Columnist Ralph Siraco: They’re off: Season under way in earnest

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

With the Eclipse Awards for 2002 distributed and a month already in the books, horse racing is starting to gear up again.

As par for the course in these days of competitive attrition and retirement due to economics, the stars of one year seem to disappear before the next.

Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem has retired with an Eclipse trophy and will stand stud duty in Japan. Belmont Stakes winner Sarava and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Volponi are back in training while the 2002 Horse of the Year, Azeri, awaits a Southern California sales ring in March for a high-bidding new owner that may or may not return her to the track.

But some do come back.

On Saturday at Santa Anita, Medaglia d'Oro made his 2003 debut as a newly turned four-year-old. Tutored by last year's Eclipse Award-wining trainer Bobby Frankel, the striking son of El Prado was coming off a year that produced 4 wins and 3 seconds from 9 starts. A victory in the Grade I Travers at Saratoga preceded his solid runner-up effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic to end last year with much promise.

The first installment on that promise came in the Strub Stakes. Breaking from the outside post in the six-horse field, jockey Jerry Bailey assessed the reluctance of his competitors to be pacesetters and gunned Medaglia d'Oro for the lead. That was essentially the race.

Bailey and his equine transportation rolled to any easy daylight victory in the 1 1/8 miles Grade II to stake first claim in the division.

Also on Saturday, the Grade II San Vicente Stakes was renewed. The seven-furlong stepping stone to the Santa Anita Derby featured a six-pack of sophomores.

The Bob Baffert trainee Kafwain was last seen finishing second -- by a head -- to Toccet in the Hollywood Futurity, where he eventually was disqualified to fourth. A winner of 3 races with a pair of seconds from 8 starts last year, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up has been sitting in the shadow of stablemate Vindication, who won the Eclipse Award as best two-year-old male.

In the San Vicente, Kafwain closed from last to first with a powerful sweeping move through the stretch under jockey Victor Espinoza. Now, Baffert will point Kafwain toward Louisville with a victory already under his girth while Vindication still waits for his first start of the year.

Baffert unleashed another potential superstar on Sunday. The Grade II San Antonio Handicap featured the comebacks of last year's Santa Anita Handicap winner Milwaukee Brew and Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap winner Pleasantly Perfect.

While both may have needed their respective outings, neither was ready for Congaree. A winner of 8 races from 15 lifetime starts, Congaree stretched his perfect record at Santa Anita with a fourth victory over the track and third in a row overall. Rating off the pace, Congaree was masterfully ridden by Jerry Bailey.

Unlike the sport's top equines, the human stars have a longer shelf life.

None, however, can compare to the world's winningest rider Laffit Pincay, Jr.

Just a month removed from his 56th birthday, Pincay reached another milestone at Santa Anita last Wednesday. After a winless streak that spanned 15 races over several days, Pincay reached career victory number 9,500 in the third race when he rallied Saxony from fourth in the seven-furlong race. Not one to sit on his laurels, Pincay returned to the winners circle four races later when he guided Brocky's Dream to a $73.40 upset win in the seventh.