Giovannetti wins Maddy Sprint

ALBANY, Calif. - Giovannetti ($19.80), loser of a hard-fought duel to El Dorado Shooter last year in the Ken Maddy Sprint Handicap, reversed things Saturday at Golden Gate Fields, going wire-to-wire to win the $100,000 six-furlong stakes for Cal-breds.

Giovannetti claimed the lead down the backstretch from El Dorado Shooter, who was making his first start since last June. He opened on the turn and finished strong to hold off favored Green Team by 1 (one one-quarter) lengths, winning in 1:08.49. El Dorado Shooter was not asked down the lane and finished last 18 lengths behind fifth-place finisher Texas Chili.

Giovannetti, claimed for $20,000 at Bay Meadows in September 2002, had shown speed but stopped badly in two starts this year after finishing last in his final two races of 2003.

"I think the big key is he's finally gotten back to himself. He hadn't run been running his type of race," winning jockey Danny Sorenson said. "He'd always run well the first half and then stopped. Frank (Monteleone, his trainer) worked hard and did a great job. We have a different horse now."

Monteleone said that a quarter crack and ambitious campaign may have worn the 5-year-old gelding down last year, but he didn't understand what his problem was this year.

"He'd been running so badly, we knew we had to find the problem. He was popping and stopping," Monteleone said.

"We finally found he had an ulcer that was bleeding and that he had anemia. We started with blood work, eliminated a couple things, tried a couple things and he responded."

Favored Green Team, the Cal Cup Sprint winner who finished second in the Sunshine Millions in his last start, made a good move into the lane to take second but could never catch Giovannetti despite his fractions of 21.42 and 43.78.

"When we hit the quarter pole and he hadn't shortened stride like the last two times, it was a good feeling," Sorenson said.

Dennis Carr said El Dorado Shooter got a little hot in the post parade and only gave him a "little run" when the approached the turn.

The victory, worth $53,900, was the eighth in 18 starts for Giovannetti, lifting lifetime earnings to $325,003.

Monteleone said he hoped that Giovannetti would try to defend his title in the Phoenix Gold Cup in his next start.