THOROUGHBRED RACING : Mister Frisky to Be Retired to Stud

Mister Frisky, the $15,000 yearling who won his first 16 races before finishing eighth as the favorite in last year’s Kentucky Derby, has been retired to stud after an unsuccessful comeback from a life-threatening infection.

Joe Garcia, who became Mister Frisky’s trainer after Laz Barrera died last April, said Friday that the 4-year-old colt’s stallion career will begin next year at Silverleaf Farm in Ocala, Fla.

Mister Frisky never won a race after his runaway victory in the 1990 Santa Anita Derby, which was his 16th consecutive triumph.

After the Kentucky Derby, he finished third two weeks later in the Preakness, then was hospitalized because of a grapefruit-sized abscess in his throat. Veterinarians speculated that the infection might have been dormant for months, possibly the result of the horse’s eating a wood shaving in his stall while he had been quarantined after his arrival in Florida from Puerto Rico.

Mister Frisky, who raced for Jose and Marta Fernandez of Puerto Rico after they had bought the small chestnut at auction as an unraced 2-year-old, won his first 13 races in Puerto Rico before he was moved to Santa Anita and given to Barrera. His Santa Anita Derby triumph tied the modern record for consecutive victories that had been set by Citation in 1948-49.

“He probably doesn’t weigh 1,000 pounds,” Barrera said at the time. “But he’s all muscle, and when they put the tack on him, his muscles come out and it looks like he grows about seven inches.”

Mister Frisky was Barrera’s last hurrah. Although the Florida-bred colt didn’t win the Kentucky Derby, he gave Barrera, the winner of the Derby with Bold Forbes and Affirmed, another shot at the Triple Crown races when his training career was ebbing.

Had Mister Frisky been able to come back, he would have been Joe Garcia’s first hurrah. At 38, Garcia was striking out on his own, having worked for Barrera for 12 years, and Mister Frisky was to be his first important horse.

But Mister Frisky had lost something, and in two races at Del Mar over the summer he finished third and second, failing to show the form that sent him off at 19-10 odds in the Kentucky Derby.

Last month, Mister Frisky suffered a wrenched ankle during a morning gallop at Santa Anita.

“It would have taken him a while to recover, and I wanted to do what was best for the horse,” Garcia said. “This is a big disappointment. Horses like him don’t come along very often. I was proud that the owners had given me a chance with him. Maybe I’ll be able to do some good with some of the horses he sires.”

Mister Frisky finished with earnings of $628,185 and 16 victories, a second and two thirds in 20 races.

A jockey hasn’t won the Budweiser International in successive years since Sandy Hawley won with Nobiliary and repeated with Youth in 1975-76. Laffit Pincay has an excellent chance for consecutive International victories when he rides Algenib, the 4-1 second choice, in the $750,000 race today at Laurel.

Pincay won the International last year with Fly Till Dawn at 17-1. Wally Dollase, who trains Algenib, has been dissatisfied with the way Kent Desormeaux rode the 1990 South American Triple Crown champion in recent races and gave today’s assignment to Pincay, who also won the International in 1987 with Le Glorieux.

Algenib lost by a head to Tight Spot in the Arlington Million and ran fifth as the favorite in the Man o’ War at Belmont Park.

Santa Anita will take bets on the International, which will be shown on television between the third and fourth races at the track.

Horse Racing Notes

Champagnarde will give trainer Charlie Whittingham a chance to win the Las Palmas Handicap for the seventh time when she races five rivals Sunday in the $125,000 stake for fillies and mares at Santa Anita. Others running in the 1 1/8-mile grass race are Free At Last, Kikala, Alcando, Guiza and Kostroma. Champagnarde and Free At Last are the co-high weights at 118 pounds. Whittingham’s last Las Palmas victory was with Estrapade in 1985.