Santa Catalina Starts Southern Cal Derby Road

(from track report)
Ten 3-year-olds were entered to run in Santa Anita's $150,000 Santa Catalina Stakes (gr. II) on Saturday, the first major steppingstone to the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) on April 5.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who won the 1996 Santa Catalina with Prince of Thieves, sends out the undefeated Scrimshaw for owners Bob and Beverly Lewis in the 1 1/16-mile Santa Catalina. Scrimshaw, a bay Kentucky-bred son of Gulch, broke his maiden by three lengths going 5 ½ furlongs last Nov. 3, then came back to win on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita at six furlongs by a head.

Bob Baffert, who captured the 1999 Santa Catalina with General Challenge, will saddle Domestic Dispute, a Kentucky-bred son of Unbridled Song who was third behind Toccet in the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I) on Dec. 21.

Crackup, a California-bred son of Distorted Humor, is slated to tackle open company for the first time. The Rafael Becerra trainee won the California Cup Juvenile and the Great State Challenge Juvenile as a 2-year-old last year.

In 64 previous runnings, the only Santa Catalina winner going on to victory in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) was Ferdinand in 1986.

$150,000 Santa Catalina Stakes (gr.II), 3-year-olds, 1 1/16 mile
PP Horse, Jockey, Wgt.
1 Hell Cat, Martin Pedroza, 113
2 Crackup, Tyler Baze, 120
3 Singletary, Pat Valenzuela, 113
4 Our Bobby V., Laffit Pincay Jr., 113
5 Robledo, Julie Krone, 115
6 Scrimshaw, Alex Solis, 115
7 Storm Gulch, Tony Farina, 113
8 Judge Swiss, Victor Espinoza, 113
9 Nation Wide News, Corey Nakatani, 113
10 Domestic Dispute, David Flores, 113.