Mandella Goes From Spoiler to Favorite in Pacific Classic

DEL MAR —  The fax that rolled in over trainer Richard Mandella’s machine was not from one of his far-flung owners, inquiring about a horse. It wasn’t from a bloodstock agent, trying to sell him one. It wasn’t from a feed company, advising of new low prices on hay and oats.

No, this fax was more personal.

“It contained some beautiful words,” Mandella said sarcastically. “Words you couldn’t put down here.”

Mandella had suspected that he might become some sort of minor miscreant for winning last year’s Pacific Classic with Dare And Go, ending Cigar’s winning streak at 16 races and preventing him from breaking Citation’s record. There were even a few letters, tut-tutting him for being such a spoilsport.

But there was nothing as harsh as that fax.

“The guy threatened me,” Mandella said. “He said that I better not go out at night. I still have it, but it’s so faded you can hardly read it.”

The brief history of the Pacific Classic, the $1-million race at Del Mar, is that once a trainer grabs hold, it’s hard to make him let go. Gary Jones won the inaugural with Best Pal in 1991, then Bobby Frankel saddled the winners of the next four, Missionary Ridge, Bertrando and Tinners Way twice.

Mandella raided Frankel’s private preserve last year, and now that Dare And Go has been retired, he’s back with the two favorites this year--Siphon, who finished third after forcing a blistering 1:33 3/5 opening mile last year, and Gentlemen, the 6-5 low price on the morning line.

Only four other horses will be here when the gate latch is sprung for today’s 2:42 p.m. post. Trainer Bob Hess Jr. is running River Keen, a work in progress over dirt after being a king-sized flop on grass; Wally Dollase is taking a shot with Crafty Friend, a colt who may not be up to handling the 1 1/4-mile distance; Jean-Pierre Dupuis is starting Percutant, who has never run on dirt, and Bob Baffert is chasing a rainbow with Lord Jain, winless in the United States after winning 11 of 15 races in Argentina.

“I think I’ve got the best-looking horse in Southern California,” Hess said of River Keen, a British 5-year-old who won the Californian at Hollywood Park in his U.S. debut. “But in Gentlemen and Siphon, you’re talking about two of the three best horses in the country. Touch Gold is the other one.

“Hell, we’re talking about the three best horses in the world. By rights, we should be saying that we’re running for third money. But it’s a horse race, and I’ve got a true mile-and-a-quarter horse. In fact, a mile and a quarter is about as short as my horse wants to go.”

Because of the Pacific Classic’s weight-for-age conditions, the challengers to Gentlemen and Siphon won’t even get a break by carrying less weight. All six horses will run with 124 pounds. That’s further stacking a deck that favors Mandella’s winning his fifth consecutive $1-million race in Southern California.

The streak started with Siphon in last year’s Hollywood Gold Cup, and continued with Dare And Go in the Pacific Classic, Siphon in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap and Gentlemen in the Gold Cup on June 29.

Mandella even finished 1-2-3 in the last two, Sandpit and Gentlemen trailing Siphon across the line in the Big ‘Cap and Siphon and Sandpit finishing closest to Gentlemen at Hollywood Park. Mandella had also been training Sandpit for the Pacific Classic, but has chosen a grass race instead, the Arlington Million in suburban Chicago on Aug. 24.

The Brazilian-bred Siphon, with $2.7 million, has earned almost $1 million more than Gentlemen, but that’s because the 5-year-old Argentina-bred was a later arrival in the United States, where racing’s richest purses are.

After Gentlemen ran sixth the first time Mandella saddled him, at Hollywood Park in June 1996, he won on grass at Del Mar five weeks later, starting a run that has produced seven victories in eight starts. The only loss was the third-place finish in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap. Gentlemen bled slightly from the lungs while running three lengths behind Siphon.

“It’s hard to say which race has been his best,” Mandella said of Gentlemen. “Because he’s run so many real good ones.”

They might be stablemates, but Gentlemen and Siphon have far different temperaments.

“They’re alike in that they’re very good horses, they both have speed, and they’re genuine mile-and-a-quarter horses,” Mandella said. “But their similarities stop there.

“Siphon is serious at all times. He likes to do his job, he doesn’t especially like visitors and you’ve got to be careful around him. He’s got a face like Jaws and a personality to match.

” Gentlemen is an elegant-looking horse. Around the barn, he acts like a German shepherd. But once you put him in the gate, he gets real serious.”

Gentlemen, having not been nominated and being the son of a sire who’s also not nominated, can only run in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, at Hollywood Park on Nov. 8, if owner R.D. Hubbard and his partners cough up an $800,000 supplementary fee. Siphon isn’t eligible, either.

Hubbard, chairman of the board and the largest shareholder at Hollywood Park, is leaning toward running Gentlemen, but Mandella is keeping his own counsel.

“That’s too much money for me to be taking a stand,” he said.

Meantime, there are other $1-million races in the offing. Depending on how Gentlemen runs today and recovers, Mandella is even considering sending him to the Arlington Million with Sandpit.

“It would be a quick comeback and Gentlemen usually doesn’t come out of his races that quickly,” Mandella said. “But it’s in the back of my mind. We’ll see.”

Horse Racing Notes

The combination of owner Allen Paulson and trainer Bill Mott won a stake for the third time in eight days when Dowty was the front-running winner of Friday night’s Escondido Handicap. Dowty, ridden by Gary Stevens, paid $6 after running 1 3/8 miles on grass in 2:15 3/5. The 5-year-old chestnut, who was bred by Paulson, is a newcomer to Del Mar after racing mainly in New York. . . . Best Pal, as he did last year, will lead the post parade for the Pacific Classic. The 9-year-old gelding, who earned $5.6 million, is in retirement at Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona, about 25 miles from the track. . . . First post is 12:30 p.m. The Pacific Classic will be the fifth race. . . . Because it is finishing up a $10-million improvement project, Santa Anita will close its satellite betting facility from Sept. 11, the day after Del Mar closes, until the Oak Tree season opens Oct. 1. . . . The Dolly Green Research Foundation has donated $1 million for the research of orthopedic ailments in horses at the University of California Davis.

Louis Quatorze, winner of the 1996 Preakness and second to Alphabet Soup in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, has been retired. The 4-year-old colt chipped an ankle in his last race, a winning effort in the Ben Ali Handicap at Keeneland in April. Louis Quatorze won seven of 18 starts and earned $2 million. . . . Esperate’s record is one victory in 95 races after the 8-year-old gelding’s off-the-board finish Thursday at the Bay Meadows Fair.

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Pacific Classic Winners

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Year Horse Jockey Trainer Win Payoff 1991 Best Pal Pat Valenzuela Gary Jones $11.80 1992 Missionary Ridge Kent Desormeaux Bobby Frankel $51.00 1993 Bertrando Gary Stevens Bobby Frankel $8.20 1994 Tinners Way Eddie Delahoussaye Bobby Frankel $16.20 1995 Tinners Way Eddie Delahoussaye Bobby Frankel $7.40 1996 Dare And Go Alex Solis Richard Mandella $81.20

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