SANTA ANITA : Arp Continues to Surprise Trainer With Fourth Victory This Meeting

Even though Mel Stute has the hottest 3-year-old at Santa Anita, the trainer has not come down with Kentucky Derby fever.

There is a simple reason. Stute hasn’t nominated Arp to any of the Triple Crown races. “I’m not like (Wayne) Lukas,� he said Wednesday after the gelded son of Snow Chief rallied to win the $82,350 Bolsa Chica Stakes. “I didn’t forget to nominate him. I didn’t think he was good enough.�

Before the beginning of the Santa Anita meet on Dec. 26, neither did anyone else. Arp’s only victory in six starts was a three-length triumph over $32,000 California-bred maidens on Nov. 8.

Forty-eight days into the meeting, he has four victories--more than any other horse--and has clearly found his calling as a late-running sprinter.

“He’s fooling me,� Stute said after Arp’s $19.40 half-length upset of Three Peat, Star Of The Crop and five others in 1:08 2/5. “He keeps getting better and better. I didn’t believe he was this good, otherwise, I would never have run him against $32,000 maidens.

“When we first got here at the start of the meet, I’d run the hell out of him and he was starting to put on weight and starting to get more color and filling out. He seems to thrive on racing.

“Now, I’ll start taking care of him and he won’t run a lick. He tries--and that was Snow Chief’s big thing--and he doesn’t care who he’s running against.�

Alex Solis has been aboard for all of Arp’s victories and he couldn’t have ridden him any better Wednesday. Sixth after a half-mile behind a 21 1/5 and 44 flat pace, he saved ground all the way and was up in the final yards.

“He was really flying,� Solis said. “He impressed me with the way he finished. Last time, he finished well. Today, he finished great.

“When I got him in the clear in the stretch, he put his head down and got low. It reminded me of his father. We haven’t worked him long yet. Maybe now we’ll try and see if he can do it.�

Thee Peat, making only his second start, got the best of pacesetters Egocentric and Salt Lake, drew clear and wound up 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Star Of The Crop, the 9-5 favorite.

“He ran super,� jockey Pat Valenzuela said. “I thought he was going to win. He made a winning move. The other horse is just better right now.�

Star Of The Crop would have been closer had he drawn somewhere other than the rail. He clipped heels while rallying around the turn.

Real West finished fourth, then came Egocentric, Ocean Native, Gold Desert and Salt Lake.

Longshots Swoonatune, Merci’s Treasure and Stolen Loot won the third, fourth and fifth races Wednesday at Santa Anita, triggering a $92,321.70 payoff in the first triple, a record for a regular Santa Anita meeting.

Only two tickets were able to put those three winners together. The longest shot in the field at almost 60-1, Swoonatune had only a maiden victory at Fairplex Park to her credit in 10 starts.

Merci’s Treasure, a 3-year-old maiden filly, had finished a distant second in her previous race but was well beaten in three other starts. Stolen Loot had won her first start, beating older maiden fillies and mares but went off at 13-1 after opening at 5-1 on Jeff Tufts’ morning line.

The biggest triple in Santa Anita history occurred during the last Oak Tree meeting. Most Striking, Karl Nijinsky--the beneficiary of a disqualification--and Baja Prince combined for a $174,331.80 return Oct. 18.

Horse Racing Notes

According to owner Bay Schiffer, Arp was named in honor of Gene Arp, a modern painter. Arp earned $48,600 Wednesday. . . . Tight Spot, who hasn’t started since suffering his first loss on grass in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, is among eight horses entered in Friday’s feature, a $55,000 classified allowance event at one mile. Laffit Pincay will ride for trainer Ron McAnally and Tight Spot is the co-high weight with Forty Niner Days at 121 pounds.

The preliminary necropsy report on Sunset Partner, who collapsed and died after finishing fourth in the second division of Sunday’s Buena Vista Handicap, showed that she had a collapsed lung that was filled with blood. “She also had small, blood blister-like hemorrhages on the base of the lung,� said Dr. B. William Bell. The report will be available within two weeks . . . Besides A.P. Indy, the probable starters in Saturday’s $150,000 San Rafael Stakes are Hickman Creek, Megan’s Interco, Prince Wild, Silver Ray and Treekster . . . No one had the Pick Six again Wednesday, so there will be a carryover of more than $334,000.