American Handicap : Mister Wonderful II Wins by Nose

Mister Wonderful II’s trainer was in Argentina and his scheduled jockey was in Chicago, but the important thing for the 6-year-old on Tuesday was that his mind was in the right place.

In a furious stretch drive that involved most of the eight-horse field, Mister Wonderful II was the widest and fastest of all, winning the $318,600 American Handicap by a nose over the 4-5 favorite, Steinlen, before 31,661 at Hollywood Park.

In the process, Mister Wonderful resuscitated two careers, his own and that of Fernando Toro, the 48-year-old jockey who hadn’t won a stakes race in California in more than seven months. Toro has been more effective out of state recently--he won a stake last month at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, Neb.--but at Hollywood Park he had only six victories from 52 mounts before Tuesday.

Dick Mandella, who has been training Mister Wonderful since February, supervised a workout for the English-bred Monday morning, with Toro aboard, and then went to Argentina to scout horses. Mike Machowsky, Mandella’s assistant, saddled Mister Wonderful on Tuesday.

Toro learned Monday morning that he would ride Mister Wonderful for the first time. Pat Day had ridden the English-bred the last time, to a third-place finish behind the speedy Sam Who in a small stake at Hollywood nine days ago, but Day elected to ride at Arlington Park Tuesday. Day won the stake there, taking the $116,100 Stars and Stripes Handicap with Salem Drive.

Mister Wonderful was assigned 112 pounds, nine fewer than the top-weighted Steinlen, but Toro can make only 115, and Mandella considered lighter jockeys before he gave him the assignment.

If you blinked, you missed the rousing finish to the 50th edition of the American. Steinlen, the Inglewood Handicap winner who ran second for the third time of the meeting, finished a head in front of Pranke and it was 1 1/2 lengths back to Pasakos, who was a neck in front of Skip Out Front, last year’s winner.

Running 1 1/8 miles on the grass in 1:47 1/5, Mister Wonderful earned $183,600 for his owner, Santa Monica automobile dealer Stephen Taub, and paid $22.80, $6.60 and $4.60. Steinlen paid $2.80 and $2.40, and Pranke returned $3.80.

Despite slow fractions, Splendor Catch led the American for three-quarters of a mile. Mister Wonderful was in sixth place, but only five lengths back.

Steinlen, sitting behind Splendor Catch going down the backstretch, took the lead by mid-stretch. He was running erratically, causing a problem for Laffit Pincay, aboard Pranke. If Pincay went outside, he would have been carried wide by Mister Wonderful, and as it was, Pranke almost clipped Steinlen’s heels. Pasakos, ridden by Chris McCarron, was eighth lengths back at one point, but lacked a closing punch, and the same could be said for Skip Out Front, who also threatened at the top of the stretch.

Trainer Wayne Lukas gave Gary Stevens instructions to drop Steinlen into second place early, not anticipating the plodding fractions.

“When we came back, we both said the same thing,” Stevens said. “We took away his best advantage. He could have been walking (on the lead), and might have had a good advantage going into the turn. I felt like we definitely should have won, but hindsight’s 20-20.”

John Gosden, who trained Mister Wonderful before Mandella, left California to return to his native England at the end of last year.

When Taub chose his next trainer, it did not appear as though Mandella was getting a gift horse. Mister Wonderful had won three races in the United States, starting with his American debut at Santa Anita in December of 1986, but he could never rise above allowance company. What was more, there were long gaps in his racing schedule, layoffs usually indicative of a problem horse.

“There was never anything wrong with him,” Taub said Tuesday. “We had deals to sell him a few times, but we could never put anything together. It was a comedy of errors, actually.

“But Dick Mandella has done wonders with this horse. He’s always been kind of studish, and Dick’s been able to get his mind straight.”

Before heading to South America, Mandella told Toro to have Mister Wonderful clear of traffic in the last eighth of a mile. Toro saw tapes of some of Mister Wonderful’s victories and noted that they came with sweeping moves on the last turn.

Toro has won 84 stakes at Hollywood Park, more than only a handful of jockeys, but he didn’t win any stakes at Santa Anita last winter, and his last stake victory in California came when Balbonella upset Goodbye Halo in the Dahlia Handicap last November.

“When I don’t have it, I’ll know it and I’ll stay home with my grandchildren,” Toro said. “Business has been slow, but it’s been nothing to get worried about, because I know I’m still strong.”

Horse Racing Notes

Mister Wonderful II earned more money Tuesday than he had banked in his career. He went into the American Handicap with $119,376 in purses. His American record is four victories in 10 starts. Tuesday’s race was only his second start this year and his first victory since last December.

In another stake at Hollywood Park Tuesday, Rahy, an English-raced colt making his third American start, won the $55,000 Ack Ack Handicap by five lengths over Don’s Irish Melody. Rahy, ridden by Gary Stevens ran as an entry with Monte Simon for trainer Neil Drysdale and paid $6.60. Monte Simon finished seventh, another horse done in by breaking from the No. 1 post while going a mile. Trainer Wayne Lukas scratched On the Line, the probable favorite for the Ack Ack, because he drew inside. Designing Charles, winner of the one-mile third race, was only the third No. 1 horse to win at that distance out of 56 races this meeting.