Santa Anita Oaks : Timely Assertion Wins After Very Subtle Tires

With or without blinkers, Very Subtle isn’t as good as Timely Assertion.

Not going beyond seven-eighths of a mile, she isn’t. On Sunday, Very Subtle wasn’t better than Buryyourbelief, either. Sent off as the 1-2 favorite by a crowd of 43,363, Very Subtle couldn’t hold the lead through the stretch and finished third as Timely Assertion beat Buryyourbelief by 1 3/4 lengths in the $162,600 Santa Anita Oaks, the first major race of the year for 3-year-old fillies.

After leading almost all the way in the 1 1/16-mile race, Very Subtle finished 3 lengths behind Timely Assertion and had her trainer, Mel Stute, thinking afterward that shorter distances might be what she needs.

Henry Moreno, who trains Timely Assertion, and the filly’s owner, George Aubin of Houston, are thinking big about their filly. Timely Assertion, who has raced only in California until now, has earned herself a trip out of town, probably to run in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on April 11 and also the Kentucky Oaks on May 1, the day before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Despite having beaten the previously undefeated Very Subtle by a neck in the Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 21, Timely Assertion was a distant third choice in Sunday’s seven-horse field and paid $15.80, $7.40 and $3.20. Buryyourbelief, who went off at 17-1, paid $10.20 and $3.40, and Very Subtle’s show price was $2.20. The time was 1:43 3/5, the same time that won two of the last three runnings of the race.

Timely Assertion, originally a $400,000 yearling, failed to muster a following after her Las Virgenes win because Very Subtle, who went into the race with six straight wins, beat herself. Very Subtle was leading by about a length and seemed to be pulling away when she decided the race was over with 45 yards to go and tried to quit running.

Stute was placing an order for blinkers before jockey Pat Valenzuela and Very Subtle came back to be unsaddled. On Sunday, outfitted in a hot-pink hood that made her a look-alike for stablemate Snow Chief, Very Subtle ran straight and without distractions, but a lack of stamina was her downfall as she tried to go farther than a mile for the first time.

Valenzuela stood next to Chris McCarron, who finished sixth on Senora, in the jockeys’ room as the rerun of the race was played on a television monitor.

“Look at her front action,” Valenzuela said of Very Subtle as the field reached mid-stretch.

“Not very fluid,” McCarron said.

“It looks like she’s falling down,” Valenzuela said.

The first time the two fillies met, in the Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 31, Very Subtle was an easy winner, with Timely Assertion finishing fifth, 9 1/2 lengths behind. But Timely Assertion got off to a troubled start, then had traffic problems in the stretch and the race was only seven furlongs.

Gary Stevens, who leads the meeting in stakes wins, picked up No. 9 with Timely Assertion, who has four victories in seven starts and earnings of more than $200,000 with this $95,100 payday.

“I didn’t think my filly got the credit she deserved last time,” Stevens said. “How often do you see one come from behind like that?

“I was a little nervous going down the backside today. Senora put a little pressure on Very Subtle, but Very Subtle was just galloping. I didn’t want to go up and burn us both out.”

Timely Assertion was in fourth place, not far off the pace.

“I figured that if Very Subtle stops, I get there,” Stevens said. “If she doesn’t, I’m in trouble. When I got after my filly at the quarter pole, she moved right up on her. Patrick (Valenzuela) had to start riding his horse before mine, and I could tell he was out of horse at the three-sixteenth pole.”

Valenzuela said that when Timely Assertion moved to challenge Very Subtle, “my filly gave up.” Very Subtle worked an extra-quick half-mile in 45 seconds Friday, but neither Stute nor Valenzuela cited that warmup as a reason for her running out of gas Sunday.

Timely Assertion is a daughter of Assert and Timely Roman, the same mare who produced Timely Writer, winner of the Flamingo and the Florida Derby in 1982 before being destroyed after going down as the favorite in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park at the end of the year.

Moreno was among those who was surprised that Timely Assertion went off at almost 7-1.

“I bet my money when I saw that price,” the trainer said.

Horse Racing Notes

After breaking the Santa Anita record with seven wins Saturday, Laffit Pincay scored with his first two mounts Sunday, giving him a streak of 10 wins in 11 races over a three-day period. Pincay missed another winner by a nose in Sunday’s fifth race, then, after an off-the-board finish in the sixth, won the seventh race, the Mt. Wilson Stakes, with Firesweeper. Pincay’s triple Sunday gave him 12 winners in three days. . . . Tony Matos, Pincay’s agent for the last five years, had another seven-winner day when he booked Chuck Baltazar’s mounts in 1969. Baltazar won seven races at Laurel. . . . Jockeys Jack Kaenel and Danny Cox will be leaving Santa Anita, Kaenel going to Keeneland at the end of the month and Cox already heading for Kentucky. Kaenel says he plans to ride at Del Mar this summer. . . . Super Cook, from trainer Wayne Lukas’ New York division, won Sunday’s Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct by 13 1/2 lengths. On Saturday, Lukas’ barn had two other winners, with Sun Master in the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park and with Pine Tree Lane in the Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct. . . . Sunday’s Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds was won by J.T.’s Pet, an undefeated colt who registered his fourth straight win. Flying Lieutenant, whose career started at Del Mar, finished sixth. . . . Because of St. Patrick’s Day, Santa Anita will race on Tuesday, with Fran’s Valentine and Auspiciante the high weights at 121 pounds apiece in the $100,000 Santa Ana Handicap. Others in the field are Paradies, Reloy, Stall Cloud, Frau Altiva, North Sider, Benzina and Infinidad.