DEL MAR : River Special Takes Turn for the Better in Futurity

River Special was a maiden and had been beaten by Seattle Sleet in his last start. But the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity is a two-turn mile, not a six-furlong sprint, and River Special was clearly the best at the finish Wednesday, defeating Sudden Hush by 1 3/4 lengths with Seattle Sleet running third, four lengths behind the winner.

The Futurity was the closing-day highlight of Del Mar’s 53rd season, which introduced a new grandstand as part of the seaside track’s $80-million rebuilding program. Most of the project will be completed by the start of next season, with Del Mar President Joe Harper promising fans that the fat pillars in the grandstand will be slightly slimmer because of relaxed fire-hazard regulations.

A crowd of 18,320 attended Wednesday’s windup, and those that cashed tickets on River Special may have actually preferred Devil Diamond, the stakes-winning half of the entry that John and Betty Mabee ran. Devil Diamond, who had given Kent Desormeaux, Del Mar’s riding champion, two victories earlier in the meet, won the Balboa Stakes on Aug. 28. In the Futurity, however, Devil Diamond had no finishing kick and settled for fourth place in a field of seven.

River Special, the first maiden to win the Futurity since Go West Young Man in 1977, ran a determined race, but his time of 1:36 3/5 was the slowest for a winner of the stake since Roving Boy’s 1:38 4/5 in 1982. Under Chris McCarron, River Special battled Seattle Sleet for the lead through brisk early fractions, shook off that rival as they straightened for home, and, while appearing to tire in the stretch, was still never threatened.

“If he tired, it was because he was giving me 110%,” McCarron said. “He’s still a little green. He was gawking a bit and looking around in the lane. But he did the job. I like him a lot.”

Bred in Kentucky by the Mabees, River Special is a son of Riverman and Nijinska Street, a Nijinsky II mare. The Mabees, who won the Eclipse Award for best breeder last year, also won the Futurity in 1990 with Best Pal, another horse they bred.

River Special began his career on June 13 at Hollywood Park, losing by a nose in a five-furlong race. Off his second to Seattle Sleet on Aug. 22, trainer Bob Hess was inclined to keep the colt in maiden company, but John Mabee suggested that they run him in tandem with Devil Diamond in the Futurity.

“Mr. Mabee was a bit wiser than me today,” said Hess, who won his second consecutive Del Mar training title. “I’m glad he picked this spot. I’m always conservative, but he was 100% right.”

River Special, paying $4.60 to win as the second choice behind the 7-5 Seattle Sleet, earned $137,500. He broke from the inside post, in front of the crowd, and while waiting for the other horses to be loaded, he acted up and was unloaded from the gate, with McCarron dismounting before they were put back in.

“I think the crowd got him excited,” Hess said. “He’s been a good gate horse, but the first time going long, the first time in front of the crowd, it got him a little excited.”

Seattle Sleet’s victory over River Special was the only start for the $270,000 Seattle Slew yearling. “I think I lost the race one jump out of the gate,” jockey Gary Stevens said. “He broke just a tad slow, and I had to ask him to get back in there. Then he wanted to run off with me. He was rank as could be the first quarter-mile. I took a lot out of him taking a hold, trying to get him to slow down. The race will help make him a better horse. He’s a good one already, but he’ll be better.”

Sudden Hush had won two in a row, including the Graduation Stakes in his last start, but all of his three starts were around one turn. In the Futurity, he was in fourth place under Pat Valenzuela early and put in a mild rally for second money of $50,000.

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Kent Desormeaux, who had one winner Wednesday, finished with 68 victories, 11 more than runnerup Gary Stevens and the highest total for a Del Mar champion since Laffit Pincay’s 76 in 1979. Bill Shoemaker set the record with 94 in 1954.

Desormeaux had seven three-victory days, and twice he won four races in a day. He also leads the country in purses, with more than $10 million.

Desormeaux had been riding both Devil Diamond and River Special, but stayed with Devil Diamond for the Futurity. McCarron rode River Special in his first start.

Pincay, a five-time riding champ here, finished eighth in this season’s standings with 25 victories. Three of them came Wednesday, when he won a stake and survived a spill.

Pincay rode Interactive to victory in the Torrey Pines Stakes, which was the sixth race; and in the next race his mount, Misty Wonder, swerved to the left from the inside post leaving the gate, dumped Pincay and ran off. Pincay didn’t have a mount in the Futurity, then returned in the ninth race to win with Cee’s Stanza.

Bob Hess, who won the training title a year ago with 18 victories, had 22 this time, winning with one out of every four starts. John Sadler finished second in the standings with 14 victories, two more than Bill Spawr.

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Last year, Del Mar’s overall business, counting off-track, was No. 1 in the country with daily averages of 37,072 in attendance and $7.8 million in handle.

This season, overall attendance was off 4.6%, with the on-track average of 14,998 being down 7.2%.

The betting at Del Mar averaged $2.6 million per day, which was almost 10% under last year’s figure. Overall, betting was down 1.4% from last year.

“I’m pretty happy, overall,” Del Mar president Joe Harper said. “We did very well, considering the devastating things that have happened to the economy and after looking at what’s happen to the business at other tracks. What really helped us was that we increased our out-of-state sites, and they produced $34 million in handle. A year ago, that total was $16 million.”

Horse Racing Notes

The Del Mar stewards have placed jockey Martin Pedroza on probation for misuse of his whip, indicating that another similar violation could result in a suspension. Steward Ingrid Fermin said that Pedroza, who has had other whip violations, caused an eye injury to a horse trained by Dave Hudson in a race on Sept. 3. Pedroza told the stewards that he struck the horse out of “frustration.” . . . Favorites won 36% of the races at Del Mar, the highest winning percentage since 1978.