THOROUGHBRED RACING : Tight Spot Holds On for Decision

Just in time for the opening of the 1991 Del Mar season next Wednesday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has issued the definitive decision on the 1990 Del Mar Derby.

The winner of the $300,000 race--for the fourth time--is Tight Spot, who finished first by three lengths over Itsallgreektome 11 months ago. Minutes after the roughly run race, the Del Mar stewards--Hubert Jones, Dave Samuel and Morton Lipton--disqualified Tight Spot for interference shortly after the start and gave the victory to Itsallgreektome.

When the victory was given back to Tight Spot twice, after hearings before Steven Schwartz, a referee for the California Horse Racing Board, Jheri Redding, the owner of Itsallgreektome, appealed in court.

William Huss, the Superior Court judge, ruled that the majority of the evidence supported Schwartz’s earlier decisions.

The Del Mar Derby purse has been sitting in an interest-bearing account since last summer. Tight Spot’s owners--Verne Winchell, Frank and Jan Whitham, Frank Anderson and Rick Carradini--will receive the first-place money of $165,000 plus about $8,000 in interest. Itsallgreektome’s second-place purse is worth $65,000 plus $3,000 in interest.

While Itsallgreektome’s people were assured of at least second-place money, Tight Spot’s owners would have received nothing had the judge’s decision gone against them, because the stewards disqualified their horse from first to last place in the 10-horse race.

Huss’ decision is a blow to racing traditionalists, who believe that stewards’ decisions should not be overruled. The 1990 Del Mar Derby is believed to be the first time in California racing that a stewards’ decision has been overturned in an important race.

Conrad Klein, an attorney who represents Ron McAnally, Tight Spot’s trainer, was asked about the ramifications of the decision.

“A few racing states say simply that stewards’ decisions cannot be changed,” said Klein, who also has served as a hearing judge for the racing board. “It’s a deep question. If someone asked me about writing a perfect law, I’d say you’d have to flip a coin. There is much local contact between stewards and horsemen, and there are times when this can affect the stewards’ objectivity. It’s nice for a horse owner to know that if a situation gets out of hand, he has the courts to fall back on.”

Tight Spot and Itsallgreektome have emerged from the Del Mar Derby, a grass race, to become two of the country’s foremost turf runners. Itsallgreektome ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Belmont Park last year and was voted the Eclipse Award as the best male horse on grass. After chipping a knee in the Del Mar Derby and then not running for more than eight months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery, Tight Spot won the American Handicap at Hollywood Park July 4 for his sixth consecutive victory on grass.

McAnally is headed toward his richest year in purses. Besides learning Thursday that he had won a year-old race, McAnally was surprised to see that he will have only four horses to beat Saturday when he runs Festin in the $500,000 New England Classic at Rockingham Park.

One of those four, however, is Marquetry, the 27-1 shot who won the Hollywood Gold Cup last month. In a wise decision, McAnally didn’t run Festin in the Gold Cup because he suspected that a front-runner such as Marquetry might have an advantage over a speed-favoring track.

Before committing Festin to run Saturday, McAnally assiduously studied telecasts and charts of dozens of Rockingham races, assuring himself that Hollywood Park’s speed bias isn’t evident at the Salem, N.H., track. Nevertheless, Marquetry will still be dangerous if another horse--Sunny Serve, perhaps--doesn’t push him. The other starters, Silver Survivor and Whiz Along, don’t have speed.

Marquetry won’t have the big weight advantage that he enjoyed in the Gold Cup, when he carried only 110 pounds. The weights for Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile race are based on a horse’s performance this year, which leaves Festin as the high weight at 124 pounds and adds 11 pounds to Marquetry’s impost, boosting it to 121. Festin is the 3-5 favorite; Marquetry is 7-5 on the morning line and Silver Survivor is next at 6-1. Eddie Delahoussaye will ride Festin and David Flores has the mount on Marquetry.

The New England Classic is the seventh race in the 10-race American Championship Racing Series, which will award $1.5 million in bonuses--$750,000 to the owner of the horse with the most points for high finishes. Farma Way is the leader with 32 points, two more than Festin. Farma Way’s next race is scheduled to be the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar Aug. 10. The final two races are the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park Sept. 1 and the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park Sept. 15.

A decision by trainer Frank Brothers has led to one by McAnally regarding the $500,000 Haskell at Monmouth on July 27. With Brothers having shipped Hansel, his Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, to New Jersey for the Haskell, McAnally will look for an easier spot for Olympio, who was fourth in the Preakness.

The owners of Strike the Gold, the Kentucky Derby winner, also had considered the Haskell, but now they will use the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 28 as a prep for the $1-million Travers at the same track on Aug. 17. With the Saratoga season expanded from four to five weeks, there is now an extra week between the Jim Dandy and the Travers. Brothers’ plan is to also run Hansel in the Travers.

One of Hansel’s rivals in the Haskell will be Corporate Report. The well-traveled colt has earned more than $350,000 this year without winning a stake. Hansel beat him by a total margin of 12 1/2 lengths in the Preakness and Belmont.

Horse Racing Notes

Laffit Pincay, held responsible by the stewards for Tight Spot’s disqualification in the Del Mar Derby, served a five-day suspension. Question: Is Pincay the only jockey ever to get days for winning a race? . . . Hollywood Park will offer betting on the telecast of the New England Classic. The stake will be run between the second and third races on the Hollywood card.

The Hollywood season ends Monday, when the Hollywood Juvenile will be run. Other stakes this weekend are the Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Saturday and the Sunset Handicap Sunday. . . . Apollo and Forest Glow, who finished a nose apart when Apollo ran 5 1/2 furlongs on grass in 1:01 2/5, tying the world record, top the six-horse field in Saturday’s race, which is at the same distance. Other starters are Duck and Dive, Naevus Star, Navajo Storm and Ron’s Victory. Forest Glow drew the fence, just inside Apollo. . . . The Sunset will be the third race on Sunday’s card, to accommodate the tracks that are taking betting on the stake in the Eastern time zone.

Safely Kept, who is $605 short of the $2-million mark in earnings, is the 7-5 favorite over Housebuster, at 8-5, in Saturday’s $300,000 Francis J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel. Craig Perret, who rides both horses, is sticking with Housebuster, and Corey Black gets the mount on Safely Kept, who was fourth in the six-furlong stake a year ago. Housebuster has the No. 2 post, and Safely Kept is No. 5 in the six-horse field. The other starters are Bravely Bold, Clever Trevor, Robyn Dancer and Sunny Blossom.