SANTA ANITA : Trifecta Off to a Big Start--$1,685

Restless Henry, Damelo and Diamondback Dragon will forever be the answer to a trivia question.

Who were the first three finishers in the initial trifecta race offered at Santa Anita?

Running for a $25,000 claiming price, the 3-year-olds, who all went off at longer than 10-1 odds, combined for a $1,685.40 payoff for a $2 bet in the ninth race. The trifecta was scheduled to debut in the fifth, but six scratches reduced the field to seven. Nine betting interests are required for a trifecta race.

The trifecta pool was $278,396, which was more than the figure projected by George Haines, Santa Anita’s pari-mutuel manager. “I thought it would be in the low $200,000 range,” he said. “Overall, things went pretty smooth. There were some problems (with bettors) calculating the cost of various combinations, but there were no major problems.”

Santa Anita produced pamphlets explaining how to bet the trifecta, but its mutuel clerks weren’t given any special schooling in the wager, as was the case when the daily triple debuted several years ago.

If looks mean anything, Itsallgreektome will be even more effective in 1991 than he was last year.

All the gray gelding did in ’90 was win five stakes, place in eight in a row and earn an Eclipse Award as the nation’s top male turf performer.

Freshened since capping his banner year with a victory in the Hollywood Turf Cup Dec. 16, the son of Sovereign Dancer has blossomed.

“He’s stronger and he seems to have really filled out,” trainer Wally Dollase said. “Denise Dietrick (a former jockey who serves as an assistant to trainer Allen Severinsen in Northern California) galloped him before he won the Ascot Handicap (last September) and she said he felt like an average horse at that time.

“When she got on him the other day, she couldn’t believe how much stronger he was and how powerful he felt.”

Itsallgreektome is scheduled to make his first start of the year in Saturday’s San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields.

More rain--which is in the forecast--and an extremely soggy turf course could change those plans, but Dollase is hopeful the stable star will run in the Mile, which will be simulcast at Santa Anita.

“I’m going to work him an easy half on the turf Thursday morning and see how he handles the course,” Dollase said. “I walked the course today (Wednesday) and it seemed to be in good shape.

“We’ll play it by ear, but I want to run him and he really wants to run. He needs a race, he’s raring to go and he’s dead fit. But I don’t want to run him if the track is unsafe. If I thought he might come out of the race with an injury, I would be remiss in running the horse.”

After his victory in the Turf Cup, Itsallgreektome was given a month off by Dollase before resuming training.

“He just did some jogging and had some long slow gallops,” Dollase said. “I cut his grain ration in half and he spent two hours a day in a sun paddock.

“He had his first breeze Jan. 16. and I brought him up just like I would a 2-year-old. He worked a slow five-eighths (last Saturday), but I didn’t want him to work fast. He went real slow early, then went the last quarter in :24 1/5. He’s coming up to the race better than ever.”

Dollase could have a formidable 1-2 turf punch later in the year. Al Genib, a multiple-stakes winner in Argentina, is now in his barn, but he’s not likely to run until summer.

“He’s a very, very good horse,” Dollase said. “He won the Triple Crown on turf in Argentina and he ran 1 1/2 miles in 2:22 1/5. We’re going to give him plenty of time to acclimate, but he could be special. Our ultimate goal for him is the Japan Cup.”

Jockey Corey Black has made a decision to move east, and he says it was a rather simple one.

“I want a chance to ride and I want to win races,” he said. “I feel like I’ve proven myself here and I know I’m competent enough. I want to be a leading rider and I feel like I can do it because nobody’s going to outwork me.”

Black will head to Keeneland next week to ride the spring meeting there, then it’s on to New York. He has hooked up with agent John Gasper, who has worked for Randy Romero and who is well-connected with several top-notch stables. Gasper has already lined up the mount on Hansel for Black if that one starts in the Jim Beam Stakes March 30 at Turfway Park.

The nation’s top-money winning apprentice in 1986, Black, 21, had his best year in 1990 with more than $4.5 million in purses while the regular rider for Flying Continental and Petite Ile.

However, Flying Continental has gone off form this year and Petite Ile has been retired after fracturing a coffin bone. “My business has been the same as it has been, but I’m minus the good horses,” said Black, who has 13 victories from 143 rides this meeting. “I’ve considered (going east) the last two winters, and I think the Keeneland meet is going to be a good steppingstone for New York.”

Horse Racing Notes

Chris McCarron will ride Apollo in the Jim Beam Stakes March 30 at Turfway Park, replacing injured Kent Desormeaux. Desormeaux broke his right wrist Sunday and will be sidelined 5-6 weeks. . . . Rial, the easy winner of the San Luis Obispo Handicap Feb. 18, has a small fracture in his left ankle and will be out for at least two months. “He’s just walking now and will continue doing just that for the next 60 days or so,” said Pico Perdomo, the horse’s former trainer. “He’s going to be fine after some time off.”

Corporate Report, unbeaten in two sprints for Wayne Lukas, will make his first start around two turns in the Rebel Stakes March 30 at Oaklawn Park. Gary Stevens will ride. . . . Petite Ile, who beat males in both the Golden Gate Handicap and Sunset last year, will be bred to Alysheba.