Talamo Convinced Hofmans to Run Melatonin in Big 'Cap

Despite losing an hour’s sleep with the advent of Daylight Saving Time, it was business as usual Sunday for Team Melatonin after the gelding’s front-running victory by 4 ¼ lengths at 16-1 under Joe Talamo for trainer David Hofmans in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap.

Melatonin, a bay son of Kodiak Kowboy owned by Glendale resident Susan Osborne who campaigns under the nom de course Tarabilla Farms, had run in only two stakes before Saturdayand never raced beyond a mile and a sixteenth.

He had been assigned 114 pounds for the Handicap, but carried one over at 115. It was the lowest weight carried by a Big ’Cap winner since 1989, when Martial Law toted 113 winning at 50-1 under Martin Pedroza.

Hofmans and his owners celebrated the victory at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, which presented the Big ’Cap. Scotty McClellan, Talamo’s agent, drove home and celebrated with a grilled cheese sandwich (sharp cheddar).

“The horse was training well and we rode him in a two-other-than (condition race, winning by nearly four lengths Feb. 5),” said McClellan, a youthful-looking 61 who has been an agent 44 years, representing Hall of Famers Chris McCarron and Alex Solis, among others.

“But I had other commitments and kind of lost him for a race or two.

“David freshened him, brought him back, we worked him, and he kept looking for another spot, wanting to go a mile on the turf. But it rained and the race didn’t go, so finally we decided on the two-other-than long on dirt and he won by nearly four lengths.

“Then David said he was going  to nominate to three stakes, the Kilroe, the San Carlos and the Santa Anita Handicap, and Joe kept pushing him to run in the Handicap, telling him, ‘He’ll run all day, he wasn’t tired,’ and finally convinced David.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

“I don’t have any thoughts about where to run next,” said Hofmans, whose signature victories heretofore have been with Alphabet Soup in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1996 and Touch Gold under McCarron in the 1997 Belmont, denying Silver Charm the Triple Crown.

“We’ll play it by ear and talk with The Team, meaning Scotty and Joe, and see what they want to do. But the horse looked really good this morning.

“It wasn’t a big effort for him.”

McClellan, who has been plying his trade since the age of 17, now has six Big ’Cap wins as an agent: Vigors, 1978, Darrel McHargue; Alysheba, McCarron, 1988; Free House, McCarron, 1999; Malek, Alex Solis, 1998; Tiznow, McCarron, 2001, and Melatonin, Talamo, yesterday).

As for his grilled cheese sandwich?

“It tasted like filet,” McClellan said.

FINISH LINES: Trainer Peter Eurton reports San Carlos winner Kobe’s Back came out of his 1 ¼-length victory yesterday under Gary Stevens in excellent shape. “The Churchill Downs Stakes ($500,000, Grade II at seven furlongs on May 7) is one of the spots we’re thinking about (for his next race),” Eurton said. “I love the distance and I love the money.” . . . Victimized by a rough trip in the Santa Anita Handicap, Donworth, the 5-2 second choice who finished seventh, came back “in great shape,” Doug O’Neill said Sunday morning. “We’ve got to regroup. They’re not machines.” . . . Om, who finished last of six at 4-1 in the Kilroe Mile, came out of the race with a foot issue and will be sidelined until it’s resolved, trainer Dan Hendricks said . . . Agent Brian Beach has George Woolf Award winner Victor Espinoza booked to ride Toews On Ice for Bob Baffert in the San Pedro Stakes next Sunday. The race originally was to be run last Friday, but was not due to weather conditions. Toews On Ice worked four furlongs Sunday in 49.20 under Martin Garcia . . . Early probables for next Saturday’s Grade I Santa Margarita Stakes include Penwith, Mike Smith; Tara’s Tango, Rafael Bejarano; and Taris, Gary Stevens . . . Also next Saturday, Espinoza rides Qiaona for trainer Ed Moger Jr. and Kent Desormeaux will be aboardVelvet Mesquite for Blake Heap in the $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes for older fillies and mares in the Golden State Series at about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf. Desormeaux also has been named onTesalina for Wesley Ward in Friday’s $75,000 Arboretum II Stakes for older fillies and mares down the hillside turf course . . . Agent Tom Knust reports that Mario Gutierrez rides Hopeful winner Ralis in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park next Saturday and Found Money next Sunday in the $415,000 Sunland Park Festival of Racing Stakes, both for O’Neill . . . Trainer Barry Abrams was back on the beat at Clockers’ Corner Sunday morning following out-patient surgeryThursday at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. “It only took 15 minutes,” said Abrams, a cancer survivor who has been to hell and back. “It was no big deal.”

Source: Santa Anita Park