GOLDEN GLIMPSES #71 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #71 Richard Mandella has already hit a $1-million trifecta. Now the 46-year-old world-class trainer is aiming for a $1-million superfecta.
Mandella saddled Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen to finish 1-2-3 in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap last March. Not only does Mandella have the same three steeds heading to the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup on June 29, he's got an old class horse named Region on course for the mile-and-one-quarter race as well.
"Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen are pointing to the Gold Cup, but they're going in different directions to get there," Mandella said. "Siphon will probably run in The Californian on June 1; Sandpit will run May 26 in the Hollywood Turf Handicap, which he won last year; and Gentlemen will probably go back in the Massachusetts Handicap on May 31.
"They're all doing great. We'll put 'em in the Gold Cup and let 'em all roll."
Region is an 8-year-old gelding owned by one of Kentucky's most august breeders, Claiborne Farm. Region was one of the favorites to win the 1994 Santa Anita Handicap, but was unplaced, later falling ill and eventually sinking into the claiming ranks.
"Region is making a big comeback," Mandella said. "He was second in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap. He might go in The Californian next. He nearly won the Mervyn LeRoy. He ran second, beaten only a half a length. He's coming back real good."
Region was a class act until slowed by throat problems.
"He won the Skywalker Handicap on Breeders' Cup day in 1993," Mandella said. "He got an abscess in his throat after that and it took him six months to get back to the races. He returned in the Bel Air in the summer of 1994 and beat Tinners Way, who later won the Pacific Classic.
"Region always was a good horse, but we had so much trouble with his throat for a couple years, we didn't think we'd ever get him back. He always had class. He puzzled us for a while, because he'd run close and stop. There was no try in him. Then we got to fiddlin' with him, and he won four in a row.
"He's always been right there, and he's been a real good horse. He's just never had that real big day. But what the hell, he's only eight."
THE HOMESTRETCH: Silver Charm has been a heads-up horse in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown by a pulsating head. Now "the B Team" -- trainer Bob Baffert and owners Bob and Beverly Lewis -- has only to win the Belmont Stakes on June 8 with their game gray colt to bring racing its first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. While the victory and celebration was watched by millions on TV, Baffert's top aide, Eoin (pronounced Owen) Harty witnessed proceedings from his home, after he had enjoyed festivities first-hand at the Derby. "I watched it at home and then I went to Hollywood Park," the native of Ireland said. "It was a huge high and then a crushing low. Just having to go over to Hollywood sapped every life force out of me, after watching the Preakness. Bob was really pumped up after the race, and he and Bob (Lewis) gave each other kudos." Harty missed the Preakness trip when he took ill after going to Chicago with Anet, who finished second in the Illinois Derby on May 10. "I got severe tonsillitis and was so sick by Thursday I didn't care who won the Triple Crown," Harty said. "I couldn't pick my head off the pillow." Best horse in the Preakness was Touch Gold, who ran an incredible race to finish fourth after nearly falling at the start. "It was like the Tyson-Holyfield fight," said Grant Hofmans, son of Touch Gold's trainer, David Hofmans, and a trainer in his own right. "It was just blow after blow. I'm surprised the horse even recovered and Chris (McCarron) stayed on him. The horse grabbed his left front quarter pretty bad, but he was sound on it Sunday morning and his foot's cold, so that's a good sign. We'll try to keep any infection out and we're not sure right now if he'll make the Belmont. It's a day-to-day thing. At least he showed the ability he had, but it's too bad he couldn't show his full ability because of what happened. But running fourth, beaten a length-and-a-half after almost falling at the start, getting shut off a few times and getting turned sideways at the eighth pole, we're real proud of the horse." . . . Sharp Cat, who had been a candidate for the May 16 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, sat that one out and instead will go in the Acorn at Belmont on May 31, Wayne Lukas says . . . If confidence means anything, apprentice rider Juan Gabriel (J.G.) Matos will succeed on the Southern California circuit. "There were good riders in Puerto Rico and there are good riders here," said the 19-year-old who won 14 races in his native Puerto Rico. J.G.'s business is being handled by veteran agent Tony Matos, no relation. J.G., who tacks 105 pounds, retains his "bug" until April, 1998 . . . Wally Dollase has the Milady Handicap (June 22) and the Vanity Handicap (July 20) on the agenda of Breeders' Cup Distaff champ Jewel Princess. "They're both Grade I races, and hopefully, if Twice The Vice wins one of the lesser filly stakes, she'll get some weight on her. If I keep giving these horses seven and eight pounds, they can beat me." Dollase hasn't quit on Golden Eagle Farm's rapid Reading Habit, despite the filly's third-place finish as the odds-on favorite in her comeback race. "She just exhausted herself after breaking slowly, but I not giving up on her. She has a lot of talent, but she has to get an outside post, where she can relax more."
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