HOLLYWOOD PARK STABLE NOTES

Saturday, June 17, 1995

By Vince Bruun & Ed Golden

PASEANA PURSUES MONEY TITLE
IN THE GRADE I MILADY HANDICAP

Sidney Craig's Paseana, $130,132 short of Dance Smartly's North American

filly/mare record for money won, will attempt to draw closer to that total of $3,263,835 in the $150,000-added Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park next Sunday.

Trainer Ron McAnally said the 8-year-old Argentine-bred mare is on course for

the Grade I event, to be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. In 34 career starts, Paseana has won 19 races, with nine seconds, two thirds and earnings of $3,133,703.

She won the Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 28 for her first

victory in four starts this year.

Trainer Ron Ellis worked Pirate's Revenge six furlongs on Hollywood Park's firm

turf course in 1:15 1/5 on Thursday.

"I worked her on the turf before she won (the Miss Hollywood Park Stakes) by

nine lengths," Ellis said, "so I don't want to change a good thing."

Confirmed starters for the Milady Handicap: Paseana, Chris McCarron;

Pirate's Revenge, Chris Antley, and Private Persuasion, no rider.

Possible: Melrose Wine and Top Rung. Gary Jones said Tricky Code would not

run, as did John Sadler of Track Gal. Richard Mandella plans to keep Fit To Lead in Kentucky.

Weights are due Tuesday.

WORLD RECORD HOLDERS COLLIDE IN TRIPLE BEND HANDICAP

Lucky Forever, who set a world record of 1:13 1/5 for 6 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood

Park on May 20, and G Malleah, who set a world mark of 1:06 3/5 for six furlongs at Turf Paradise on April 8, are among the crack sprinters expected in the $100,000- added Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park next Saturday.

Trainer Craig Roberts, who nominated 1994 Hollywood Gold Cup winner Slew of

Damascus to the Grade III event to be decided at seven furlongs, said the 7-year-old gelding missed his scheduled workout at Golden Gate Fields due to rains and an off track, necessitating a change in plans.

"I don't think we were ever giving serious consideration to the Triple Bend,"

Roberts said from Northern California Saturday morning. "Seven furlong races are very demanding, and a horse has to run every inch of the way.

"Right now we're looking at the Bedside Promise at 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass

on June 23. He's handled the turf well before, and that distance and competition should be much easier for him. Of course, the purse is $30,000 less."

The Bedside Promise, a handicap event, carries $70,000 in added money. Slew

of Damascus has been idle since February when a serious illness almost cost him his life.

The probable field for the Triple Bend: Argolid, no rider; Cardmania, Corey

Nakatani; G Malleah, no rider; Gold Land, no rider; Lucky Forever, Goncalino Almeida, and Powis Castle, no rider.

Weights are due Sunday.

GARY STEVENS -- `E CAME, `E SAW, ECLIPSE?

Gary Stevens has been stockpiling Hall of Fame credentials throughout his

15-year career, and the first half of 1995 has served to accent his references.

An Eclipse Award in 1995 certainly would enhance his resum‚, and if voting

were to take place tomorrow, Stevens would be a prime candidate to win his first Eclipse Award.

Stevens, 32, won the Santa Anita Derby in a memorable victory on Larry The

Legend; the Santa Anita Handicap on Urgent Request, each time journeying 7,000 miles roundtrip from Hong Kong where he was temporarily under contract to trainer Steve Leung. Stevens later added Triple Crown victories with Thunder Gulch in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

"No doubt, they are major victories," Stevens' agent, Ron Anderson, said of the

Kentucky Derby and the Belmont. "And how about the Black-Eyed Susan and the Mother Goose (with Serena's Song)? Those are big for fillies.

"He's ridden in about eight Grade I races and won six of them (the Mother

Goose, Santa Anita Derby, Santa Anita Handicap, Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes are Grade I's; the Black-Eyed Susan is a Grade II). He went to New York and rode five stakes and won four."

It's Anderson's view that Eclipse Awards are earned by a rider's overall

accomplishments for the year. "It's supposed to be for one year," Anderson said, "but often a jockey who wins has had quite a few real good years in a row. He doesn't win it out of a clear, blue sky.

"In the last 10 years, Gary's been among the top money winners nine of those

years. He missed one year when he was injured. I'm not sure exactly what they look for, but based on what he's done so far this year, I feel he deserves it."

Anderson thought Stevens might have won in 1990 when he was the leading

money winner, but Craig Perret got it. The agent noted Stevens' role as an articulate spokesman for Thoroughbred racing.

"I know when the guys from ABC and other television networks do races, they

love to interview Gary, because he's so good, precise, focused and well-spoken," Anderson said.

More importantly, he cited Stevens' ability as a great race rider. "He puts his

horses in a position to win and seldom exercises bad judgment," Anderson said. "He tries just as hard on a $10,000 claimer as he does in the Kentucky Derby."

Sandy Shulman will vouch for that. This is an unsolicited account of what the

trainer had to say about Stevens' winning ride on Garrick in a $62,000-$55,000 claiming race on May 26:

"Garrick's victory is a true testimonial of how great a rider Gary Stevens is. He

placed a horse that's usually close to the lead in the perfect spot, as he sensed the pace was quick. Then, he waited until exactly the right moment to move, and he finished so strongly, it's just incredible. And remember, this was a claiming race, and he rode with the same intensity and skill as if it were a graded stakes race. That's the mark of a professional."

`FORE' A HUNCH BET, SHINNECOCK HILLS PAYS OFF

Hunch players had one horse to bet in Friday night's seventh race at Hollywood

Park, and that horse was a 3-year-old colt named Shinnecock Hills.

The race was named the "KNBC Sports," and KNBC-TV happens to be

broadcasting the U.S. Open golf tournament, presently being played at Shinnecock Hills golf course in Southampton, N.Y.

Shinnecock Hills -- the horse -- is owned by Oak Cliff Stable and Willis and

trained by Christopher Speckert. The colt, ridden by Gary Stevens Friday night, is now unbeaten in two starts. He won and paid $5.20.

FINISH LINES: April Mover, a mare formerly trained by Joe Dragna, dead-heated

for win in Thursday's ninth race at Yakima Meadows in Washington. Dragna, believed to be the oldest trainer in North America at 93, was born March 17, 1902. April Mover was trained by Alana Goff at Yakima Meadows. The mare is owned by Dragna's son, Joe, Jr. The dead-heat occurred in a six furlong race with a purse of $2,500 . . . Jenine Sahadi was satisified with the half-mile workout of Megan's Interco in :48 4/5 on Thursday, and hopes to have Milton Bronson's turf star back at Del Mar . . . Hollywood Park's off track Friday marked the first one at a spring/summer meet in 152 days. The last off tracks at a Hollywood Park spring/summer session came on June 5 and 6, 1993 . . . David Hofmans reports Acorn Stakes winner Cat's Cradle is doing well and is being pointed to the $200,000-added Hollywood Oaks on July 9. River Flyer is tack-walking at Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona, while Dramatic Gold is expected to return to the races this fall after recovering from a fractured cannon bone . . . Ron McAnally said he plans to run both On Target and Mr Purple in the $125,000-added Affirmed Handicap (Gr. III) on July 2 . . . Jockey David Flores, unseated by Miss Heaven Sent en route back to the saddling area after Friday night's sixth race, was taken to Centinela Hospital complaining of neck pains. He was treated and discharged from the hospital's emergency room Friday night . . . Bobby Frankel was in New York Saturday to saddle Metropolitan Handicap winner You And I in the Brooklyn Handicap.

Go To Main Menu