Upset Leads to Big Payoff

DEL MAR —  Choctaw Nation, undefeated but bearing the stigma of a horse who was retrieved from the $40,000 claiming ranks, overtook heavily favored Pleasantly Perfect in the final sixteenth of a mile to score a three-quarter-length upset Sunday in the $250,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

Pleasantly Perfect, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and this year’s Dubai World Cup, was making his first start since he made the 8,000-mile trip home from the United Arab Emirates four months ago. Favored at 3-5, Pleasantly Perfect and his jockey, Mike Smith, made the lead turning for home in the 1 1/8 -mile race, but Choctaw Nation, nine lengths back with five-sixteenths of a mile left, was unleashing his winning run from the far outside.

Choctaw Nation, ridden by Victor Espinoza, was clocked in 1:42 1/5 and paid $14.60 as he registered his fifth win in a row. Four of those have come since owner Bob Bone and trainer Jeff Mullins claimed him from trainer Bruce Headley out of a sprint that Choctaw Nation won at Santa Anita on Feb. 29.

Pleasantly Perfect finished second, five lengths ahead of During. In a pre-race interview, Richard Mandella, Pleasantly Perfect’s trainer, cited Choctaw Nation as a horse who might be a factor. Choctaw Nation carried 114 pounds, 10 fewer than Pleasantly Perfect.

Mullins said that he was speechless after Choctaw Nation’s win, and later one of his clients, Scott Guenther, also had reason to be at a loss for words. The pick six hadn’t been hit in two days, the pool swelled to $3.2 million and Guenther and his three partners held the only ticket with all six winners, which was worth a California-record $2,100,117, before the tax bite. Guenther, 52, who lives in Newport Beach, was assured of his bonanza only after the Mullins-trained Golden Souvenir won the last race.

Guenther, who had 80% of the ticket, said that he and his partners bet $1,152. Their ticket consisted of three horses in the first leg, and four, four, four, three and one in the others. The winning horses were Gent ($11 to win), Smokette ($17.60), Short Route ($106.20), Ya Lajwaad ($15.40), Choctaw Nation ($14.60) and Golden Souvenir ($8.20).

The net return on the winning ticket was $1,512,084.20. The Guenther ticket also accounted for 13 consolation payoffs -- five winners -- at $8,230.20 apiece. The consolations totaled $106,992.60, which after taxes came to $77,034.67.

Favorites were defeated in all six of the pick-six races, and the third leg of the bet was won by Short Route, a 52-1 shot.

Guenther said that his reason for including Short Route in his ticket was that he owns a piece of Mud Route, sire of the sixth-race winner.

Guenther, who sold his carpet company in 2002, races under the Desperado Stables banner. He’s part of a partnership that owns Buddy Gil, trained by Mullins and winner of the 2003 Santa Anita Derby.

The old California record for the pick six was set a year ago Sunday at Del Mar, when one ticket was worth $1.5 million. The national record is $3 million, set on Breeders’ Cup day at Gulfstream Park in 1999.

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After a hearing that lasted three days and almost seven hours, the three Del Mar stewards said Sunday that they would issue a ruling this week regarding an appeal by Pat Valenzuela of his July 2 suspension.

Valenzuela, allowed to work horses while he has been suspended from riding races, said that he would begin to exercise horses at Del Mar this week.

“I’m always optimistic about what will happen,” he said. “If I get the green light, I want to make sure I’m completely ready.”

Valenzuela testified Sunday that he has not taken drugs this year. He also said that he’s a recovering alcoholic who has been sober since Feb. 15, 2000.