Timber Country Still in the Distance : Horse racing: Lukas’ colt has not improved as expected, although races have gotten longer.

If the pendulum is indeed going to swing, it’s not going to happen until Kentucky.

At the beginning of Timber Country’s 3-year-old season, trainer Wayne Lukas said the 2-year-old champion would get better as the distances increased in the various preps leading to the Kentucky Derby. With the move from a mile, to 1 1/16 miles, then to 1 1/8 miles and eventually to 1 1/4 miles, Lukas said the pendulum would swing in his colt’s favor.

With the preliminaries concluded, Timber Country hasn’t gotten any better. Third in the one-mile San Rafael in his 1995 debut and second in the 1 1/16 mile San Felipe 15 days later, the Champagne and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner was a distant fourth in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

Favored early in the wagering before winding up the 9-5 second choice, Timber Country was beaten about 1 1/2 lengths by Larry The Legend, but the margin was deceptive. He was never a serious threat.

Perhaps California doesn’t agree with the son of Woodman. He has lost five of seven starts here while he has won two of three starts in Kentucky and New York. This week, he’ll return to Churchill Downs, the scene of his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile success.

After the Santa Anita Derby, even Timber Country’s biggest fan was a little disappointed, but did offer an excuse.

“(Jockey) Pat (Day) said that he didn’t handle the track at all,� Lukas said. “He struggled with it every step of the way, and that’s something only Pat can tell sitting up there. I’m not making any excuses, but we know he runs well (at Churchill Downs).

“That’s the main thing. We’ll put him on a plane this week and get him out there. I thought he’d run better with the extra sixteenth of a mile and everything, and we still think he has the goods for me and all I see, but we’re going to have to get it tuned up a little better.

Day isn’t ready to abandon the horse, saying Timber Country will redeem himself May 6.

“He was just fighting the track,� Day said. “He just wasn’t going anywhere. He just wasn’t getting a hold of it. I was happy with our position early. I was just letting him find his way and I didn’t ask him until the three-eighths pole. But when I asked him, he was trying, but he just wasn’t going anywhere.�

Kent Desormeaux didn’t report any problems with the track for Afternoon Deelites, but he was frustrated after the 7-5 favorite lost for the first time in six starts. He lost by a head to Larry The Legend, the colt Desormeaux had ridden in his four previous races.

“I should have been a little more patient,� said Desormeaux, who was probably being too hard on himself because circumstances almost dictated he move when he did. “The opportunity (to go inside overmatched pacesetter Fandarel Dancer) presented itself, and I took it and let him march on instead of just electing to cruise.

“So, I’ll be damned. I think he flattened out a little bit along with getting to looking around. I really don’t think distance is a problem with him, either. Every time I’ve ridden him, I’ve ridden him to be empty at the wire. Today, I moved early to establish position and it cost me.�

There was no second-guessing about his decision to ride Afternoon Deelites. How could there be, considering the close finish?

“If (Larry The Legend) had been the one I had won the Hollywood Futurity and all the other (races) before the other horse came around, then there’s no choice,� he said. “It was just something I had to do. You honor your calls.�