Champ Pegasus bests Bourbon Bay at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) - Champ Pegasus bested Bourbon Bay on a damp Saturday in the latest round of their ongoing turf marathon rivalry, rallying to win by a nose in the $150,000 San Luis Obispo Stakes at Santa Anita.

Bourbon Bay, the favorite with Rafael Bejarano aboard, took the lead coming out of the second turn in the Grade 2 stakes and started to pull away, but as expected Champ Pegasus turned it into a match race in the homestretch as the pair ran neck-and-neck in the final eighth, with Champ Pegasus winning by a bob of the head.

Champ Pegasus, a 5-year-old son of Fusaichi Pegasus trained by Richard Mandella, and covered 1 1/2 miles in 2:31.55 and paid $5, $2.40 and $2.40. Bourbon Bay paid $2.40 and $2.40. Haimish Hy was a well-beaten third and paid $2.40 to show.

The loss was the first in six races for Bourbon Bay, who has now lost twice to Champ Pegasus and beaten him once.

"I don't think he liked the soft turf,'' Bourbon Bay's trainer Neil Drysdale said.

The $90,000 first prize made Champ Pegasus a millionaire, taking his career total from five wins in 10 starts to $1,018,520.

Rosario later picked up a last minute mount on heavy favorite Smiling Tiger for another narrow win, this time in the $150,000 San Carlos Handicap, a dirt sprint for older horses.

Smiling Tiger had slipped in his reputation as the West Coast's top sprinter with a loss to Auroras in the Palls Verde's Stakes last month, but on Saturday overcame stumble at the gate to beat Captain Cherokee by a head, covering seven furlongs in 1:20.30 and paying $4.80, $3.20 and $2.60.

Captain Cherokee paid $6 and $3.40. Mythical Power paid $3.20 to show.

Trainer Jeff Bond made a last-minute decision to enter Smiling Tiger and it was too late to get regular rider Russell Baize to Santa Anita from Northern California, so Rosario stepped in and earned a second stakes win.