HOLLYWOOD PARK STABLE NOTES

Saturday, May 13, 1995

By Vince Bruun & Ed Golden

SON OF HABITONY TURNS OUT TO BE EVERYONE'S BEST PAL

Six years ago, when Best Pal was just a baby, those in the know at Golden Eagle Farm didn't have a clue that he'd turn out to be the horse he is.

"Absolutely not," said Golden Eagle Farm manager Gayle Van Leer at Hollywood Park Saturday morning, before the 7-year-old gelded son of Habitony worked seven furlongs in preparation for the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap on Memorial Day.

"That was the first year I worked for the Mabees," Van Leer said, referring to John and Betty Mabee, owners of the Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona. "The cut and dry of it was, it looked like Habitony was a complete failure as a stallion, and Mr. Mabee said, Do something!'

"So I tried to get all the Habitonys to the races as quickly as possible, especially any really precocious ones. I wanted to see if we could get any immediate action on Habitony as a stallion. As a result, we gelded a lot of his offspring, including, of course, Best Pal.

"There was no particular reason that Best Pal was gelded, other than that. All I can say is, it worked."

Best Pal is the leading active Thoroughbred money winner at $5,538,145 and his immediate goals are the Hollywood Turf Handicap and the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 2. Saturday morning, under the watchful eye of Van Leer and trainer Richard Mandella, Best Pal was clocked in 1:26 4/5, breezing, under exercise rider Jon Turner on Hollywood Park's fast main track.

"We had Best Pal and Lovely Habit and a couple others that same year we gelded them, and they really did well," Van Leer recalled. "So we got some life back into the stallion.

"But Best Pal didn't look like a precocious 2-year-old. He did his works, he did them well, he acted like he could run a little, but anybody who's worked with enough 2-year-olds over the years would know that many of them act like they're going to do well, then run a half-mile and that's the end of it."

Best Pal, of course, is still going strong at age seven, competing well against Grade I rivals. He ranks third all-time in money earned, behind Alysheba ($6,679,242) and John Henry ($6,597,947). Is the money title a priority with the Mabees, whose Golden Eagle Farm ranked third nationally through May 7 this year in money won with $1,404,187?

"We just want Best Pal to do the best he can for as long as he can," Van Leer said. "Once he can't race well at the Grade I level where he should be, then he'll retire, and that'll be that.

"But from what we've seen this year, I don't see any reason why he won't keep racing for a while. He's very sound and he's very smart. After all this time, we obviously know he can't handle loose, cuppy tracks. And that's what happened at Oaklawn this last time (fourth in the Oaklawn Handicap on April 15). Everytime we've hit one of those tracks, he's run terrible."

While Best Pal, the leading all-time California-bred money winner and one of the most popular Thoroughbreds of his era, hasn't lost much in his performance level, physically, he has changed.

"He's carrying a lot more weight now than he did when he was younger," Van Leer said. "He's a much heavier horse now. It's hard to say whether that's common, because there just aren't that many horses around of his age, especially competing at his level. But I think with time, most horses do fill out and get a little heavier."

The Best Pal Story, even if it ended today, is still one for the books. "We never expected this from him," Van Leer said, "not from Habitony. Based on his (Habitony's) overall performance as a stallion, I'd say Best Pal is off the scale."

SIMULCAST OF PREAKNESS STAKES SET FOR 2:31 P.M. SATURDAY

Hollywood Park will present the 120th running of the Preakness Stakes via simulcast next Saturday. Scheduled post time for the second leg of the Triple Crown is 2:31 p.m.

Five other races from Pimlico will be shown: the Sir Barton (10:42 a.m.), the William Donald Schaefer (11:27 a.m.), the Maryland Budweiser Breeders' Cup (12:12 p.m.), the Pimlico Distaff (12:57 p.m.) and the Early Times Dixie Classic (1:42 p.m.).

NOR BIDS FOR OLYMPICS IN 1996

Fabio Nor has a dream, and the 41-year-old trainer of Thoroughbreds has decided to pursue it.

"I will give up training shortly and begin working towards making the Brazilian Equestrian team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta," Nor said. "I hope to make the team which is headed up by Nelson Pessoa, who is the Shoemaker of show-jumping."

Nor's Olympic dream began more than 20 years ago, when, as an 18-year-old, he was selected to represent his native Brazil in the 1972 Olympics at Munich. "But for economic reasons, our team could not go," he said. "I had won riding championships in Brazil, and it was very disappointing."

Nor, whose stock will be taken over by assistant Frank Lyons upon his departure, has trained Thoroughbreds for 15 years and will bring that experience to riding show horses.

"I learned much from training Thoroughbreds, and I love the game," Nor said. "But show-jumping is another world in that it's something one can do on his own, and not depend on others. The horses are wonderful, and even though they are gelded, some of them cost more than $1 million. You cannot buy one for less than a half-a-million dollars."

Nor said he will spend time in Europe preparing for his goal, but hopes to return to the United States and move to Rancho Santa Fe. Nor presently resides in Beverly Hills.

Nor expects to be at Hollywood Park Sunday to saddle Hard To Copy in the second race.

FINISH LINES: Trainer Cliff Sise Jr. accomplished a personal first Friday night, winning three races, two at Hollywood Park and one at Golden Gate Fields. "I won three when I worked for Noble Threewitt, but not for myself," the 43-year-old conditioner said Saturday morning. "I've won two in one day about six times." Sise won Friday night's third race with a first-time starter named Fortune's Destiny, a 3-year-old filly owned by Alex Venneri and Randy Welty, and the ninth race with the 6-year-old gelding, Eddie Valient. He also won Golden Gate's $34,000 allowance feature with Ke Express, who was saddled on Sise's behalf by the hottest trainer in Northern California, Tom Roberts . . . Paseana worked six furlongs in 1:12 1/5 on Hollywood Park's fast main track Saturday morning, with clockers catching her fractions in :11 3/5, :23 3/5, :35 1/5 and 1:00 2/5 . . . Mike Mitchell, who hopes to have Lady White's Semillon ready for the $150,000-added Shoemaker Handicap on June 10, sent the turf specialist five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 . . . Ed Burgart, who filled in for Trevor Denman at Hollywood Park Saturday, had to hustle back to Los Alamitos following his Thoroughbred gig to call the races Saturday night at the Orange County track . . . The -trained Polar Route, inadvertently omitted from the list of nominees, is eligible for next Sunday's $100,000-added Mervyn LeRoy Handicap . . . Congratulations to jockey Alex Solis, who rode his first triple of the meet Friday night . . . Trainer Sam Scolamieri celebrated his 44th birthday Saturday, while trainer Dale Landers celebrates No. 77 on Sunday.