Racing at Hollywood Park : After Only 2 Races, Mi Preferido Is Being Compared to Snow Chief

Trainer Laz Barrera has a 2-year-old colt who has a lot to live up to. After just two races, Mi Preferido is being compared to Snow Chief and Island Whirl.

Island Whirl was a sore-legged horse who seemed to tolerate pain, winning the Woodward at Belmont Park in 1982 and the Hollywood Gold Cup and Saratoga’s Whitney Handicap the next year. Before Breeders’ Cup opulence, Island Whirl earned $1.1 million.

Snow Chief, retired this year, won the Preakness in 1986 and was also a major winner in California and New York, earning $3.3 million.

Mi Preferido is a son of Island Whirl, coming from his first crop, and is ridden by Alex Solis, who rode Snow Chief for most of his career. Solis can already see the similarity to Snow Chief, after he guided Mi Preferido to a three-length victory Saturday in the $120,900 Hollywood Juvenile Championship before a Hollywood Park crowd of 34,876.

“He has the same qualities as Snow Chief,” Solis said. “He runs with his head down low and he’s got that same long stride. I think he can be a nice horse. He should be much better when he runs longer, because then I won’t have to rush him like I did today.”

Over All, the only filly in the race, and Crusher Run, a gray gelding who had finished first in five straight races--only to lose two on disqualifications--in New Mexico, hooked up in a torrid speed duel that left both of them struggling at the end. Over All wound up fourth, and Crusher Run was last in the eight-horse field.

Solis had Mi Preferido just behind Over All and Crusher Run in the early part of the six-furlong race. Near the sixteenth pole, Mi Preferido took the lead and coasted home.

Mixed Pleasure, undefeated in two starts and a stakes winner at Golden Gate Fields in his last outing, also came from off the pace to finish second, a length in front of Purdue King, who had a half-length edge over Over All.

Mi Preferido was timed in 1:10, well off Dimaggio’s stakes record of 1:08 3/5 in 1974 but a clocking that compares favorably with winners in recent years.

Earning $75,900 for Barrera and Amin Saiden of Arcadia, who bred the horse by mating Island Whirl with Exacting Lady, Mi Preferido was the third betting choice and paid $10.80, $6 and $3.40. Mixed Pleasure, the 2-1 favorite and carrying 120 pounds, three more than the winner, paid $4 and $2.60, and Purdue King returned $3 for show.

Even though the Kentucky Derby is nine months away, trainers have begun an early search for that 1-mile horse, and Barrera, who trained Island Whirl, hopes that Mi Preferido will inherit some stamina, because his sire did win at the Derby distance, though not often.

Barrera, who won the Derby with Bold Forbes in 1976 and Affirmed in 1978, gave the Mi Preferido celebration some perspective when he said that the colt is not as good as Qualify right now.

Despite a rough trip, Qualify ran second to Captain Valid in last year’s Juvenile, then won the Del Mar Futurity and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But he had a sore foot going into this year, then died of a stomach disorder before his 3-year-old season ever started.

“Qualify,” Barrera said, “was one of the best horses I’ve ever had. Who knows how good this horse can be? The good thing about him is that he can come from off the pace or he can be on the lead.”

The first time Mi Preferido ran, on June 20, he won at 5 1/2 furlongs by five lengths. Solis was aboard that day, and after he worked him five-eighths of a mile in :58 2/5 last week, the jockey suspected he was ready for the Juvenile, which included five other starters who had also won recent races easily.

“I love my colt,” Joe Garcia, Barrera’s right-hand man, had said at the barn on Friday.

Barrera and his partner were able to arrange the breeding that resulted in Mi Preferido because Saiden owns the dam and the trainer was given a lifetime share in Island Whirl when he was retired. The name, which means “my preference,” comes from another fast horse Barrera remembers from his native Cuba, a horse who used to compete in races against Florida competition.

Barrera’s plans for Mi Preferido might call for the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in August, but it is more likely he will run him in the Del Mar Futurity Sept. 16.

The Del Mar race will require a supplementary payment of $10,000, since Mi Preferido wasn’t nominated.

It wasn’t that Barrera thought that Mi Preferido didn’t have a future. “I was back in Kentucky when the deadline came, and it wasn’t done,” the trainer said.

After Saturday, the money is there. With quite a bit left over.

Horse Racing Notes

Laz Barrera saddled two winners in addition to Mi Preferido Saturday, winning the fourth race with Sly Charmer and the seventh with A New Era. Sly Charmer was a 9-1 longshot, one of the reasons that no one hit the Pick Nine for the 27th straight day. The best ticket Saturday had seven winners and, under Pick Nine rules, the carryover pool, which has grown to $2.1 million, must be distributed today, with 70% going those with the most winners, 15% to the next-best tickets and 15% to the third-best selectors. . . . Barrera won the Juvenile with Affirmed in 1977 and with The Captain in 1981. . . . Dave Patton, riding Freeling in Saturday’s fourth race, was dumped to the turf shortly after the start, but X-rays showed no broken bones. Freeling hurdled the outside rail just past the clubhouse turn and wound up on the main track, but she escaped with no serious injuries. . . . The Gene Klein-Wayne Lukas owner-trainer combination failed to click with Over All in the Juvenile, but they won the Ak-Sar-Ben Oaks with Super Cook in Nebraska. . . . Candi’s Gold, undefeated since running eighth in the Kentucky Derby, and Temperate Sil are the favorites in today’s Swaps Stakes. . . . On Monday, the closing day of Hollywood Park’s season, 10 grass runners have been entered for the $250,000 Sunset Handicap. In post-position order, they are: Noble Fighter, with Pat Valenzuela riding, carrying 112 pounds; Rivlia, Chris McCarron, 122; Lord Grundy, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116; Great Communicator, Scott Stevens, 112; World Court, Corey Black, 112; Iades, Robbie Davis, 112; Swink, Bill Shoemaker, 112; Forlitano, Gary Baze, 122; Schiller, Gary Stevens, 114; and Circus Prince, Fernando Toro, 114. Rivlia and Swink will be coupled in the betting. . . . Shoemaker, who finished third with Purdue King in the Juvenile, hasn’t had a winner since July 6, when he registered three wins.