DEL MAR : Controversy Follows Tight Spot to the Winner’s Circle Once Again

The last time Tight Spot ran at Del Mar, it took roughly a year before his victory was certified, with the track stewards, a state racing board referee and a court judge all giving opinions.

This time, in Sunday’s $323,500 Eddie Read Handicap, Tight Spot needed another tight call from the stewards to win, and once again a runner trained by Wally Dollase and ridden by his son-in-law, Corey Nakatani, was the horse said to be obstructed.

In last year’s Del Mar Derby, Itsallgreektome was given the victory by the stewards before Tight Spot wound up with the winner’s share of the purse after the racing board official and the judge disagreed.

In the Eddie Read, Tight Spot won by 3 1/2 lengths, but his owners and trainer Ron McAnally had to wait seven minutes before the stewards disallowed a foul claim by Nakatani, who rode Algenib to a fourth-place finish in a field of seven.

The furor was in character with the entire Del Mar meet, which after 17 days has produced 20 inquiries initiated by either jockeys or stewards. There were only 21 inquiries in 43 days last year. Four of this year’s inquiries have resulted in disqualifications.

In the Read, Nakatani claimed that Tight Spot, ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr., caused him to take up with Algenib along the rail as the field came out of the grass chute and went by the stands the first time.

“He dropped over on me,” Nakatani said. “I screamed, but he came over on me. It cost my horse.”

Tight Spot, extending his winning streak to seven races, all on grass, had angled over from the outside post to establish a position closer to the fence. In the Del Mar Derby, Tight Spot also cut in front of the field, starting from the No. 9 post in a 10-horse race.

“I don’t think this was nearly as bad as the last time,” Pincay said. “I was at the fence already when the kid (Nakatani) hollered. I don’t know how I could have caused his troubles.”

McAnally, standing near the winner’s circle while the stewards deliberated, was confident.

“The way I saw it, the other horse was rank (hard to handle),” McAnally said. “The jockey just couldn’t take a hold of him. Even going around the first turn, he was rank. Anyway, the way I saw it, we were OK. Last year, I was concerned until I saw the replay, and then I realized that we were not at fault.”

Val Des Bois finished second, a neck better than Madjaristan, who was a neck in front of Algenib. Tight Spot earned $118,500 and the favorite paid $4.20 to win. He ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 1/5.

Pat Valenzuela might have given the other riders at Del Mar the chance to cut into his lead in the jockey standings Sunday, but one of the heroes in Best Pal’s victory Saturday kept winning. He rode Del Mar-based Filago, trained by Bobby Frankel, to a 3 1/2-length victory in the $250,000 Arlington Handicap at Arlington International near Chicago.

Valenzuela’s victory came on the heels of his come-from-behind ride aboard Best Pal in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

After Saturday, Valenzuela had 25 winners in 16 days at Del Mar, giving him a lead of six in the standings. Valenzuela won the Del Mar title a year ago with 57 and he was also the champion here in 1986 with 55.

Valenzuela, 28, has had a history of drug problems, which were a factor in his temporarily losing the mount on Best Pal for last year’s victory in another $1-million race, the Hollywood Futurity. Valenzuela was also off Best Pal for his first four starts this year. But when the jockey returned to action, the 3-year-old gelding’s then-trainer, Ian Jory, supported Valenzuela in getting back on the horse. This year, Valenzuela had ridden Best Pal for his second- place finish in the Silver Screen Handicap and his victory in the Swaps Stakes, both at Hollywood Park.

“When this horse was a 2-year-old,” Valenzuela said Saturday, “I thought he could win the Kentucky Derby (Best Pal finished second under Gary Stevens). Now I think he’s got a hell of a shot to win the Breeders’ Cup. He’s starting to become my favorite horse of all. He’s right up there with Sunday Silence (who gave Valenzuela a Kentucky Derby victory in 1989).”

Sunday Silence also won the Super Derby with Valenzuela en route to being voted horse of the year in 1989, and that same Louisiana Downs stake, on Sept. 22, could be on Best Pal’s schedule. Another option mentioned Sunday by Gary Jones, who has trained Best Pal for his past two races, is the Molson Million on Sept. 15 at Woodbine.

The year-end goal is the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2. Best Pal’s owners, John and Betty Mabee, didn’t nominate Best Pal to the Breeders’ Cup when he was a yearling, so they would have to pay a $360,000 penalty--12% of the race’s value--to make him eligible. Last year, the Mabees put up $120,000 to run Best Pal in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and he finished sixth.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Wayne Lukas didn’t win the Pacific Classic with either Twilight Agenda (second) or favored Farma Way (fifth), but his stable is clicking on other fronts. On Sunday, Lukas saddled two winners for the second consecutive day at Del Mar, and at Monmouth Park on Saturday, his Big Sur won the Sapling. “Farma Way just didn’t seem to handle the track,” Lukas said. “It seemed just a little too loose for him. Chris (McCarron) told me he was struggling, and it showed after the race, because he came out of it dead tired.” Twilight Agenda and Farma Way are candidates for the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth on Sept. 1, and another possibility for Twilight Agenda could be the Del Mar Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Sept. 8.

Unbridled, who ran a good third in the Pacific Classic in his second start in eight days, will be flown back to Chicago. Trainer Carl Nafzger, who hopes to run Unbridled in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the race he won last year, has at least four races in mind for the colt’s next start. Unbridled earned $150,000, making him the seventh horse to go over the $4-million mark in purses. . . Festin, fourth in the Classic, is scheduled to run in the Woodward at Belmont Park on Sept. 15. . . Itsallgreektome, who ran sixth, will return to grass and run in the Arlington Million on Sept. 1.