Toro Avoids the Bump and Run, and Dahar Wins the San Marcos

There were three scratches prior to Sunday’s $106,900 San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita, reducing the field to a tidy group of six.

But there was nothing tidy about the running of the 1-mile grass race. Five of the six starters in the San Marcos were being more than just neighborly coming down the stretch, and Dahar, the horse on the outside, flashed by his rivals in the final yards to win by three-fourths of a length before a crowd of 45,035.

Five of the six starters in the San Marcos were being more than just neighborly coming down the stretch, and Dahr, the horse on the outside, flashed by his rivals in the final yards to win by three-fourths of a length before a crowd of 45,035.

It was the second straight stakes win for Dahar, the superbly bred son of Lyphard, and although some of the runners behind him had excuses, it still looks as though Summa Stable (Bruce McNall, Nelson Bunker Hunt, Allen Paulson and others) and trainer Charlie Whittingham have a potential grass champion.

“This horse has settled beautifully after having some tough races earlier,” Whittingham said. “He ran the last quarter today in :23 2/5, which is outstanding.”

Dahar reminds Whittingham of the four-year-old colt’s mother, Dahlia, who was the champion turf horse in 1974 and earned $1.5 million in purses--still third on the list of female horses.

“They’re both one-run horses,” Whittingham said. “Dahlia, you had to hide her early and then get her outside.”

Which is what jockey Fernando Toro did Sunday with Dahar, while Scrupules, Alphabatim, Jam Shot and Rake bumped and squeezed each other trying to find room inside the winner.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, whose Scrupules finished second, a head in front of 9-to-10 favorite Alphabatim, thought Jam Shot, a refugee from the claiming ranks, was the culprit.

“Jam Shot kept going out all the way around the track,” Frankel said. “My horse was second, and the next thing you knew, we were next to last.”

Only two lengths and a couple of heads separated Dahar and fifth-place Jam Shot at the end.

Both Eddie Delahoussaye, aboard Scrupules, and Pat Day, riding Rake, felt they had enough horse to win if it hadn’t been for the squeeze.

“I wanted to go ahead, but that other horse (Jam Shot) kept getting out,” Delahoussaye said. “I couldn’t control my horse the way I wanted to. Usually when you stay on the outside, you think you’re safe. But not today. There was a lotta bumping in the last sixteenth of a mile.”

Rake, after trailing the field early, tried to close along the rail, but ran out of room. “At first it looked like there was ample room,” Day said. “But just about the time we started to come through, we got squeezed. My horse got intimidated. Otherwise, I think we might have won.”

Martin Pedroza, riding Jam Shot, said he apologized to Delahoussaye after the race.

“Every time I tried to hold my horse, he kept wanting to get out,” Pedroza said. “He kept trying to throw his body out. Everybody was trying to win and it was tight. Still, I thought my horse ran a good race, against this class of horses.”

Dahar, coupled with Dr. Daly in the betting, paid $8, $3.60 and $2.20 and was timed in 2:01 1/5. Scrupules paid $4 and $2.20 and Alphabatim returned $2.20.

Dahar raced successfully in Europe until last summer and in his first four starts in the United States he finished no better than third. But on Jan. 5, Dahar came from off the pace under Toro to win the San Gabriel Handicap by a nose over Paris Prince.

Paris Prince was one of Sunday’s scratches, along with Executive Pride and Strong Dollar. Ray Sibille, who would have ridden Paris Prince, said that trainer Laz Barrera may be saving the 5-year-old for the Turf Paradise Handicap at Phoenix next Sunday.

“There was a lot of action for so few horses,” Toro said of the San Marcos. “I was lucky. I knew there was a lot of bumping inside me. My horse was real strong, and when I asked him to run the last part, he really dug in.”

Chris McCarron, aboard Alphabatim, didn’t use the bumping as an excuse. “My horse ran well,” McCarron said, “but he came up a little short.”

For Dahar, Whittingham has his sights on the San Luis Obispo Handicap Feb. 16 or the Sierra Nevada Handicap Feb. 18, with the April 21 San Juan Capistrano Handicap, a $300,000 race, as the major objective.

After a slightly disappointing year in 1984, the 71-year-old trainer has three stakes wins for the meeting. “The only thing I don’t like about winning is the champagne,” Whittingham said. “I’m strictly a martini man.”