HOLLYWOOD PARK : Classic Fame Ready for Turf ‘Cap

Wanting to avoid Tight Spot in the Inglewood Handicap on Sunday, trainer Gary Jones decided to aim Classic Fame toward the longer and more lucrative Hollywood Turf Handicap on Monday and an engagement with Exbourne. Now, Jones’ 6-year-old horse won’t have to face either.

An ankle injury Thursday hastened the retirement of Tight Spot, a 1991 Eclipse Award winner. Defending Turf Handicap champion Exbourne suffered torn ligaments below his right ankle while working at Santa Anita on Thursday, and his racing days also are finished.

“It’s bad for the game to lose two horses like that,” said Jones, who was watching the workout during which Exbourne was hurt. “He was going along and he just took a bad step. It made me sick.”

Classic Fame, who will carry 120 pounds Monday, is no stranger to physical ailments. Among other problems, he has recovered from colic and a broken cannon bone to become a multiple-stakes winner in the United States after beginning his career in Europe.

A son of Nijinsky II, Classic Fame was an early contributor to Jones’ banner Santa Anita season. He won the San Gabriel Handicap on New Year’s Day, then won the San Marcos Jan. 20. Behind him in each race was Fly Till Dawn, who went on to victories in the Arcadia Handicap, San Luis Rey Stakes and the San Juan Capistrano.

Classic Fame’s final race at Santa Anita, however, wasn’t a thing of beauty. He finished 10th, beating only stablemate Apollo, in the Arcadia.

“He had some pus around his quarter-crack patch,” Jones said. “During the race, it must have really been killing him. That was the only problem we could find.

“He’s coming up to the race really well. He worked well (six furlongs in 1:12 Wednesday morning), and I couldn’t ask for him to be peaking any better. Going in, we don’t have any excuses for him.”

With regular rider Eddie Delahoussaye spending the long weekend in New York, Kent Desormeaux will be aboard Classic Fame for the first time Monday.

“He’s not an easy horse to ride,” Jones said. “You have to ride him just right. He can get rank with you and he tries to (lug) out. I was really happy with the way Kent worked him (Wednesday).”

This afternoon, Jones will attempt to end Ron McAnally’s three-year grip on the $106,600 Hawthorne Handicap. McAnally has dominated the Grade II race for fillies and mares since 1989, thanks to two victories by Bayakoa and Brought To Mind last year.

Brought To Mind is back today, and Jones will try to beat her with La Charlatana, who hasn’t run since Oct. 14.

A 5-year-old mare bred in Argentina, La Charlatana is the only horse to defeat Paseana in this country. Since her two-length loss in the Manta Handicap, Paseana has five stakes victories in a row.

“She got really sick after (the Manta),” Jones said. “Her lungs were full of stuff, and we had to treat her with heavy antibiotics and penicillin. We walked her around the stable for two months, and she’s been back in serious training for a little longer than two months.

“She’s coming up to the race well, but she might need a race. I want to see how she likes that track because I thought her work over it (five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 Tuesday) was mediocre.

“But fresh horses are dangerous horses. There are times when I thought a horse was going to need a race and they ended up running (well).”

Best Pal is the biggest star in Jones’ talent-rich stable, and there is a chance the 4-year-old gelding might run at Hollywood Park after all.

In the aftermath of Best Pal’s first loss of the year, in the Pimlico Special, there was talk he would skip the Hollywood Gold Cup, the sixth leg of the American Championship Racing Series, and wait for the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. The $1-million Classic is the last ACRS race and the California-bred won the first running last year.

Jones said Friday the Gold Cup on June 27 isn’t out of the question. “He came out of (the Special) with a bruised foot,” Jones said. “He trained a lot in the mud (at Pimlico) and mud just tears his feet up.

“We’ll have to play it by ear and see. If we can make it, he comes up to it well and the weights are square, we’ll run.”

Brought To Mind, who was beaten a nose by Forest Fealty in the seven-furlong A Gleam Handicap on April 29, is the 7-5 favorite for the Hawthorne at 1 1/16 miles. After losing the A Gleam in 1991, Brought To Mind won the Hawthorne, Milady and Vanity in succession, the same triple Bayakoa completed two years earlier.

Sacramentada, who is owned in part by Hollywood Park chairman and chief operating officer R.D. Hubbard, is the 8-5 second choice. She was fourth, only a neck behind in the A Gleam.

La Charlatana is the 3-1 third choice and Re Toss (6-1) and Steff Graf (12-1) round out the field.

Also on the card today is the $100,000 Will Rogers Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Saintry, who won the La Puente Stakes in his American debut for trainer Wally Dollase, is the 2-1 favorite.

Horse Racing Notes

Nathaniel S. Colley Sr., a lawyer and civil rights activist who also served as chairman of the California Horse Racing Board from 1977-83, died Wednesday night at his Elk Grove ranch. Colley, 74, had been suffering from brain cancer. The funeral will be private, but the family asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be sent to the NAACP Special Contributions Fund in Baltimore or the Tuskegee University-Nathaniel and Jerlean Colley Scholarship Fund in Tuskegee, Ala. . . . Golden Pheasant, who hasn’t started since finishing fourth in the San Marcos Handicap on Jan. 20, was among eight horses entered for the Inglewood Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Gary Stevens will ride the highweight (121 pounds), who is scheduled to be challenged by Claret, Time Gentlemen, Nijinsky’s Prince, Blaze O’Brien, Native Boundary, Madjaristan and Regal Groom. The latter also is entered in an allowance race today. . . . Hollywood Park will offer betting on the Rolling Green Handicap from Golden Gate Fields today. The Rolling Green, for which Gum is the favorite, will be shown between the sixth and seventh races.