Stevens Rides Family Style to Winner’s Circle in Silver Belles Handicap

Gary Stevens lost his original mount in Saturday’s Silver Belles Handicap when Outstandingly was scratched from the $137,150 stake.

But this has been the kind of a year when the 23-year-old Stevens hardly ever loses. He is making a rout of the jockey race at Hollywood Park; he is second in the country in purse money, and Saturday, he won the Silver Belles, anyway, riding Family Style to a half-length victory over Infinidad after Eddie Delahoussaye, Family Style’s expected jockey, called in sick with a cold.

“Now I believe in destiny,” Stevens said to Wayne Lukas, Family Style’s trainer, when he brought the 3-year-old State Dinner-Sharp Kitty filly back to the winner’s circle.

Jose Santos, the leading rider in the country with more than $10.8 million in purses, about $600,000 more than Stevens, is out for the year, having fractured two vertebrae in a spill Thursday at Aqueduct. Stevens probably has too much ground to make up, but he could still make the purse race interesting, starting with a ride aboard the highly regarded Theatrical in today’s $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup. Then, a week from today, Stevens will be in the $1-million Hollywood Futurity, probably aboard Qualify.

In the Silver Belles, which was seen by 19,385, Hollywood Park’s smallest weekend crowd of the season, Stevens didn’t give Family Style the ride of a jockey who was seeing the filly for the first time. Lukas had asked Stevens to try placing her fourth in the early going, and he had her in third; the trainer had reminded the jockey that Family Style had difficulty changing lead feet in the stretch, and Stevens was able to get her to switch.

“Gary rode her almost to the letter,” Lukas said. “He gave us a lot of pluses.”

Although Family Style was voted champion 2-year-old filly in 1985, her form this year had made the chestnut almost a forgotten horse in Lukas’ stable of stars. Before Saturday, Family Style had won only once in 12 starts, frequently running close but not being able to beat some of the best fillies in the country.

As a result, Family Style was overlooked in the seven-horse Silver Belles and, as the fourth betting choice, paid $15.40, $7 and $4.40. Infinidad, banged around leaving the gate, came from last place to take second and paid $5.40 and $3.60. The rest of the field appeared to be in another race, with Waterside paying $5.60 for running third, 10 lengths behind the winner, after leading until the top of the stretch.

Family Style, running 1 1/8 miles on a track labeled good in 1:50, earned $82,700 and increased her career total to $1.2 million for owner Gene Klein. The filly hadn’t won a race since May, when she bested a rather ordinary field in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico.

Four times since then, Family Style had failed to win despite going off as a heavy favorite, including an eighth-place finish at 8-5 in the Linda Vista Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 31. Lukas said that she had bled internally in that race, and on Saturday she ran with furosemide, an anti-bleeding diuretic.

“When this filly’s good, she’s good, and when she’d bad, she’s bad, just like all girls,” Lukas said.

Family Style will continue running next year, as will Lady’s Secret and Life at the Top, the other top fillies in Lukas’ barn. Lady’s Secret is the favorite to be chosen Horse of the Year, and Life at the Top is a contender for the 3-year-old filly championship.

The disappointment in the Silver Belles was Fran’s Valentine, the 11-10 favorite who finished fourth. Last time out, Fran’s Valentine ran second to Lady’s Secret in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

“She was laboring all the way,” jockey Bill Shoemaker said of Fran’s Valentine Saturday. “She never got ahold of the track.”

Lukas attributed Fran’s Valentine’s dismal performance to another factor, which might be called the Lady’s Secret Syndrome.

“Take a look at the fillies that try to go with Lady’s Secret and you’ll see some startling statistics,” Lukas said. “It usually takes them at least a race to recover. Their first time back, most of them just don’t run well.”

Horse Racing Notes

Russell Hudak, the linemaker at Hollywood Park, has made the entry of Estrapade and Theatrical the 6-5 favorite in today’s $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup. Zoffany, who won the race last year and who is trying to make a comeback after being injured in the Budweiser-Arlington Million three months ago, is the second choice at 5-2, followed by Skywalker at 4-1. “Even if Estrapade or Theatrical were running by themselves, they would be favored,” Hudak said. “They’ve been that impressive lately.” . . . Gary Stevens’ win on Family Style was his 47th of the meeting, coming on the 25th day. Laffit Pincay is in second place with 34 wins and Stevens has more than doubled the win total of Pat Valenzuela, who ranks third with 23. . . . The Stevens ride also moved the Wayne Lukas barn closer to the $12 million mark in annual purses. Having already broken the record set last year, Lukas’ far-flung outfit has gone over $11.7 million and is a cinch to win the title for the fourth straight year. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye had been riding with a cold all week and finally decided to take Saturday off. Delahoussaye probably will be back to ride Zoffany today. . . . Angel Cordero, en route to Caliente to ride Passer for trainer Laz Barrera in today’s Caribbean Classic, finished third with Waterside in Saturday’s Silver Belles Handicap at Hollywood. The New York jockey won the race before the Silver Belles with Skip Out Front. . . . Locally based Al Mamoon and Silveyville will probably run in the $300,000 Bay Meadows Handicap on Dec. 20. . . . J.D. Hubbard, who with two partners made an unsuccessful offer to buy Hollywood Park recently, was at the track Saturday to see his filly, Shywing, run last in the Silver Belles. Hubbard and a partner bought Shywing for $1 million at auction about a month ago. Although Hollywood’s board of directors turned down Hubbard’s $135 million offer, there are reports that individual shareholders in the track still are interested. Hubbard declined to discuss that possibility.