American Handicap at Hollywood Park : Stevens Rides a Tidal Wave to Winner’s Circle

Gary Stevens didn’t ride in the last race Thursday at Hollywood Park because of a severe earache. The condition wasn’t exactly improved by all those elated owners screaming in the winner’s circle after the previous race, in which Stevens rode Tsunami Slew to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $207,800 American Handicap.

Tsunami Slew, a $275,000 yearling purchase in Kentucky, is owned by the Royal Lines, a group of about 15 people mostly from Florida, and it seemed as though nobody stayed home. They had good reason to be loud. Their 4-year-old son of Seattle Slew ran the 1 1/8 miles on the grass in 1:46 1/5, breaking by a fifth of the second the stakes record that Bold Tropic set in 1980.

Trainer Eddie Gregson praised Stevens, saying: “The rider deserves all the credit. He saved the horse early and then he moved at just the right time.”

Going by Gregson in the winner’s circle, en route to the jockeys’ quarters--and later the first-aid room--Stevens said: “He’s a Cadillac.”

It was the first time Stevens had ridden Tsunami Slew, getting the chance because Eddie Delahoussaye was committed to Al Mamoon, who had won the Inglewood Handicap in his last start. Al Mamoon finished second, a half-length ahead of Dahar, who was sent off as a 7-5 favorite by the crowd of 44,248.

Tsunami Slew--the first name means tidal wave in Japanese--gave Stevens his fourth stakes win in the last 12 days. All, with the exception of Party Leader in the Quack on June 23, were horses he was riding for the first time. The others came last Sunday--Hilco Scamper in the Desert Wine Stakes and Johnica in the Beverly Hills Handicap.

Tsunami Slew, third choice in the betting after Dahar and Al Mamoon, paid $13, $6.60 and $3.60, and earned $122,300 for his owners, increasing his career bankroll to more than $700,000. Al Mamoon’s prices were $5.20 and $3, and Dahar paid $2.40.

“The horse relaxed the whole way for me,” Stevens said of Tsunami Slew. “He didn’t try to fight me. Then, in the last quarter-mile, he really ran hard.”

Dahar was fifth in the seven-horse field much of the way and trailed by 10 lengths after six furlongs. Al Mamoon settled into second place, with Ice Hot third, but Tsunami Slew was allowed to gallop along in 1:11 for the first three-quarters of a mile.

Before the race, Stevens had reason to be apprehensive. “My horse wound up going to the gate and he washed out quite a bit,” the jockey said. “He was foaming pretty good. But I warmed him up lightly, and he seemed to be happy by the time he got to the gate.”

A man who could not have been happy Thursday was trainer Charlie Whittingham. His sparklers fizzled on both coasts this Fourth of July, Lord at War finishing last in the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park, and Dahar running third and Prince True last in the American.

Whittingham was in New York for the Suburban, which was won by the longshot Vanlandingham. Rodney Rash, Whittingham’s assistant trainer, saddled Dahar and Prince True.

“Nobody pushed Tsunami Slew, and that was the race,” Rash said. “Dahar made a good run late, but the winner was hard to catch because he had it easy early.”

Both before and after the American, Gregson was thinking about the Arlington Budweiser Million at Arlington Park Aug. 25.

Before the race, Gregson said: “There are so many good grass horses around, the Million might be tougher to get into than the Breeders’ Cup at Aqueduct in November.”

Arlington Park limits the number of starters in its race to 14.

“Tsunami Slew still hasn’t won a Grade I (major) race, so it could still be difficult,” Gregson said. “I wish Arlington would let me know what we have to do to get in.

“I don’t want to leave California--I’d like to run in the Eddie Read (Aug. 11 at Del Mar)--but I might have to. I don’t want to go to Chicago two weeks before the Million, but I might have to run in the Arlington Handicap (Aug. 10) in order to qualify him for the race.”

A horse who has won the Million twice, and at age 10 appears to be rounding into form for another attempt, is John Henry. Between races Thursday, the two-time Horse of the Year worked a mile on the turf in 1:35 2/5 with Chris McCarron in the saddle.

McCarron, who hadn’t been on John Henry’s back since last November, was amazed at how fast the tireless gelding worked.

“I thought he might have done it in 1:36 or 1:37,” McCarron said. “Afterwards, he wasn’t blowing at all, and that made me think that I didn’t do enough with him. All I had to do was chirp to him at the eighth pole, and he kept right on going.”

Ron McAnally, who trains John Henry, doesn’t want to go into the Million without a race, and after a splint-bone injury (above the ankle) in late March, the horse was about a week short of training to be ready for the American. Now, McAnally is looking at a possible overnight handicap at Hollywood Park in two weeks, a stakes in which the purse might be raised from $25,000 to $300,000 at Atlantic City on Aug. 3, or a race at Del Mar, but not the Eddie Read.

“That’s a little too close to the Million,” McAnally said, “but maybe we can find something earlier down there. I’ve brought him up to big races off works before, but it gets tougher to do, the older he gets.”

McAnally will keep John Henry on the grass in the mornings, giving him another mile workout in a week to 10 days. Another clocking like Thursday’s, and even Eddie Gregson might not be as determined to run a horse in the Million.

Horse Racing Notes

California horses ran 1-2-3 in Thursday’s Stars and Stripes Handicap at Arlington Park. Drumalis (trained by Darrell Vienna) won the race, Best of Both (Neil Drysdale) was second, and Lofty (John Gosden) ran third. . . . Ray Sibille had changed into street clothes and was looking for his wife, Dot, in the crowd when the call went out over the public-address system for him to report to the jockeys’ room before the last race. Sibille hurried back to replace the ailing Gary Stevens and finished second astride Successful Bidder. . . . Hollywood continues the holiday weekend with the Valkyr Handicap today, the Landaluce Stakes Saturday and the Hollywood Oaks Sunday. . . . There was no early-bird betting Thursday because the track said it wanted to open its gates early for the holiday crowd. . . . Before Sunday, Tsunami Slew had won only one of seven starts this year, clicking in the San Jacinto Handicap at Santa Anita in April.