Patience Finally Pays Off as Ladies Din Takes Read

DEL MAR —  Three years to the day that Ladies Din was claimed out of a race at Del Mar, the 5-year-old gelding struck again at the seaside track.

Not only did Ladies Din win Sunday’s $400,000 Eddie Read Handicap, he also did it from post No. 7--the same spot he won from July 30, 1997, the day trainer Ron Ellis claimed him from David LaCroix for $32,000. One race after the claim, the owners of the Florida bred moved Ladies Din from Ellis’ barn to Julio Canani’s. Canani didn’t know what he was getting--down to six horses, he was just looking to fill out a few stalls--but he wound up with a horse whose $240,000 payday Sunday swelled his purses to $1.5 million.

Ladies Din, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, had won only one of 12 starts going into the 1 1/8-mile Read, but Canani and Desormeaux never lost confidence. He picked up checks with high finishes in most of those races, and Canani even said that his worst finish, a sixth in the Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park last November, might have been his best race. Ladies Din lost by only one length that day.

“Some pretty good horses [Silic, also trained by Canani, and the now-retired Brave Act] had been beating him,” Desormeaux said. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s been perfect every time I’ve ridden him, and today he was rewarded for it.”

On a turf course that’s always been his haven, Ladies Din waited patiently behind the 34-1 pace-setter, Gold Nugget, before unleashing his winning move inside the eighth pole. In a time of 1:48 3/5, the same time as two of three previous Read winners, Ladies Din defeated Chester House by 1 1/4 lengths, paying $6.40 as the second betting choice. Chester House finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Gold Nugget, who lasted for third, and then came the disappointing 3-2 favorite, Dark Moondancer, who was beaten by 3 3/4 lengths. Sunshine Street, the San Juan Capistrano winner, was fifth.

At least two of the Read horses--Chester House and Dark Moondancer--may go on to the $2-million Arlington Million in suburban Chicago on Aug. 19, but Canani said that Ladies Din’s next start will be the $1-million Atto Mile at Woodbine on Sept. 10. It would cost $120,000 for Ladies Din to run in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, and now his owners, Terry Lanni and Bernie Schiappa, with Sunday’s pot in their kick, say that they probably will pay the supplementary fee.

If only Ladies Din could stay at Del Mar. In 1998, he swept the track’s three top grass races for 3-year-olds--the Oceanside, the La Jolla Handicap and the Del Mar Derby--and Sunday’s performance gave Canani’s horse five wins, one second and one third in seven starts on the grass here.

“He loves the beach,” Desormeaux said. “Break out the sunglasses and the surfboards.”

Dark Moondancer came into the Read off three wins in four starts at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, the only loss coming when he cut his foot by stepping on an unidentified object on the Hollywood grass course.

“He just didn’t fire,” said Chris McCarron, who rode the horse Sunday. “He worked slow the other day [five furlongs in 1:05 2/5], but I put that down to the fact that he’s a lazy work horse. But maybe it was an indicator that he didn’t like this course. With a sub-par race like this, we may have to go back to the drawing board with him.”

Chester House, whose last three races on dirt were uninspiring, returned to grass and was gaining on Ladies Din near the wire. Chester House’s jockey, David Flores, said that the slow pace didn’t help.

Asked if more distance would have helped Chester House, trainer Bobby Frankel said: “I don’t know, but we’ll find out when we get to Arlington.’

The Arlington Million is an eighth of a mile longer than the Read.

Desormeaux won the two races before the Read, and returned later on the card for another victory, giving him a four-bagger for the day.

Notes

Laffit Pincay, who holds the record for career wins, won his 8,953rd race when he rode Cover Gal to victory in the $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes. . . . At Saratoga, two of the best distaffers in the country met in the $250,000 Go For Wand Stakes and Heritage Of Gold, ridden by Shane Sellers, beat Beautiful Pleasure by one length. Trainer Tom Amoss said that Heritage Of Gold was almost scratched because of the sloppy track. “We decided to run after they ran the fourth race,” Amoss said. “There’s something about Saratoga and being here.” Beautiful Pleasure, who had won three of four on off tracks, was the even-money favorite and, under Jorge Chavez, led by seven lengths after a half-mile. The time for 1 1/8 miles was 1:49 4/5. Heritage Of Gold paid $7.90. . . . Clyde Hirt, a member of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame and a columnist for the New York-based publication Sports Eye, died Sunday after a brief illness. Hirt, 73, had two daughters, one of whom, Marlene Benkoe, lives in Lancaster.