Carotari ($19.60) won Friday's fourth race for 2-year-old maidens to give trainer Luis Mendez his first win as a trainer with his fourth starter.

Mendez has a small stable at Santa Anita. He had his first runner earlier this month, and said he plans to take approximately 15 horses to Del Mar this summer.

Carotari led throughout a five-furlong race to win by 1 1-4 lengths over 4-5 Parsimony. Ridden by Ruben Fuentes, Carotari ws timed in 59.79 seconds. 

By Artie Schiller, Carotari was purchased for $6,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton October sale last year and was listed as bought back for $130,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sale of 2-year-olds in-training in April. The colt races for William Branch.

Mendez said he is a former assistant to trainer John Brocklebank, who is currently suspended by the California Horse Racing Board after a Los Angeles Superior Court ordered him and his wife Tarilynne to pay a combined $385,558 in damages to an owner involving the 2012 sale of a then-unraced filly.

The owner involved - Barbara Black - later said the filly had a sesamoid injury, according to court documents.

The suspensions involving the Brocklebanks were announced last November. At the time of the suspension, John Brocklebank said he thought a lawsuit involving the sale had been settled and that his client was satisfied with the condition of the horse in question.

Despite the suspensions, the Brocklebanks were in attendance at Santa Anita on Friday.