Jewel Princess Lives Up to Name With Another Glowing Victory

Not long after Jewel Princess won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Woodbine last year, trainer Wally Dollase reflected on her perfect name.

“Whoever named her knew,” Dollase said. “She’s one heck of a jewel and one heck of a princess.”

Jewel Princess is a windup horse; Dollase and his crew, which includes a chiropractor, wind her up, and the 5-year-old mare does the rest. She hadn’t run since the Breeders’ Cup, 3 1/2 months ago, but there were no cobwebs showing Sunday when Jewel Princess won the $157,900 Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita by five lengths while spotting her six opponents from five to nine pounds.

“I can see the weight she’s going to get [in the Santa Margarita Handicap on March 9],” Dollase said. “She’s already carrying as much as they’re giving Skip Away, but I thought this race was fairly weighted.”

Jewel Princess, unlike three other 1996 Eclipse Awards winners--Skip Away, Boston Harbor and Storm Song--didn’t stumble in her first start this year. Many horses might have been vulnerable, running 1 1/16 miles off a lengthy layoff, but Dollase was confident.

“She’s a champion, and she acts like a champion,” he said. “This is the way champions are supposed to act.”

Cat’s Cradle finished second after leading until the head of the stretch. She was half a length better than Top Rung, who was the last horse to beat Jewel Princess, by half a length at Santa Anita in the Lady’s Secret Handicap three weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.

On another epidemic day for winning longshots, Jewel Princess restored form to the tote board, paying $4. Her time was 1:41 3/5, which was three-fifths of a second slower than the stakes record. Jewel Princess registered her 12th win in 23 starts, earning $97,900 and sending her overall total over the $1.5-million mark.

Corey Nakatani, Dollase’s son-in-law, has ridden Jewel Princess in her last five races, which have netted three wins and two seconds, and Sunday he won for the third time in the last four runnings of the Santa Maria. Nakatani didn’t have a mount in the stake last year.

“She is definitely a lot more professional than she used to be,” Nakatani said. “She doesn’t get as intimidated down on the inside like when she was younger. Also, the farther she goes the better.”

Jewel Princess was in front of only two horses after three-quarters of a mile, but split horses and moved into contention nearing the far turn. She was four wide for her decisive move at the top of the stretch.

Cat’s Cradle, ridden by Alex Solis, has been first or second in her last five starts.

“I wish I could ride 10 more like her,” Solis said. “She tries so hard. We can’t be disappointed losing to the best mare in the country.”

A daughter of Key To The Mint, Paul Mellon’s champion 3-year-old of 1972, and Jewell Ridge, a filly who won only one race, Jewel Princess was bred in Florida by Mike Sherman’s Farnsworth Farms, which won the 1996 Eclipse Award for outstanding breeder. Sherman bought Jewell Ridge for $14,000 in 1991 while she was carrying Jewel Princess.

As a 2-year-old maiden, Jewel Princess ran for a claiming price, and in 1993, Richard Stephen, a women’s clothing manufacturer from Manhattan Beach, was reluctant to pay $110,000 to buy the filly, but his wife Martha talked him into it. Last summer, Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia bought 50% of Jewel Princess, as well as half-interests in two more of the Stephens’ horses, Windsharp and Nonproductiveasset.

The 38-year-old prince may not go home willingly. He was also on hand Saturday to watch his Sharp Cat, a $900,000 purchase, win the Las Virgenes Stakes.

“He’s good for the game because he loves it so much,” Dollase said of the prince. “He’s a sportsman and a gambler. Those are the kinds of people who do best at this business.”

Dollase gave Jewel Princess a month away from the track after the Breeders’ Cup, and in an unusual move he vanned her across town 10 days ago for a seven-furlong workout from the gate at Santa Anita.

“I wanted to build some confidence,” Dollase said. “I wanted her to get used to the surroundings, and to get racing on her mind. She was really sharp. I thought I had her pretty darn good.”

Horse Racing Notes

Julio Garcia’s three winners included 21-1 and 35-1 shots, horses that helped trigger a pick-six carryover of more than $500,000 going into today’s holiday card. . . . Rainbow Dancer, a French import, makes his U.S. debut today as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the San Luis Obispo Handicap. . . . Instead of running in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 2, Victory Speech will face Skip Away in the Gulfstream Park Handicap the day before. . . . Savinio, who has a bruised foot, is out of the Big ‘Cap. . . . Tahoe City scored a 12-1 upset in the $100,000 Bay Meadows Express.