Santa Anita: Pontchatrain likely to stretch out

ARCADIA, Calif. – As with Jeranimo, the connections of Pontchatrain will have to try a new distance with her for her next start, following her victory Sunday in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes.

The Monrovia win was the third straight for Pontchatrain, all on the about 6 1/2-furlong downhill turf course. But there isn’t another graded stakes for older females on that course until the Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas on April 12, so Pontchatrain likely will stretch out to a mile on turf for her next start, in the Grade 2, $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes on Feb. 17, according to trainer Tom Proctor.

“She’ll get a mile,” Proctor said.

Pontchatrain made it look easy in the Monrovia, with a flawless ride by Gary Stevens, but looks were deceiving. Pontchatrain came back to the winner’s circle with her right hind shoe askew, tilted about 45 degrees to the right. Stevens said Pontchatrain was bumped in that leg leaving the gate by Camryn Kate, so she likely competed throughout the race with the shoe more a hindrance than a help.

“It almost would have been better if it came off completely,” Stevens said.

It did not matter. Pontchatrain flew down the hill 1:11.14, just .04 of a second off the course record. Kindle was second, and Proctor-trained Purim’s Dancer was third.

Pontchatrain, 4, is a daughter of War Front. She has now won five times in seven starts and is owned by the Glen Hill Farm of Leonard Lavin and his grandson Craig Bernick.

Proctor was struggling Sunday with a cold that left him with a hacking cough.

“I’ve been deathly ill all week,” said Proctor, who scored the 1,000th win of his career in a race at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. “I didn’t think I was going to make it to 1,000. I thought I was going down at 999.”