Stable Notes Del Mar, California Wednesday, September 10, 1997
(Day 43 -- Final Day)

EIGHT JUVENILES READY TO ROLL IN TODAY'S DEL MAR FUTURITY

Headed by graded stakes winners Double Honor and Old Topper, a field of eight juveniles will vie for 2-year-old honors today in today's Grade II, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity, the final stakes race of the seaside course's 43- day meeting, which ends with the day's 10-race card.

The winner's portion of the purse is $150,000. The winner of last year's Futurity was Robert and Beverly Lewis' Silver Charm, who went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes this year under the guidance of trainer Bob Baffert and rider Gary Stevens.

That fact, no doubt, is not far from the minds and hearts of the owner- trainer-rider connections of today's potential stars.

Both Double Honor, owned by The Thoroughbred Corp., and Old Topper, owned by Barbara Hunter, have Grade III victories to their credit -- Double Honor in Monmouth Park's Sapling Stakes August 16 and Old Topper in Del Mar's Best Pal Stakes August 20. Double Honor is trained by D. Wayne Lukas and Old Topper is trained by 86-year-old Noble Threewitt. The two stakes winners will carry high weight of 119 pounds, spotting their six foes four pounds. Double Honor will be ridden by Stevens and Old Topper by his regular rider Alex Solis.

Expected to bring plenty of competition to the race are Golden Eagle Farm's Souvenir Copy and Mike Pegram's Commitisize, both of whom are trained by Baffert but will run as separate entities; King Edward Racing Stable's King of the Wild, trained by Steven Young; Pamela McCardle-Wofford's Winged Express, trained by Craig Lewis; Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor's Yarrow Brae, trained by Lukas; and Heinz Steinmann's Tryumphant, trained by Mike Harrington.

Old Topper and King of the Wild were supplemented to the race for $10,000 each.

RACE FOR DEL MAR RIDING TITLE COULD REST WITH DAY'S FINAL EVENT

After 42 days of racing and 368 races, the race to become the meet's leading rider has come down to the final day of Del Mar's 43-day meet.

Going into today's 10-race card, only one victory separates leader Alex Solis, seeking his second straight seaside title and seventh straight at Southern California's three major racetracks, and Kent Desormeaux, seeking his third Del Mar title. Solis has 39 victories to Desormeaux's 38.

Hard on the heels of the top two is Eddie Delahoussaye, who won his only Del Mar riding championship in 1989. Delahoussaye has ridden 36 winners.

Desormeaux heads into the day's races with a two- and three-mount edges on Solis and Delahoussaye, respectively. He's named on nine runners to seven for Solis and six for Delahoussaye. Included in Desormeaux's mounts are three from the hot Bob Baffert barn -- Best Star, the morning-line favorite in the El Cajon Stakes, Stalwart Tsu in the sixth race and Commitisize in the Del Mar Futurity.

Here's who the top three will ride today, with morning-line odds.

Alex Solis (7 mounts) -- Fourth race: Pasteret, 8-1; Fifth: Gypsy Lullaby, 2-1; Sixth: Sir Nibbles, 10-1; Seventh: Sandtrap, 2-1; Eighth: Old Topper, 5- 2; Ninth: King Clef, 9-2; Tenth: Princess Efisio, 12-1.

Kent Desormeaux (9 mounts) -- First race: Castleisland, 6-1; Second: Foreign Vengeance, 5-1; Third: Best Star, 8-5; Fourth: Balboa Betty, 5-1; Fifth: April Lass, 7-2; Sixth: Stalwart Tsu, 5-2; Seventh: Flick, 5-1; Eighth: Commitisize, 6-1; Tenth: Blu Tuama, 6-1.

Eddie Delahoussaye (6 mounts) -- First race: Stardust Serenade, 8-5; Third: Adverse, 5-2; Fifth: Red Headed Doll, 9-2; Eighth: King of the Wild, 8-1; Ninth: Whale's Tale, 6-1; Tenth: Miss Kyama, 15-1.

Going into today's races, Gary Stevens, who has come with a rush in the past two weeks, sits fourth in the standings with 28 victories, and apprentice J.G. Matos rounds out the top five with 27 wins.

BAFFERT, RUNAWAY WINNER OF TRAINER TITLE, COULD ADD TO 25 WINS

Bob Baffert trainees Witchy and Fiscal Year pushed the trainer's standings leading number to 25 on Monday, and the irrepressible conditioner could add even more to his number on the meet's final day.

He has five horses entered today, two of which are in the Del Mar Futurity -- Mike Pegram's Commitisize and Golden Eagle Farm's Souvenir Copy. Also, he has a pair in the El Cajon Stakes, which will be run as the third race -- Walter Family Trust's Batoile and Golden Eagle's Best Star. His fifth runner is Coastal Concepts' Stalwart Tsu in the sixth heat.

Baffert's 25 victories is the most by any trainer since Farrell Jones chalked up 26 in 1974.

Finishing second in the trainer race is six-time winner Mike Mitchell, who was seeking his third straight championship. Going into today's races, Mitchell has 16 wins.

CLOSING DAY MEANS END TO 58TH MEETING FOR LONGTIME DEL MAR FAN

Today is not just another day for 93-year-old Meyer Milstein. Instead it's another ending to another Del Mar season, and he's seen them all come and go, he says.

From Box 35L in the Grandstand that bears his name, Milstein watched the races the other day and recalled some of the things that have gone on over the years at Del Mar. He was here for opening day in 1937 and has memories of the many stars who used to make Del Mar their haunt. "I remember Bing Crosby and Pat O'Brien and Crosby singing his song ["Where the Turf Meets the Surf"] and them telling stories," he said. "And the Schnozzola [Jimmy Durante] was here, and so was Maurice Chevalier."

The bright-eyed man, turned out in a spiffy sea captain's style cap, remembers that in the early days some of the fans would watch the races from their cars sitting on the hillsides close to the track. "You had to walk through mud a lot of times to get to the track," he said, adding that he remembered how a special train used to bring fans to the track from Los Angeles and points in between. He still lives in the Los Angeles area and comes to Del Mar for the entire meeting, staying this year at the Hyatt Hotel in La Jolla after several years at the Hilton, across Jimmy Durante Boulevard from the track. He says he plays his favorite numbers and only laughs when asked what they are.

Milstein was born in Pretoria, South Africa, March 8, 1904 and carries a birth certificate to prove it. He came to this country as a youngster and studied law at UCLA but never practiced law. Instead he began a small business in Santa Monica that has grown into a credit and collection operation that employs 30 people and now is headed by his son, Roger. The company -- he called it the Best Service Co. -- now is located near Beverly Hills.

LAFFIT PINCAY, JR. WATCH -- Laffit Pincay, Jr. was winless Monday and remains two victories away from tying Bill Shoemaker's Del Mar career win record of 889. With 887 victories to his credit, Pincay has five mounts on today's card. Here they are, with morning-line odds: Second race: Awesome Knight, 10-1; Third, Batoile, 5-1; Fourth: Ruhlmiss, 15-1; Sixth: Bepton, 4-1; Ninth: Resident Poet, 7-2.

TODAY'S SIMULCAST STAKES -- Saratoga: Joseph A. Gimma.