Declan's Moon fails to fire again

Onetime Eclipse Award winner Declan's Moon turned in another puzzling performance, running last in an allowance race Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.

The 2004 Eclipse 2-year-old champion male, Declan's Moon won his first start as a 3-year-old but then went to the sidelines for 16 months after having a chip surgically removed from his knee.

He lost his comeback race by a nose and is now winless in five starts since his return. He was last in the Grade 2 San Pasqual at Santa Anita on Jan. 6. Trainer Ron Ellis sent him north in hopes of getting a confidence-building victory. He hoped the quick turnaround and addition of blinkers might help.

Declan's Moon, sent off at 4-5, sat nicely behind pacesetting Dr. Einstein, who won the race, and seemed poised to make a winning move into the lane but flattened out and was beaten seven lengths in the five-horse field.

"This horse was just loping along around there," jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. said. "He felt great under me, and I was thinking if the real Declan's Moon shows up, these people are going to see a show, because he'll win by 10."

Ellis said, "He told me the same thing Victor [Espinoza] said last time. It just appears he doesn't want to put out. He's not interested in fighting at all."

Dr. Einstein ($6) held off My Creed to win the mile race by a nose, finishing in 1:37.20

* Multiple stakes winner Vicarino came back "ouchy" from a Saturday morning gallop at Golden Gate Fields, and trainer Greg Gilchrist said the 3-year-old colt was scheduled for X-rays. Vicarino won the Stinson Beach on Jan. 1 in his last start.