GOLDEN GLIMPSES #135

October 6, 1998

By ED GOLDEN

If at first you don’t succeed, yada, yada, yada.

Trainer Richard Mandella did not succeed with Gentlemen against the mighty Skip Away in the Woodward Stakes on Sept. 19, but he’s about to try him again in the

$1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Saturday.

Gentlemen finished second to Skip Away in the Woodward, closing resolutely to be beaten a length-and-a-half.

Actually, Mandella is one of the few to have conquered Skippy. Gentlemen defeated Skip Away in the 1997 Pimlico Special.

Skip Away is on a nine-race winning streak and goes for No. 10 on Saturday.

"We’re going to try him again in the Gold Cup," said Mandella, who left for New York last Thursday.

But Mandella did leave himself an opening.

"If it looks like Gentlemen needs another week (to get ready) after I get there, or I don’t think he’s up to what he was going into the Woodward, then I would wait another week and run in the ($500,000) Meadowlands Cup (on Oct. 16), so that’s the backup. But right now, I intend to try Skip Away one more time."

Mandella didn’t mince words when appraising Skip Away.

"He’s a great horse, period," Mandella said. "I wasn’t surprised he won the Woodward as impressively as he did, because he’s been doing that. I was happy my horse improved like I thought he would.

"I thought it might be enough to beat Skip Away, but Gentlemen didn’t run bad. I can’t be ashamed of him, because Skip Away ran great."

BAT QUEMAITO--Despite a double-jump in class and being pressured every step of the one-mile race, this Argentine-import battled throughout to lose by a neck. Similar effort gets the money, but you won’t get 14-1 this time.

CROWNING STORM--Pinched back to last at start, took up on first turn, then inhaled his rivals while going wide to win geared down by 10 lengths. This 2-year-old son of Storm Cat from Ron McAnally barn has a bright future, but don’t expect 7-1 again.

LIDO--If Chris McCarron has bad dreams, the trip on this Irish-bred will be among his worst nightmares. He was making a winning move near 1/4-pole when stopped cold on the inside, dropped back to last with 3/16 to go, swung to the far outside, then missed by a nose as 2-1 favorite. Price will be short again, but makes amends in turf route.

THE HOMESTRETCH: At press time, there was no revelation of the new owner and trainer, but Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite Worldly Manner had been sold by Golden Eagle Farm for a reported $5 million, a rarified price for a horse in training. "The buyers could be the Japanese, the Arabs, the Irish or the Americans," said veterinarian Greg Fox, who approved the colt for soundness on behalf of the purchaser before the sale was consummated. "But there are very few Americans who buy horses like this," said the 1989 graduate of Tufts University, who is baby-sitting Worldly Manner to his new destination in Kentucky. Aside from trainer Bob Baffert losing a prime Kentucky Derby prospect, jockey Gary Stevens could lose the mount, depending on decisions by the new owner and trainer. "I don’t have a clue," said Stevens’ agent, Ron Anderson, about the identity of the new connections. Kent Desormeaux rode Worldly Manner to a five-length victory in the Del Mar Futurity, but he was filling in for Stevens, who was recovering from knee surgery . . . It was all hush-hush, but Santa Anita experimented with its turf course after training hours just before the meet began. Seems two horses had unannounced workouts, both wearing different shoes to see if they were easier on the grass surface. The shoes appeared to cause divoting and probably were not better than those presently being used. Or, perhaps the divots were caused by heavy watering the turf course absorbed prior to opening day . . . Jock Most Likely to Succeed at Santa Anita this meet, aside from the usual suspects, is Jose Carlos (please call him J.C.) Gonzalez, a 22-year-old apprentice who rides with the eye of the tiger. Gonzalez was a runaway winner of the Fairplex riding championship, 28 wins to 19, over six-time Pomona king David Flores. Gonzalez competes with uncompromising fervor, like Roberto Duran fought in his prime. "Sometimes when I get on horses," says the native of Jalisco, Mexico, "the trainers say to me, ‘Hey, can you laugh a little bit?’ What they don’t know is that I’m real serious about this game. I’m just trying to focus on what I’m doing. I’m trying to win every race, whether it’s a $5,000 claimer or a $500,000 stakes." . . . Mrs. Harold Cole, an advocate for increased protection of race horses, decided not to wait for a public hearing to voice her opinion at the recent California Horse Racing Board meeting. She suggested increased scrutiny of trainers to assure they are qualified for the job, and limiting the number of times a horse can race in a month. "From a practical viewpoint, if we take better care of our horses, we’ll have more of them to race," she said. Sounds like a slap at less sensitive trainers. But what about legends like Jimmy Jones, who trained Citation 50 years ago and saddled him to win the Derby Trial on a Tuesday, then brought him back four days later to win the Kentucky Derby? Nobody complained then . . . Corey Nakatani will ride regularly in Southern California, and will venture to New York only for the odd stakes race . . . Santa Anita has followed Hollywood Park and other tracks and now offers superfecta wagering on its last race . . . Fairplex Park in Pomona completed its most successful meet ever, handling more than $108 million during its 18-day season, the highest total in its 60 years of racing and $5 million more than the previous record set in 1996 . . . Pincay Count: Laffit Pincay Jr. has 8,368 victories, 195 shy of Bill Shoemaker’s career record 8,833 . . . Too much racing? After drawing more than 24,000 fans on-track on opening day, attendance at Santa Anita on day two dipped to a dismal 4,515.

  ***

Send e-mail to Ed Golden