HORSE RACING / DEL MAR : On to Chicago for Tight Spot

Tight Spot, fourth as the 3-2 favorite in Sunday’s $322,250 Eddie Read Handicap, will run in the Arlington Million on Sept. 6 at Arlington Park near Chicago.

“As far as I can tell, he’s going to Arlington,” trainer Ron McAnally said.

Tight Spot had not raced since March 21, and during the layoff caused by a bruised hoof, there was talk that McAnally would retire last year’s turf champion. But McAnally said there no longer is any such thought.

McAnally said Tight Spot was victimized by several factors, including his weight assignment, in the Eddie Read. Tight Spot, winner of last year’s Eddie Read, carried high weight of 125 pounds. Winner Marquetry carried 118 pounds.

“I have no idea why he was carrying 125 pounds,” McAnally said. “They were basing their opinions on last year’s performance, but like I’ve been saying, Mike Tyson was the heavyweight champ of the world last year. What has he done this year? . . . I’m sure the people assigning weights do the best they can, but that was a terrible mistake.”

At the start of the 1 1/8-mile Eddie Read, none of the handicaps appeared to affect Tight Spot as jockey Laffit Pincay immediately took him to the rail and battled for the lead until the final eighth. But the long layoff, the weight and the day’s heat and humidity began to take their toll and Pincay eased up.

“He got awfully tired,” McAnally said. “After the race, the water just poured off of him.”

Marquetry also will enter the Arlington Million, as will Golden Pheasant, fifth in the Eddie Read. But this time McAnally’s entry won’t have a weight disadvantage--all runners in the Million will carry 126 pounds.

Mario Kow, the architect of Del Mar’s new grandstand who has been taking heat for supporting the two upper decks with 13 wide columns that block the view of some spectators, was thanked for those same posts about 20 minutes before Monday’s first race. That’s when shock waves from a temblor centered near Big Bear hit the new structure.

Handicappers and party-goers on the top deck could feel the building rock for about 10 seconds.

“That’s why we have those columns,” Kow said. “It kind of swayed, but to tell you the truth, I hardly felt it.”

Kent Desormeaux, the meeting’s leading jockey, is scheduled to ride the early favorites in both of Saturday’s features, the $60,000-added Real Good Deal Stakes and the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Breeders’ Cup Handicap. Desormeaux will ride J.F. Williams in the former and She’s Tops in the latter.

J.F. Williams worked six furlongs in 1:12 Sunday for new trainer Ron McAnally, and She’s Tops has four victories and a third in eight starts.

Horse Racing Notes

Paul Atkinson, riding at Del Mar for the first time, has been enjoying success with several longshots during the meeting. In Monday’s second race, he won on Empress Eliza, which paid $157 on a $2 bet. . . . Only Yours, which edged My Song For You in the eighth race and paid $3.80, could not make it to the winner’s circle because of an injury. The 4-year-old filly had to be carted off the track. . . . Jockey Laffit Pincay won the fourth, fifth and seventh races for his first triple of the meeting. It was the 15th time a jockey has won at least three races in the meeting’s first 18 days.