Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita : Dominant Dancer Eclipses Field in 3-Length Victory

Last May, a couple of days before Dominant Dancer would run at Golden Gate Fields in the first race of her life, trainer Don Harper called Jamie Schloss, one of the horse’s owners.

Harper was in Stockton, where the 2-year-old filly had just worked a half-mile, and Schloss was at home in Pasadena.

“It was 7 in the morning,� Schloss said. “Usually, when you get a call from your trainer at 7 in the morning, it’s not good news.�

Harper picked up the story. “I said to Jamie that I only had two words for him--Eclipse Award,� Harper said. “The filly had just worked in :45 2/5, and she looked like she was going to be a pretty good one.�

This was one of the stories that Harper and Schloss told Monday in the winner’s circle at Santa Anita, shortly after Dominant Dancer beat Bel’s Starlet by three lengths to win the $256,450 Oak Leaf Stakes, the most important victory of her eight-race career.

Dominant Dancer was the even-money favorite of the crowd of 18,408, but the specter of trainer Wayne Lukas always hangs over this stake, because he had won all but one running of the Oak Leaf since 1982. Lukas had two starters Monday, and as an entry they went off at 5-2. But A Wild Ride wound up fifth after being close to the early pace, and Earth Angel, a huge, silver-coated filly making her first start, finished sixth in the field of seven.

Materco was third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Bel’s Starlet, and it was another three lengths back to Cheval Volant in fourth place.

Although Dominant Dancer won $153,870, hiking her earnings to $412,470, Schloss and his partner, Yale Farar, haven’t decided whether to pay a $120,000 supplementary fee to make her eligible for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 4. Dominant Dancer could have been made eligible for the Breeders’ Cup if a $500 fee had been paid the year she was foaled.

Schloss said there’s a 50-50 chance Dominant Dancer will be supplemented. In the 2-year-old filly division, the Eclipse Award winner has clinched the honor by taking the Breeders’ Cup race in four of the five years it has been run.

Dominant Dancer may start one more time, in the Selima on the grass at Laurel on Oct. 21, before a Breeders’ Cup decision is reached. A win in the Selima is worth an estimated $180,000, and a victory in that stake would also give Dominant Dancer’s owners more reason to think she can beat Stella Madrid, a New York-based Lukas filly who appears to be the Breeders’ Cup favorite.

“In terms of money alone, the Breeders’ Cup is not a good investment if you have to supplement,� Schloss said. “You have to put up $120,000 to win $450,000. This filly was 12-1 in Las Vegas at one time. Somebody could have bet $20,000 on her then and wound up winning more there than we would for winning the race.�

Under Eddie Delahoussaye, who was winning his second stake in as many days and third of the first four stakes at the meeting, Dominant Dancer passed Cheval Volant and A Wild Ride to take the lead after a half-mile. She was a length in front of Bel’s Starlet at the top of the stretch and tried to pull herself up before Delahoussaye hit her several times with the whip.

Dominant Dancer ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44 3/5, the same time registered by a $32,000 claiming mare who won the next race. The first three finishers were the only California-breds in the Oak Leaf. Dominant Dancer paid $4.20, $2.80 and $2.40; Bel’s Starlet $4.20 and $3.40, and Materco $4.20.

In separate incidents, Cheval Volant and A Wild Ride broke through the gate before the start. “When you hit the gate hard, it hurts,� Lukas said of A Wild Ride’s episode. “She didn’t hit it hard enough to have any bearing. I started Earth Angel (a $750,000 Lyphard yearling) because I had entered her about nine times while we were at Del Mar, and we could never get a race to fill (with enough horses). I thought Earth Angel might run pretty well if she had been closer earlier, but it didn’t happen.�

After Harper made that early-morning phone call last May, Dominant Dancer won the maiden race and ran the only poor race on her record, finishing a badly beaten fourth in a small stake.

Since then, it has been either firsts or seconds for Dominant Dancer, who has five wins and two seconds in eight starts, including four stakes victories. She finished second, six lengths behind Rue de Palm, in the Del Mar Debutante, but the winner, a Lukas trainee, is injured and out for the year. Dominant Dancer was sent to Minnesota, where she won the Canterbury Debutante about two weeks ago.

Horse Racing Notes

David Flores, the jockey who was injured Sunday when his mount fell and rolled over him, suffered no broken bones but is sore and probably won’t ride until Friday. . . . Pat Valenzuela, sidelined two days because of intestinal flu, returned Monday and rode a winner.