Canani Is a Filly Fanatic

In the 1960s, before he cooled off horses for trainer Tommy Doyle, before he took out his trainer’s license, Julio Canani was a waiter.

Well, Canani was a waiter for one night. Just in from Peru, with about $600 to his name, he had been given a job at a Beverly Hills hotel after a friend recommended him.

“They told me not to come back the second night,” Canani said. “I broke too many dishes.”

The hotel was the Beverly Wilshire, the same place where Canani and Marty and Pam Wygod were center stage in January, the night their Sweet Catomine was honored as the best 2-year-old filly in North America. Had Canani broken any dishes that night, he could have told the hotel to just add it to his bill.

Sweet Catomine, Canani and the Wygods, who bred and race the huge filly, will be in the spotlight again Saturday when she tries to become the fourth distaffer to win the Santa Anita Derby. Should Sweet Catomine survive that 1 1/8 -mile test, it will be on to the Kentucky Derby, which also has been won by a filly only three times.

Sweet Catomine was installed as a 7-5 favorite when post positions were drawn Wednesday. Although the Storm Cat-Sweet Life filly has won five in a row since finishing second in her debut at Del Mar in July, the 68th running drew 10 other horses, the largest field since Splendid Spruce defeated 12 rivals in 1981.

The lineup appears to be longer on quantity than quality. Sweet Catomine has won five stakes, more than the rest of the field combined. Of the 11, two -- Customer and A.P. Arrow -- are maidens and four others have won one race apiece, against maidens. Excluding Sweet Catomine, the others have won 14 of 52 starts.

Next after Sweet Catomine on the morning line is Don’t Get Mad, who’s at 7-2 after running second and third in stakes at Santa Anita this meet. Wilko, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, is 9-2. Bothered by cracked hoofs since Craig Dollase started training him in California, Wilko was third in the Hollywood Futurity and fourth in the San Felipe Stakes.

Marty Wygod grimaced when Sweet Catomine drew the No. 2 post. He would have preferred a spot on the outside.

“I was surprised this many horses are running,” Wygod said. “On paper, many of them don’t figure in this kind of race. They’re not showing that much respect for our filly.”

Corey Nakatani, who has ridden Sweet Catomine to victory three times, including the Breeders’ Cup and the Santa Anita Oaks in her last start, is undaunted. Nakatani could have ridden Wilko, but his choice of Sweet Catomine opened up the mount for Frankie Dettori, the ebullient English champion who was aboard for the colt’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. This will be the first time the winners of the two Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds have raced.

“Wilko and Sweet Catomine are both very talented horses, but Sweet Catomine is one of the best fillies I’ve ever sat on,” Nakatani said. “I’ll ride her with a lot of confidence. I think she was about 80% going into her prep races. Now I think she’s between 90 and 100%.

“Julio knows he doesn’t want to squeeze the lemon dry. He wants to save something for the big dance [the Kentucky Derby on May 7].”

In her division, Sweet Catomine received 273 of the 274 Eclipse Award votes cast, with one unnamed person voting for Runway Model, who lost six races last year and finished five lengths behind Sweet Catomine on Breeders’ Cup day.

The Wygods already were thinking about racing their filly against the boys late last year. Canani had even thought about running her in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He feared Balletto, the eventual second-place finisher in the Juvenile Fillies, more than the horses that were running in the Juvenile.

The only time Sweet Catomine has faced a bigger field than Saturday’s was when 11 horses tested her in the Breeders’ Cup. The Santa Anita Derby, with its big field, could be a useful lesson for Churchill Downs, where close to 20 horses usually run in the Kentucky Derby.

“She’s had a tendency to get into trouble in her last couple of races,” Wygod said. “But I’d rather see her lose ground [by going wide] rather than getting stuck behind horses.”

Earlier this week, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey was asked about Sweet Catomine. McGaughey will run Survivalist, a Kentucky Derby prospect, in Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. From 1986 to ‘88, McGaughey trained Personal Ensign, a filly who was retired undefeated in 13 starts.

“Personal Ensign beat the colts the only time she faced them, in the Whitney [at Saratoga],” McGaughey said. “I have nothing but admiration for Sweet Catomine, but when you run a filly against colts, you’re going into foreign territory.”

The last filly to win the Santa Anita Derby, Winning Colors in 1988, also won the Kentucky Derby. Only four fillies have tried the Santa Anita Derby since Winning Colors, their best finish a third by Eliza in 1993. The other fillies to win the Santa Anita race were Ciencia in 1939 and Silver Spoon in 1959.

“My filly has done everything right,” Canani said. “The only time she got beat was at 5 1/2 furlongs. She’s got a perfect temperament. She was named right, because nothing bothers her. I don’t run fillies against colts very often, but once in your lifetime, you’ve got to do something different.”

There were no signs of the ex-waiter throwing in the towel.

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Fine Fillies

The leading fillies, all retired, on the all-time earnings list, as compiled by Equibase Co.

*--* Horse St. W Pl. Sh. Earnings Azeri 24 17 4 0 $4,079,820 Spain 35 9 9 7 3,540,542 Paseana 36 19 10 2 3,317,427 Serena’s Song 38 18 11 3 3,283,388 Dance Smartly 17 12 2 3 3,263,835 Silverbulletday 23 15 3 1 3,093,207 Lady’s Secret 45 25 9 3 3,021,325

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