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Big 'Cap heats up Santa Anita
"He got excited a little bit before the race, so when we broke from the gate, I just let him go," Bejarano explained. "But after that, I was able to find a good position for him and we were able to hold it the whole race. I heard the other horse (Go Between) coming at the end. That's why I just kept riding as hard as I could. But I was confident we were going to hold on because my horse was still running. He was still giving me a lot of power." Sent off the 7-1 fifth choice, Heatseeker rewarded his backers with payouts of $16, $7 and $4.80. Go Between held a charging Champs Elysees (GB) (Danehill) to third by 2 3/4 lengths to return $7 and $5.20 at 5-1 while ending the $44.80 exacta ($1). Champs Elysees, who was off to a slow start and got caught in a traffic jam in midstretch, spurted through a hole and moved to the rail to put in a furious, but belated, rally for third. He gave back $7.80 and finished the $528.10 trifecta ($1) as the 10-1 seventh pick. "This horse absolutely loved the surface," said Ramon Dominguez, who was aboard the unlucky Champs Elysees. "I feel without hesitation that he was the best horse in the race. I don't know if being in the one-hole had something to do with it, having to wait for the other horses to load, but he broke very, very flat-footed. "He had so much ground to make up," Dominguez continued to explain his eventful ride. "I was last through almost the whole race. And then we were weaving in and out of traffic. But he felt extremely strong under me and he galloped out just great. I can't tell you enough good things about him. I love this horse. This is going to be a very serious older horse, and on any surface." Tiago (Pleasant Tap), who raced near the back early on, made up enough ground to take down the fourth spot, completing the 10-12-1-2 superfecta ($1) that was worth $3,872.10 as the 5-1 second choice. Zappa (Afternoon Deelites) came next under the line and was followed by Student Council (Kingmambo), Awesome Gem (Awesome Again), Great Hunter (Aptitude), Air Commander (Point Given), Big Booster (Accelerator), Seminole Native (Lil Tyler), Monterey Jazz, Medici Code (GB) (Medicean) and Celtic Dreamin (Game Plan). Heatseeker owns just one previous stakes victory, scoring a 1 1/4-length win in the December 8 Native Diver H. (G3). Since that race, the five-year-old has recorded a third in the San Pasqual H. (G2) in mid-January and a head second prior to this one in the San Antonio H. (G2). He also shows a second in the Windy Sands H. from last year and a third in the 2005 National S. (Ire-G1) on his resume, which now reads 15-6-4-2, $927,776. Bred in Ireland by Richard F. Barnes, Heatseeker is out of the Defensive Play mare Rusty Back, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 heroine Spanish Fern (El Gran Senor). This is the same family as Irish champion and 1985 Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) vixen Al Bahathri (Blushing Groom [Fr]), herself the dam of Irish highweight Hasbah (Ire) (Kris) as well as multiple highweight Haafhd (Alhaarth), and Grade 2 heroes King of the Roxy (Littleexpectations) and Slew's Tizzy (Tiznow).
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