Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : You Can Bet on Preakness at Inglewood

Triple Crown horse racing fans not fortunate enough to be in Maryland today for the 110th running of the Preakness can still get a taste of the Pimlico proceedings at Hollywood Park.

For the second time in three weekends, the Inglewood track will have off-site wagering. On May 4, Hollywood Park patrons bet more than $1 million on the Kentucky Derby.

Pimlico will draw the lion’s share of attention, but Hollywood has an attractive weekend program as well. Today, 12 horses are expected to go in the seventh running of the $60,000-added Caballero Handicap, a grueling 1 1/2 miles on the turf.

Among the entries is last year’s winner, Craelius, with Bill Shoemaker aboard. Trained by Charlie Whittingham, who has won the Caballero the last two years, Craelius ran third in his last start, the Westwood Handicap May 4.

Carrying top weight of 120 pounds will be Gato del Sol, 1982 Kentucky Derby winner and another Whittingham-trained horse, who closed with a rush to take second in a division of the Premiere Handicap Apr. 24. Laffit Pincay will ride Gato del Sol.

Sunday, multiple stakes winners Precisionist and Greinton head a field of six for the sixth running of the $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, a Grade II event to be contested at a mile on the dirt.

Precisionist, who swept the three-race Strub Series at Santa Anita, will carry 126 pounds and jockey Chris McCarron. In his last start, Precisionist was beaten by a neck by Greinton, the English-bred son of Green Dancer, in the San Bernardino Handicap. Ridden by Pincay, Greinton, will carry 121 pounds.

Also in the field are Al Mamoon, with Eddie Delahoussaye in the irons and toting 114 pounds; Fifty Six Ina Row, Rafael Meza, 113; My Habitony, Darrel McHargue, 113, and Retsina Run, Gary Stevens, 113.

Horse Racing Notes Food for thought: In sprints, through Thursday, horses starting in post position No. 7, have won 17% of their races, edging post position No. 4, which has a 14% win ratio. The turf course has been kindest to hole No. 8, producing winners at a 20% clip. . . . With nearly a quarter of the meeting in the record books, Rafael Meza, a 27-year-old rider from Tijuana, continues to lead the jockey standings. Heading into today’s nine-race program, Meza had 23 winners to 22 for Laffit Pincay and 20 for Chris McCarron.

Intrigued by Jack Smith’s column in The Times last Tuesday, turf writer Mike Marten has created some sniglets--any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should--for horseplayers. A sampler:

--A shnut is a person who bets on a horse that has no chance whatsoever of winning.

--A roompik is the horse you picked at home who actually won, but you didn’t bet it.

-- Florsetation is indecision over which horse to bet.

-- Jockstrapped is the description of a jockey who takes your horse six wide on both turns, gets shut off twice and is beaten by a nose.