Earl Of Danby Is King for Day at Santa Anita

Their filly lost her chance when she banged her head against the starting gate in an earlier stake, but Trudy McCaffery, John Toffan and Paco Gonzalez recovered three races later Friday when Earl Of Danby won the $150,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at Santa Anita.

Earl Of Danby, bred and owned by McCaffery and Toffan, trained by Gonzalez and ridden by Chris McCarron, notched his second consecutive win. In his debut, the son of Smokester--the stallion that sired Free House, a horse that earned $3.1 million for the same owners and trainer--had beaten maidens by four lengths at Hollywood Park.

Earl Of Danby, running seven furlongs in 1:231/5, paid $5.40 and was one of only two favorites to win pick-six races, resulting in a two-day carry-over of $663,694 going into today’s card.

Gonzalez’s Fragrant Cloud, also sired by Smokester and favored at 4-5 in the filly division of the California Breeders’ Champion, did little running after the gate incident and finished sixth in the 10-horse field as Lady George, at 8-1, won by 11/2 lengths. “She false-started,� Jay Slender, the Santa Anita starter, said of Fragrant Cloud. “She was anticipating the start and lurched forward before the gate opened.�

Fragrant Cloud returned after the race bleeding from a cut on her nose.

“She hit her head hard,� Gonzalez said. “When she did get out of there, she did no running at all.�

Earl Of Danby was a late-May foal in 1999, and wasn’t really 2 years old when he was reeling off fast workout times at Pomona early this year. But Gonzalez was unable to rev him up for the races because of a sore shin, and the colt was sent to a farm for the injury to heal. Back with Gonzalez in August, Earl Of Danby came down with a fever and the trainer lost some more time. He didn’t run his first race until Dec. 8.

Earl Of Danby, breaking from the No. 6 post, was outside four horses going down the backstretch, giving Gonzalez some concern.

“I didn’t want to be five-wide the whole way,� the trainer said. “But by the time he got to the turn, he was only three-wide.�

Gobi Dan finished second, 11/2 lengths ahead of Joey Franco, the only first-time starter in the 10-horse field.

Earl Of Danby was in third place, less than a length behind Debonair Joe and Joey Franco, after half a mile. McCarron’s mount took the lead with more than an eighth of a mile left.

“I was a little concerned that I would lose some ground, but they thinned out as we got to the turn,� McCarron said. “[Joey Franco] kind of came out a little bit, but it turned out to be of no consequence. It might have slowed the other horse down more than it slowed us down.�

Friday’s other California-bred stakes winner, Lady George, was bought out of a Barretts yearling sale by Gordon Severson for $2,500. Lady George, ridden by Jose Silva, had earned $130,976 in eight races before Friday’s $90,000 victory and had beaten Fragrant Cloud by a head in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.

After Lady George won the Cal Cup race, trainer Tony Locke tried her on the grass, resulting in a sixth-place finish in the Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 23.

“She was outgunned that day,� said Locke, who rode horses in his native England for 18 years. “She ran a little flat-footed at the end.�

Back on dirt Friday, Lady George out-finished Super High, who ran second, 11/2 lengths ahead of Daddy’s Gold. The time was 1:24. Lady George, the third choice, paid $18 as she registered her third win.

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Guided Tour, who won the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita in February and went on to three more stakes victories that swelled his purses to almost $2 million, was euthanized on Dec. 21 after breaking down in a race in Ridayh, Saudi Arabia.

Guided Tour, who had been sold by Morton Fink to Moustapha Fustok of Buckram Oak Farm just before the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 27, was being prepared to run in the $6-million Dubai World Cup on March 23. The 5-year-old gelding broke a cannon bone at the top of the stretch in the Saudi Arabian race.

Running for both Buckram Oak and Fink in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Guided Tour finished fifth. In a career that started at Churchill Downs in November 1998, the son of Hansel and Dancing Mahmoud had 12 wins, eight seconds and one third in 31 starts, earning $1.9 million. He finished fifth in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap in March, and after that won the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, the Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park and the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park. Niall O’Callaghan trained the horse until Fink sold him.

Known as a horse that trained reluctantly in the mornings but was ready to run in the afternoons, Guided Tour ran 15 times, mostly in the allowance ranks, before he won his first stake, at Woodbine in August 2000. Counting that win, his stakes record was six wins, three seconds and one third in 15 tries. He won more than $1.3 million of his purses this year.

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Laffit Pincay, continuing to add to his record of 9,274 race wins, turns 55 today. He’ll be riding longshot Graceful Cat, a stakes winner from Emerald Downs near Seattle, in the La Brea Stakes, a race Pincay first won in 1976, the year after he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.... Twelve horses are entered in Sunday’s $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap, including the 121-pound high weight, Irish Prize, who won the last running of the 11/8-mile grass stake. Irish Prize won three in a row in midseason and was third, beaten by 21/2 lengths, in the Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park on Nov. 24.