DEL MAR : Valenzuela, Best Pal Take Wild Ride

The opening of Del Mar’s 52nd season has come with the usual ration of excitement. Since the meeting began Wednesday, there have been three stakes winners; jockeys Laffit Pincay and Eddie Delahoussaye have bounced back from spills, and the first 18 races produced an average win payoff of more than $21.

The most exciting happening however, came in comparative privacy early Thursday, long before the thousands of racegoers arrived at the track. Best Pal, one of the top horses on the grounds, took his jockey, Pat Valenzuela, for an unscheduled ride.

Trainer Gary Jones had sent Best Pal out to the track for a five-furlong workout. Winner of the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park in his last start, Best Pal is being prepared for the $1-million Pacific Classic Aug. 10, which will be the richest stake in the track’s history.

Jones was expecting Best Pal to work in about one minute. But soon after the workout began, the trainer simply hoped that the 3-year-old gelding would come back alive.

About an eighth of a mile into the workout, Valenzuela’s foot slipped out of his left stirrup.

“It turned into a rodeo after that,” Jones said. “It got real bizarre.”

Best Pal was spooked when Valenzuela lost his iron. “He cut and he took off,” Jones said. “There were all kinds of other horses on the track at the time. We were very lucky that he even came back. There could have been a real bad accident.”

The left stirrup is crucial in controlling a horse because most of the jockey’s weight is usually shifted to that side.

“It’s a good thing that Pat was on the horse when it happened,” Jones said. “He’s a natural. If anybody else had been up, they probably would have lost him.”

Best Pal is scheduled for two more workouts before the Classic, so all Jones wanted was an average time. Instead, with Valenzuela doing his best to hang on, the horse went five furlongs in :57 2/5, and Jones clocked him pulling up in 1:10 2/5 for the extra furlong. Best Pal’s five-furlong time earned him bold-faced type in the Daily Racing Form workout list. Eighty horses were listed as having worked that distance Thursday, and Best Pal’s time was the fastest. Only eight horses even worked under a minute.

“There’s no harm done,” Jones said. “The horse came back all right, and he ate good. He just got spooked and took off. I’ve found otherwise that he’s a trainer’s dream. He’ll do anything you ask him to do.”

Best Pal earned $1 million as a 2-year-old, winning the Del Mar Futurity and two other Southland stakes, the Norfolk at Santa Anita and the Hollywood Futurity. But after six non-winning starts this year, including a second to Strike The Gold in the Kentucky Derby, his breeders and owners, John and Betty Mabee, switched trainers. Best Pal was moved from Ian Jory’s barn to that of Jones, who saddled the horse for the victory in the Swaps.

“I’ve found that this horse is the genuine article,” Jones said. “He’s the ultimate professional. Now whether he can beat older horses (in the Classic) is something else again. But at least we’ll have the weights going for us.”

Under the conditions for the Classic, older horses, such as Farma Way and Itsallgreektome, must each carry 124 pounds, while 3-year-olds such as Best Pal will be assigned only 116.

From 1960 through ‘74, Jones’ father, Farrell, was the leading trainer at Del Mar 11 times, and Gary took the title in 1979. He won 23 races that summer, which is the best Del Mar total in the last 16 years--since his father won 26 in 1974.

With only one stakes victory at Del Mar in the last three years, Quiet American’s success in last year’s San Diego Handicap, Jones will try to surpass that total this weekend. He is running the speedy Jungle Pioneer today in the $150,000 San Diego Handicap and will saddle three distaffers--Annual Reunion, Heart of Joy and Polar Bird--in Sunday’s $100,000 Palomar Handicap, a race he won with Capichi in 1985.

Jones was hoping that there would be enough of a rush to the entry box for Del Mar’s racing department to split the Palomar, and that is what happened in the 1 1/16-mile grass stake--which means the stake will be run in divisions for the first time since 1982.

In the first half of the Palomar, Annual Reunion will face La Kaldoun, Spring Daffodil, Run To Jenny, Alcando, Masake, Guiza, Godsin and Agirlfromars. The second half will pit Heart Of Joy and Polar Bird against Lady Wishing Well, Slew Of Pearls, Sweet Roberta, Reluctant Guest, Somethingmerry, Countus In and Jabalina Brown.

Horse Racing Notes

General Meeting, who ran second to stablemate Best Pal in the Hollywood Futurity before an injury sidelined him earlier this year, will return to action in today’s third race. It will be General Meeting’s first start since he won the Bradbury at Santa Anita on Feb. 20. General Meeting is trained by David Hofmans. . . . Annual Reunion and Alcando are co-high weighted in the first half of the Palomar Handicap at 116 pounds. . . . In the second division, Heart Of Joy has the heaviest impost, 119 pounds. . . . Horsemen on the backstretch were still talking Friday morning about the brilliant late move that Filago made to win an allowance race Thursday. Owned by Edmund Gann and trained by Bobby Frankel, Filago was making his second American start. The 4-year-old son of Foolish Pleasure was a troubled sixth in a race at Hollywood Park. The Del Mar victory was his first since 1989.