hanging by Stalwars despite the lack of blinkers.

In other words, mark down Stalwars as a Kentucky Derby future. And if soybeans don’t do anything for you, he might be worth a wager.

All Thee Power, making only his fifth start, finished second, 3 1/2 lengths before a reformed $50,000 claimer, Havanaffair. Din’s Dancer, running on an anti-bleeding medication for the first time, was the 3-1 second betting choice behind Stalwars in the crowd of 19,672 and, after saving ground on the rail throughout the race, had no late punch and finished fourth, beaten by more than 10 lengths.

Stalwars, running for only the sixth time, picked up his second victory, to go with two seconds and a third, and paid $3.80 to win. In his last start, Feb. 10, the son of Stalwart ran second, a length behind Lively One, who may be the best 3-year-old in California.

“Last time, he did pull himself up,� said Gary Stevens, who rode Stalwars again Wednesday. “He’s a very nice horse. I don’t know how much more there is there. He has a lot of talent and ability and doesn’t know how to use it. He’s dangerous against the best out here, and he’s not close to how good he can be. He’s a clown. With him, it’s show time out there. He’s a big ham.�

Jones guarantees that Stalwars will be giving him his second Kentucky Derby starter, the first one being Fali Time, who ran fifth despite being broadsided in the stretch by Gate Dancer in 1984.

Jones’ plans are indefinite, but races under consideration for Stalwars are the Jim Beam at Turfway Park April 2, the Santa Anita Derby April 9 and the Arkansas Derby April 23.

“This horse is the best 3-year-old I’ve ever had, better than Fali Time,� Jones said. “It was stretching it just to get a mile and an eighth out of Fali Time. This horse should be able to run a mile and a half.�

The Kentucky Derby is 1 miles. Jones has long had only the Derby in mind for Stalwars, which is the reason he had him running 1 1/16-mile races after his first start, and the reason he skipped some other races at shorter distances.

One race that Jones planned for and missed was the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows Jan. 24. Stalwars had a stomachache the day he was supposed to be shipped to Bay Meadows.

“I think he would have won that race,� Jones said. “He was only real sick for about three hours, and then we got to the problem with medication right away. He wouldn’t have passed the (post-race) test. Racing has had enough bad publicity already.�

Horse Racing Notes

Ruhlmann, who won the El Camino Real Derby, runs next in the Santa Anita Derby, after bleeding from the nose and finishing eighth as the favorite in last Saturday’s Florida Derby. “I was shocked at how badly he ran,� trainer Bobby Frankel said, “and maybe this explains it. “ . . . Stalwars is owned by Corbin Robertson, who raced Turkoman, the national male handicap champion in 1986. . . . Gary Stevens won three races Wednesday, giving him a meeting-high total of 77. . . . Bettors didn’t know what to do before the sixth race, when Stella Rose, a 3-year-old filly, dumped jockey Antonio Castanon behind the gate and ran off, delaying the start several minutes. The odds on Stella Rose went from 2-1 to 9-2, and after being blindfolded to help her be loaded into the gate, she still won. . . . Sunday’s $150,000 Santa Anita Oaks may be a five-horse, two-trainer race. Charlie Whittingham plans to start Goodbye Halo, Jeanne Jones and Pattern Step, and Wayne Lukas is expected to run Winning Colors and Lost Kitty.