HOLLYWOOD PARK : This Weighty Issue Won’t Keep Paseana Out of Vanity Handicap

After being assigned 128 pounds for the 1990 Vanity Handicap, Bayakoa didn’t run in the Grade I race, Hollywood Park’s main event for older fillies and mares.

Trainer Ron McAnally and owners Frank and Jan Whitham weren’t happy with the four pounds Bayakoa would have been giving Gorgeous. So in the absence of her chief rival, Gorgeous strolled to a five-length victory over four outclassed opponents.

Two years later, McAnally is looking at another hefty package for another brilliant mare from Argentina.

Although Paseana will start and be heavily favored in the $300,000 Vanity, McAnally isn’t thrilled with the 127 pounds the winner of six consecutive stakes is being asked to carry.

“She won her last race (the Milady Handicap June 13) pretty much in hand, and she goes from 125 (pounds) to 127,” McAnally said Wednesday. “On the other hand, Best Pal, who is supposed to be one of the top handicap horses in the country, only picked up one pound (from 124 to 125) in the Oaklawn Handicap after winning the Santa Anita Handicap by 5 1/2 lengths.

“Strike The Gold, who chances are is one of the candidates to be horse of the year, is only carrying 119 in the Suburban Saturday. Sultry Song, who just won the Hollywood Gold Cup, is carrying 116. (The way Paseana is being weighted,) they must be considering her for horse of the year.”

If McAnally had his way, Paseana or any other thoroughbred would never have to spot anyone weight in Grade I races.

“My opinion always has been that if you have a good horse in a Grade I, they should all have the same weight,” he said. “In the Hollywood Gold Cup last year, you had a horse like Marquetry, who wasn’t the best horse, winning a top caliber race. At that particular time, he wasn’t as good a horse as Farma Way.”

A 27-1 shot, Marquetry carried 110 pounds for his wire-to-wire upset. That was 12 pounds less than Farma Way, who finished a head behind as the 7-5 favorite.

If Paseana comes out of the Vanity in good shape, she will be in line for a weight break in her next start. The pounds will come off if she tries the boys in the $1-million Pacific Classic Aug. 30 at Del Mar, the final leg of the American Championship Racing Series.

“I like to take one race at a time, but . . . one way of getting weight off would be to run in a race like the Pacific Classic,” McAnally said. “It’s only a possibility because the timing would be right.”

A victory against males would make Paseana a strong horse-of-the-year candidate.

First, however, there’s the Vanity, a 1 1/8-mile race in which she will probably have only five challengers: Fowda, Re Toss, Laramie Moon, Campagnarde and Guiza.

“She’s really good,” McAnally said. “I’m very pleased with her. I pointed her out to (Charlie) Whittingham and a few others who may be running against her when she was coming off the track this morning. She was bucking and playing.”

Three females have carried more weight to victory in the Vanity than Paseana will Sunday. Gamely carried 131 pounds in 1968, Silver Spoon packed 130 in 1960 and Cascapedia carried 129 in 1977.

Paseana will be carrying the most weight for the Vanity since Taisez Vous was fifth as the heavy favorite under 130 pounds in 1978.

When Gilded Time broke several lengths behind the field in the fourth race Wednesday at Hollywood Park, trainer Darrell Vienna was stunned.

“That’s the first mistake he’s ever made,” Vienna said of the 2-year-old Timeless Moment colt.

The slow start didn’t matter. The first-time starter quickly picked up most of his rivals, then sailed past pacesetter Chayim early in the stretch and went on to win by four lengths while being geared down in the final yards by jockey Gary Stevens. His time for the six furlongs was 1:10 1/5.

Owned in part by television writer-producer David Milch, Gilded Time was bought for $80,000 by Vienna in March at the Ocala, Fla., sale of 2-year-olds in training.

“He was like a man among boys in that sale,” Vienna said. “I saw him breeze and it wasn’t the fastest breeze, but he couldn’t have gone any easier. Frankly, I didn’t think we’d be able to buy him. I went down there to take a look at a horse--Robyn Dancer’s half brother--and when I was there I saw this horse. I knew if I could buy him, I’d sure try to.

“I told David I thought I bought the best horse at the sale, which is something I had never been able to say before. He’s the best 2-year-old I’ve ever been around. He worked real easy with (multiple stakes winner) Sunny Blossom and he worked real easy with (promising 3-year-old) Phone Roberto.”

Said Stevens of Gilded Time: “I’ve never had a first-time starter break that poorly and still make such an easy race of it. He doesn’t do things like a 2-year-old. He doesn’t know what he’s doing right now, it’s just natural. When he figures it out, shame on ‘em.”

To say Vienna was confident before Wednesday’s race would be a gross understatement.

“I would have bet him today if he was running against 3- or 4-year-olds,” he said. “To show you what we thought of him, we were talking about hoping he wouldn’t win by too much today so he wouldn’t be too tired for for the ($100,000 Hollywood) Juvenile (July 27). “I’ve never given myself to that kind of crazy talk.”

Whether Gilded Time returns in the closing-day stake remains to be seen. Vienna said “maybe” Wednesday, adding that he will talk with the colt’s owners.

Eddie Delahoussaye rode three winners Wednesday, including Regional in the six-furlong feature allowance race for 3-year-olds and up.

Regional, so difficult to handle in the paddock that he delayed the post parade, rallied from fifth place at the top of the stretch for a three-quarter length victory in 1:09 3/5. Regional, a 16-1 shot, paid $35.60, $9.60 and $6. Phone Talk was second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Joboc, a 19-1 shot.

Kent Desormeaux and Pat Valenzuela took off their mounts Wednesday because of illness.