Kings Island Steals the Sunset, Cancels Payoff for Greinton

The Pink Panther couldn’t have done it better.

In fact, the police should probably have been called after Fernando Toro and his 4-year-old accomplice, Kings Island, pulled off a wire-to-wire heist in the $238,000 Sunset Handicap to close out the 67-day meeting at Hollywood Park Monday afternoon.

The dollar amount doesn’t rival the Brink’s Job since Kings Island’s share of the loot was only $148,800, but the scam was noteworthy since the Toro gang cost trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Laffit Pincay, a seven-figure payday.

Indeed, Pincay’s mount, Greinton, had already captured the first two legs of the Hollywood Triple Crown, winning the Californian and the Gold Cup. So it wasn’t a surprise when the crowd of 32,529 installed the English-bred son of Green Dancer as a prohibitive 2-5 favorite. After all, in order to collect a $1 million bonus, Greinton merely had to negotiate 1 1/2 miles on the turf, put away four fairly solid rivals and then waltz into the winner’s circle and collect the check.

But Torosent Kings Island out to a short lead and then orchestrated a pace that was so slow “we were crawling,” according to jockey Bill Shoemaker, who was aboard eventual third-place finisher Val Danseur, another Whittingham entry. “It was really slow. But I couldn’t shoot past three horses so I had to wait. Sometimes that’s all you can do.”

The pedestrian pace established, Toro saved ground on the rail. Outside of Toro were Craelius and Chris McCarron, and then in no-man’s land, Greinton and Pincay. Somewhere between a rock and a hard place, Pincay conducted a mini-debate.

“He (Greinton) broke to the outside, so I had to stay where I was,” Pincay said. “And with the other horse between us, I really couldn’t go for the lead because I might have used him up early. So I was wide on every turn and then I got caught in the slow pace. If he had broke to the lead I would have gone to the lead and tried to hurry the pace. But the other horse was game. When I asked mine to run, the other horse kept trying.”

After sauntering six furlongs in 1:14 2/5, Toro felt comfortable on the turn for home, when he went to the whip. Greinton, under the urging of Pincay, also went to the drive. The two horses went neck and neck and then nose to nose, but Kings Island never surrendered the lead, winning by a head in 2:25 4/5 and returning $15.40, $3.40 and $2.10. Greinton paid $2.40 and $2.10; Val Danseur $2.10.

Whittingham, who felt his wallet getting lighter at about the mile mark, did not criticize Pincay directly, but he was angry about the fractions.

“Slow! So, you noticed it too,” said Whittingham, who was bidding for his 10th victory in the 42nd running of the Sunset. “I don’t make the pace, the jockey makes the pace. I don’t know if he (Pincay) made a bad decision . . . he didn’t win.”

Toro did win, however, and trainers and track personnel came up to offer congratulations. For Toro, 44, had come back from two broken ribs and a bruised kidney and spleen suffered in a fall June 1. Not just back, but turning in a masterful performance.

“Fernando is one of the most underrated jockeys in the country,” said trainer Jerry Fanning, who saddled the winner and shared an apartment with Toro during the meeting. “Sometimes when you don’t use him for a while, and come back to him, you forget how good he is. He relaxed the horse beautifully.”

Toro, who felt going in that pace was critical to Kings Island’s chances, was pleased that he had been able to so thoroughly control the race. He also hoped the outcome proved that he was certainly not finished.

“I knew we were going slowly after a mile and that he would be very tough to beat,” Toro said. “He didn’t want to let that other horse go by him. After we got on the backstretch for the second time I knew we were in good shape. His ears were pricked, and he was relaxed and fresh. When Greinton came, we were ready. He wouldn’t give up.

“This is nice because it’s tough to be off for six weeks in anything. But I knew I would ride again. It’s my job to come to the track. But the people say that I can’t come back that this was it. But I never doubted I would be back. The turf was good to me, today. So was the horse.

“Jerry is the greatest. We share an apartment and yet there was never a word between us about the race until the start. Then he said, ‘You know what to do.’ There was no pressure.”

No pressure on the track, either, because this theft was done so gently. Whittingham and Pincay never missed their wallets, until it was too late.

Hollywood Park Notes Greinton didn’t get a $1 million bonus, but the 4-year-old was still named the horse of the meeting. . . . Laffit Pincay, who earned $2,701,000, won the riding title with 85 winners. Chris McCarron, who had won nine straight Hollypark titles dating back to 1980, finished second with 80. Pincay has won 10 Hollywood titles, second to Bill Shoemaker’s 18. Mike Mitchell had the most winners (28), outdistancing Gary Jones by two. However, Charlie Whittingham won the most money, collecting $1,512,200. . . . Hollywood Park set a track record for the highest average daily handle ($5,486,172), up 6.6% over 1984. Average daily attendance was 25,705, up 0.3%. . . . Angel Cordero Jr. flew West for the Sunset Handicap, but managed only a fourth-place finish aboard Sharannpour. . . . The racing scene shifts to Del Mar, which opens its nine-race card with the Oceanside Stakes to be run in two divisions. Racing will be held Wednesday through Monday with first post at 2 p.m. More than $8 million in purses is expected to be awarded during the 43-day meeting.

In Monday’s third race, track stewards decided to couple Manzanero, owned by Carmen Barrera and trained by her son, Albert, with Post Star, owned by Dana S. Bray Jr. and trained by Laz Barrera. As steward Pete Pedersen noted, the two horses didn’t have to be coupled since Carmen, Laz’s wife, didn’t have an ownership interest in Post Star. “Anytime there is a potential conflict of interest we try to avoid it,” Pedersen said. “Manzanero would be considered community property, so we felt it would be better to have them coupled.” The same logic might have benefited handicappers in the eighth, who were faced with three Whittingham-trained entries, including Greinton, who is also owned in part by Whittingham. However, in order to preserve the betting interest in a short field (five), the stewards appealed to the California Horse Racing Board for permission to run the horses separately. In the East, anytime a trainer saddles two or more horses, the animals are coupled as an entry.