HOLLYWOOD PARK : Qathif Wins Sunset Handicap; 3-10 Favorite Algenib Injured

Laffit Pincay limped into the walking ring before the $266,100 Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park on Sunday, a reminder that he had been injured the day before in the accident that led to the death of Natural Nine, a 3-year-old colt, in the Swaps Stakes.

About 20 minutes later, Pincay was having the worst kind of flashbacks as he struggled to keep Algenib, the 3-10 favorite, in contention in the Sunset.

“Going to the half-mile pole, I could feel he wasn’t right and I said, ‘Oh, no, here we go again,’ ” Pincay said.

Unlike Natural Nine, who broke down with an eighth of a mile to go, Algenib was able to complete the course and actually finished ahead of one opponent, Berillon, in the five-horse field. But Pincay merely galloped Algenib through the stretch, and once past the finish line, the seriousness of Algenib’s problems became clear. The Argentine-bred had to be vanned off the track, a promising racing career ended.

The injury to Algenib overshadowed another Sunset victory for trainer Charlie Whittingham, who not only won the stake for the 11th time, but also saddled the 1-2 finishers when Qathif fought off Seven Rivers by a neck at the wire.

Alex Solis, whose only stakes victory of the season had been in mid-June, loaded up on the next-to-last day of the 67-day meeting. After his victory aboard Qathif, Solis returned three races later to ride Renegotiable to a half-length victory in the $91,900 Bel Air Handicap.

Solis, who ranked ninth on the national money list through last Sunday, has gone over the $5-million mark in purses for the year.

“It had been an up-and-down year,” said Jerry Moss, the record executive who races Qathif with his wife, Ann.

“But we’re winning races now, and this is the best week I’ve ever had. This is as good as it gets.”

Moss, who has about 20 horses in training, said that his stable has won four races at the Hollywood meeting with 2-year-olds, the most recent a six- length victory Saturday by the filly Zoonaqua, making her first start.

Another Moss runner, Altazarr, who broke his maiden by eight lengths five weeks ago, will run in the Hollywood Juvenile as the season ends today. The Moss-owned entry of Altazarr and Ecologist is the 4-5 morning-line favorite, but only Altazarr is expected to run.

The Mosses’ most treasured victory was when Ruhlmann won the 1990 Santa Anita Handicap. They bought Qathif, a son of Riverman and a grandson of Northern Dancer, at the end of his 3-year-old season, in 1990.

“He was a little sore when we got him,” Jerry Moss said. “He needed about a year of rest, and Charlie had the patience to take his time with him.”

Because about $68,000 of the $81,000 in the show pool was bet on Algenib, there were some strange payoffs when he failed to finish in the first three. Qathif’s mutuels were $13.80, $6 and $15.40; Seven Rivers, a 6-1 shot, paid $6 and $12; and Stark South, who went off at 11-1, finished about 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner and paid $20 to show.

Track veterinarian Ray Baran said that Algenib suffered ruptured ligaments in his right foreleg.

“They should be able to save him for (a career at stud),” Baran said. “I wouldn’t think surgery would be necessary. He should be able to heal with a cast and bandages.”

Trainer Ron McAnally, who has had success with the Argentine Bayakoa and Paseana, got Algenib last winter when the 5-year-old’s owners moved him from Wally Dollase’s barn after a last-place finish in the Santa Anita Handicap.

A high-strung horse, Algenib was behaving better for Pincay the only previous times McAnally saddled him, for a victory in an overnight handicap at Hollywood on May 16 and a victory in the Golden Gate Handicap on June 13.

On Sunday, Algenib stalked the pace that was set by Stark South, trailing by a length after a half-mile in the 1 1/2-mile race and moving to within a half-length with three-eighths of a mile left.

For Pincay, however, there was cause for alarm.

“He was feeling bad,” Pincay said. “He wasn’t comfortable. Then, about the quarter pole, I felt him starting to limp a little bit. So I just pulled him up. I feel exactly the same way I felt yesterday.”

Qathif, who earned $153,600 with a winning time of 2:26 3/5, came into the Sunset with only one victory in his last six starts. The last time he ran, going only a mile, he was a troubled fourth.

“He should have won,” Whittingham said. “He only got stopped about 40 times. I told Solis to ride him like he owned him, because it was going to be a very slow pace and if he runs off early, he can’t get the mile and a half.”

Qathif was last after three-quarters of a mile, but only 2 1/2 lengths from the front.

“I had good position,” Solis said. “At the five-sixteenths pole, I brought him out in the clear, and he started rolling. I asked him and he tried hard.”

Before the race, Solis was asked if the distance was within Qathif’s capabilities.

“I don’t know,” Solis said, “but I do know that we have the best trainer for this distance.”

Horse Racing Notes

Talking about his dry spell at Hollywood Park this season, Alex Solis said: “It’s very aggravating. You’ve got to keep working hard and keep going. You can’t stop to cry. It’s not going to help. Sooner or later, it’s got to turn around.” . . . Charlie Whittingham’s last Sunset winner was Swink in 1987 and his first was Cougar II in 1973. In between the his winners were Greco II, Caucasus, Exceller, Sirlad, Inkerman, Galaxy Libra, Erins Isle and Craelius. Starting in 1978, with Exceller, he won the Sunset six consecutive years. And Whittingham can recall another Sunset that barely slipped away. “I should have won it with Pretense (in 1967),” he said. “He was carrying 129 pounds, and just before we get to the wire, here comes (Bill) Shoemaker, on a horse carrying 109 pounds (Hill Clown), to beat us by a nose.” . . . Shoemaker rode six of Whittingham’s Sunset winners.

Music Prospector, who was scratched from the Bel Air Handicap, also was withdrawn from a $50,000 race Sunday at the Solano County Fair. . . . Renegotiable, the Bel Air winner under 113 pounds, the lightest weight in the field, ran for $32,000 claiming prices as a maiden. The 4-year-old colt, trained by Jack Van Berg, was bred by Joe Manzi, the late trainer, and races for Sandra Manzi, his widow, and her father, Harry Belles. . . . Corey Nakatani won three races, and his victory aboard Darryl’s Choice in the last race was the 29th of the meet for Bill Spawr, tying him with Bob Hess Jr. in the trainer standings. Hess has three starters today--To Be A Saros, Chispa Brava and Nat’s Sallie--and Spawr has two--Long Long Trail and Doncette Two.