GOLDEN GLIMPSES #124

July 21, 1998

By ED GOLDEN

Sonny Hine won�t move Skip Away out of his stall these days for less than $500,000.

Bob Baffert needs a prep race for Silver Charm before the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 15 and says his tightener will be Saturday�s San Diego Handicap. Del Mar has increased the purse by $100,000, from $150,000 to $250,000, to assure Silver Charm�s running in the race.

Anyone who knows the difference between Santa Monica and Monica Lewinsky recognizes that a horse needs a prep race now and then, no matter the purse.

But are manufactured purse increases good business practice by the tracks, or extortion by the horsemen?

Bobby Frankel says tracks should not increase purses to lure marquee horses such as Skip Away and Silver Charm. Where does it all end, Frankel asks? When will tracks stop altering their races to woo these horses, in the hope of increasing attendance and handle? Several tracks, including Churchill Downs and Suffolk Downs, have offered incentives and indeed did get Silver Charm and Skip Away to run. Now Del Mar has joined ranks with the San Diego Handicap.

Hine had considered running Skip Away in Saratoga�s $400,000 Whitney Handicap at nine furlongs on Aug. 8. To lure Skip Away, however, Monmouth Park doubled its purse on the Aug. 30 Iselin Handicap from $250,000 to $500,000 and changed the distance from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles. Now Hine is coming.

"There are people under the impression that I made Monmouth do this and that�s not true," explains Hine. "They asked me what could they do to get Skip Away and I said, �Change the distance.� They did it, and since I promised I would run my horse there if they did, that�s what I�m doing. That�s all there is to this. There have been a lot of things said and written about me lately by people who really don�t know me or my wife. I�ll say what I�ve said all along, that this is not about money. I took Skip Away to Texas when there was nothing for us to gain. I took him to Ohio to help those people out. What did we have to gain going out there?"

Frankel is unyielding when he says tracks should abstain from bidding wars.

"I definitely don�t think tracks have the right to increase purses to compete for top horses," said the Hall of Fame trainer, who speaks loudly and carries a big stick. "They�ve got the purses in the condition book (a book of scheduled races, including stakes, written by the racing department and published in advance of those races) and that�s what they should stand with," Frankel said. "What I want to know is, who�s the first horse they�re going to turn down?

"If I�ve got a horse as good as Silver Charm, am I gonna go to them and say, �I want to run, but this is not enough money?� I wouldn�t do it. I�ve had good horses, and I�ve never done that. I never even thought about it."

Frankel wouldn�t go so far as to say purse increases and distance changes are an alarming trend. But he emphasized that what�s at stake here is racing�s integrity, or at least what�s left of it. "Which track will be the first to turn down a top horse?," Frankel asked. "Is it going to keep going like this? It�s bad business. If I�ve got a horse as good as Silver Charm, are the tracks going to say no to me? What�s the precedent?"

Frankel thinks the bidding will come to an end one day, but meanwhile, a double-standard exists.

"It�s going to stop eventually," Frankel said, "but why should one person get a purse increase for running his horse and not the next person? The tracks have an alternative. If they�re presenting a $1 million race, of course a horse like Silver Charm is going to run (in a prep race). Where else is he going to run? He�s gotta run in that race no matter what the purse is. Hey. We write a (condition) book. We�ve got the stakes, that�s the schedule and that�s the way you leave it.

"It�s very controversial. Again, I want to know who is the first guy they�re going to turn down? That�s a question I�d like to ask management. If I get a horse, or someone else gets a horse that�s on a par with Silver Charm, and they say to the track, �Hey, it�s only $250,000, man, I�m not running. Make it $500,000.�

"Are they going to say no to me? How can they say no? I want to know who do they turn down and when do they stop? That�s all I want to know. They�re opening up a can of worms."

And these worms ain�t for fishing.

FIT FOR A KING -- Drew off to win with authority after six-month absence for leading Hollywood trainer Craig Dollase. Repeat in store on dirt or turf.

HOLLYHONEY -- Juvenile daughter of The Prime Minister won like a "freak" in debut at 21-1, leading throughout and winning geared down. Has a bright future.

PEACH FLAT -- Cal-bred won with speed in reserve after 10-month layoff and has enough in tank for repeat.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Hine says Skip Away appears fully recovered from his June 28 victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup. "He was so tired after California that we wanted to rest him a little," Hine said. "Then he started to fill up and we knew we had to do something with him. I�m glad I didn�t wait an extra week like I was going to or else we would have been too far behind with him. He had a nice work (July 18), and now we�ll go to Saratoga and get ready for the Iselin." . . . Gary Stevens said Bob Baffert offering him first call on his horses was the overwhelming factor in his decision to stay in California full-time and not move to New York this summer, but he admitted such a move would have had its drawbacks. "A move is always tough, especially clear across the country," Stevens said. "And it wouldn�t have been just me, but my new wife and my four kids were going to spend the summer at Saratoga with me, also, so it wasn�t going to be an easy change. Given the offer I was given, it wasn�t a difficult decision to make." . . . Add News You Can Bet On: In the July 7-13 editions of Gaming Today, we wrote of Flying Rey: "Longshot won turf sprint with authority, should have enough in tank for repeat, but not at 23-1." If you had as much confidence in the horse as I did, you�d have singled him in the first leg of the Pick Six that paid $77,221.20, from a record Hollywood Park pool of more than $3.8 million. Flying Rey paid $12.20 to win . . . All in the family -- Patrick Valenzuela, suspended since last Oct. 7, won�t ride at Oak Tree come October, but his cousin, Alex Jimenez, will. The 18-year-old apprentice, leading bug rider at the recent Lone Star Park meet in Texas, is the son of P.Val�s sister. Vince DeGregory, agent of the stars, will handle his business.

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