Magical Mile Cruises to Victory in Juvenile : Colt Moves Up to Six Furlongs and Wins by Four Lengths at Hollywood

Eddie Delahoussaye is racing’s canary in a coal mine. When he gets excited, it’s time to run.

That’s why Delahoussaye’s assessment of Magical Mile, four-length winner of the $106,200 Hollywood Juvenile Championship Saturday at Hollywood Park, should be filed away.

“I’ve learned not to get too high on a 2-year-old,” the 37-year-old former national champion said. “I had my heart broken too many times when I was younger. But this colt acts like he might be something special.”

The colt won his first race on May 18 by 7 1/2 lengths, setting a track record for five furlongs in the process. Each 2-year-old who came along afterward inevitably was compared to Magical Mile.

Saturday, Magical Mile was made the 3-5 favorite for the Juvenile Championship, with only Forty Niner Days, at about 4-1, given the slightest chance to upset.

Breaking from the inside post, Magical Mile went right to the lead. Said Delahoussaye: “Around the turn he was loafing. But I kind of let him have his way, because I could feel the power was there whenever I wanted it.”

Magical Mile stayed on cruise control around the turn and into the stretch, taking the bend a bit wide. With a quarter of a mile to go, Forty Niner Days put in a threatening run along the inside. His jockey, Laffit Pincay, sensed a possible upset.

“For a second, I thought I might win it,” said Pincay, who has won the Juvenile a record six times. “Then Eddie asked his horse to run, and he re-broke. The race was over.”

Forty Niner Days was second by 3 1/2 lengths over Willing Worker. Real Cash, who tried to chase Magical Mile early, faded late to finish fourth.

The winner paid $2.60, $2.20 and $2.10, while causing a minus show pool of $2,570.

Magical Mile’s time of 1:10 for the six furlongs was not particularly impressive, and his opposition was essentially unproven, but his performance holds up under close scrutiny on several counts.

Magical Mile ran his final furlong in a world class :12 1/5. “And he was doing it easy, too,” Delahoussaye said. “He could have run in nine and change with no problem, but what’s the point?”

The Kentucky bred colt lost a bit of training time shortly after his debut because of a minor bronchial ailment. But Stute had plenty of time to regroup.

“In a way I was glad,” said Stute, who has handled such top horses as June Darling, Figonero and Snow Sporting. “It seems they all come up with some little problem. Maybe he got his out of the way early.”

Magical Mile’s sire, J.O. Tobin, was a brilliant racer but has been an object of scorn as a stallion.

J.O. Tobin, England’s champion 2-year-old of 1976, became the first horse to defeat Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, in the 1977 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. The next year, J.O. Tobin earned an Eclipse Award as North America’s co-champion sprinter.

But through the end of 1988 only one of his 20 stakes-winning sons and daughters had won a top-class race.

Magical Mile was sold for $25,000 as a yearling in Kentucky and developed impressively enough to bring a bid of $190,000 from Clement L. Hirsch when he went through a sales ring in California last March.

And then there is Delahoussaye’s qualified endorsement.

“Yeah, I’m tough to please,” Delahoussaye said. “After they win the Triple Crown, then I’ll call ‘em great.”

Horse Racing Notes

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Sunday Silence will be an overwhelming favorite to win today’s $412,400 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. The value of the race was doubled because of the presence of a Triple Crown race winner, but without Sunday Silence the field would be anemic. One of his four opponents has never raced against top company. . . . Olympic Prospect, California’s best sprinter of 1988, made his 1989 debut Saturday and won a Breeders’ Cup sponsored race at Louisiana Downs by 11 1/2 lengths. . . . Nastique, who won two stakes at Hollywood Park last fall for Bill Shoemaker, won the Delaware Handicap on Saturday for the second straight year while Shoemaker was making a special appearance at Wyoming Downs. . . . Saturday’s attendance was 18,701 compared to the final on-track count of 42,612 at the special Shoemaker celebration Friday night.