Racing at Del Mar : Sebrof Wins Pat O’Brien Handicap by a Head

DEL MAR —  Only two of the three are here, but after just four days, it’s been a blockbuster season for Aaron Jones, Laz Barrera and Bold Forbes at Del Mar.

On opening day Wednesday, Sabulose, a 2-year-old son of Bold Forbes who was bred and owned by Jones and trained by Barrera, broke his maiden by running 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02 4/5, one of the fastest times ever posted by a juvenile at that distance here.

The Jones-Barrera team sent out another son of Bold Forbes before 20,797 fans Saturday, and the 4-year-old Sebrof, whose name comes from spelling his sire’s second name backwards, let Synastry pass him inside the sixteenth pole but then came on again to win the $60,350 Pat O’Brien Handicap by a head.

Both Jones and Barrera were in the winner’s circle with Sebrof. Bold Forbes, who won the 1976 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes for Barrera and was later bought by Jones as a stallion prospect, stands at stud at Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm in Kentucky.

Both of Barrera’s wins came at the expense of Wayne Lukas-trained horses. Sabulose beat Texian easily, by three lengths, and Saturday Lukas also saddled Synastry, who was 40-1 after not having won a race in almost two years.

Sebrof’s task in the O’Brien might have been made easier by the defection of Precisionist, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, but then again it was probably just as well for Precisionist that he didn’t run. Sebrof covered seven furlongs in 1:20 2/5, tying the track record that Bold Brawley set in this stake in 1986.

Precisionist, a former national sprint champion trying to prove himself on the track again after two seasons as an infertile stud, would have carried top weight of 121 pounds in the O’Brien, which would have been between 2 and 13 pounds more than the other 9 horses and 5 more than Sebrof.

Precisionist is now scheduled to run Monday in a one-mile, $48,000 allowance race. The 7-year-old will carry only 114 pounds, four less than the top-weighted Stylish Winner but the same weight as Candi’s Gold, a multiple stakes winner.

After hemorrhaging in a race at Hollywood Park in early May, Sebrof came back July 4, his last start before the O’Brien, and won an allowance race while using an anti-bleeder substance.

Do So, a 3-year-old filly who also won a stake at Del Mar Saturday, is another improved horse--not because of Lasix, but because trainer Ron McAnally switched her from dirt to grass and removed her blinkers.

With blinkers off, Do So has won four straight stakes, the latest being Saturday’s $84,400 San Clemente Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths over Affordable Price. Do So, like Sebrof, was favored, paying $4.80, $3.20 and $2.40 after running a mile under Alex Solis in an excellent 1:35 4/5. Affordable Price paid $4.80 and $3, finishing 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Variety Baby, who paid $2.60. Do So carried top weight of 121 pounds, spotting the opposition between 4 and 11 pounds.

Synastry hit the wire 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Epidaurus in the O’Brien. The mutuels for that race were $6.20, $4.40 and $2.80 for Sebrof, $25.20 and $9.20 for Synastry and $3.20 for Epidaurus.

Sebrof, who was produced by the Graustark mare, Jamila, had problems other than bleeding early in his career. “He’s won more fights than Mike Tyson,” Barrera said. “He got very sick on us as a 2-year-old. He had a bad case of colitis. He almost died. Not many horses make it back from what he had, but this one did. He’s a fighter. He’s a survivor. He’s still got problems, but he keeps on going.”

Sebrof’s owner-breeder and trainer haven’t exactly been in the pink, either. Barrera has a heart condition and refers to the scars from open-heart surgery as “my Triple Crown trophy.” The trainer won the Triple Crown with Affirmed in 1978, then suffered a heart attack. Jones, a lumberman from Eugene, Ore., has successfully fought a battle against cancer.

Sebrof battled Synastry to the wire after taking the lead at the top of the stretch and then briefly losing it.

“Even when Synastry moved over next to me, I didn’t think I would get beat,” said Gary Stevens, who rode Sebrof. “There was plenty of time, and he’s never been locked on by a horse and didn’t come back to win. He’s got as big a heart as any horse I’ve ever ridden. I’ve never seen him lose a fight yet.”

Eddie Delahoussaye rode Synastry, who had finished last in three of his four previous starts.

“I thought I had him,” Delahoussaye said. “But my horse pinned his ears in the last five yards and sulked.”

Maybe Synastry knew he was up against the hard-to-beat Jones-Barrera-Bold Forbes connection. Jones and Barrera have a 3-year-old filly, Hurricane Ida, running in today’s sixth race, but she’s not by Bold Forbes. Her sire is someone called Seattle Slew.

Horse Racing Notes

Off-track handle continues to be bigger than betting at Del Mar. Saturday, with 7,400 people at Santa Anita and 7,200 at Hollywood Park, the total attendance on-track and at 10 off-track locations was almost 41,000, with the overall handle $7.4 million. At Del Mar, the attendance was 20,115 and the handle $3.2 million. Fans bet $1.6 million at Santa Anita and $1.5 million at Hollywood. . . . Unpainted, winner of Friday’s $68,950 California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, pulled up lame after crossing the finish line, suffered a tendon injury and will probably have to be retired. The 2-year-old filly’s leg has been put in a cast. Unpainted was bought for $4,000 at auction by trainer Mel Stute and is owned by his wife, Annabelle. Friday’s race was Unpainted’s second start.

Del Mar’s stewards were busier than usual Saturday, disqualifying Plumpetra for interference and giving the second-race victory to Danila, and then they had to sort out a complicated multiple foul claim in the third race. Tourism, with Rafael Meza, finished first, with Anniversary Wish, ridden by Chris McCarron, and I Sure Hope So, under Gary Stevens, finishing in a dead heat for second. Stevens claimed foul against both Tourism and Anniversary Wish and McCarron claimed foul against I Sure Hope So, but the stewards let the result stand.