HOLLYWOOD PARK : Ashby Quickly Makes Mark With Arabians

Lynette Ashby is continually raising her goals for PL Cavalier.

The colt is unbeaten in four Southern California starts this summer, beat older Arabian horses in August at Hollywood Park and has two stakes victories of 16 1/2 and 10 lengths.

The latest stake victory was in last Friday’s $25,000 California Arabian Cup Juvenile Stakes at Hollywood Park. The runaway victory, under a hand ride by jockey Ralph Pauline, stamps PL Cavalier the favorite in next month’s Drinkers of the Wind Futurity.

Many Arabian trainers and owners have pointed horses for the October stakes at Hollywood Park because of the prize money. Although the purses are estimated, the $160,000 Drinkers of the Wind Futurity for 3-year-old colts and geldings Oct. 17 and the $150,000 Daughters of the Desert Futurity the day before will be the two richest races in Arabian history. The biggest previous purse was $100,000 for the Black Heath Cup at Bay Meadows in 1988.

PL Cavalier first raced last May at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., and lost to TC Tomahawk. He is five for five since, though, and has surprised Ashby, 23.

“He can make anybody look good,” she said. “He’s a trainer’s dream. I knew he was a nice colt but I didn’t know how good.”

In Friday’s race, run at six furlongs, the same distance as the Drinkers of the Wind Futurity, PL Cavalier ran in the middle of the pack down the backstretch, challenged the leaders on the turn and drew away easily in the stretch. The victory--in 1:19 1/5--was over six horses shipped to Hollywood Park especially for the race.

“It went pretty smooth,” Pauline said. “I picked him up five-sixteenths (of a mile from the finish) and decided to go around the leaders. He’s a stretch runner.”

In the last few years, Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park have become centers of Arabian racing, joining Delaware Park, where many of the nation’s top horses still race. Here, Arabians compete in three or four races a night between quarter horse races. It has been a good arrangement, since the number of racing quarter horses has declined recently in Southern California.

Arabians do not race at 2 but start at 3 or 4. Consequently, many race for several years.

Ashby may also have one of the leading contenders for the Daughters of the Desert Futurity, FMR Hadassah, a 3-year-old filly who won her fourth race in six starts in Friday’s California Arabian Cup Fillies Juvenile Stakes. She won easily, also under Pauline, running six furlongs in a record-tying 1:18 2/5.

“The filly ran like I thought she could,” Pauline said. “She worked better (recently) than (PL Cavalier) but PL Cavalier’s not a workhorse, he’s a racehorse.

PL Cavalier and FMR Hadassah are owned by brother Falah and Tahnoon Bin Zayed, 21 and 23, respectively. They are from Abu Dhabi and both attend Southland universities. Tahnoon came to the United States on vacation a few years ago and decided to go to school here.

Falah also owns Oh By Gosh, a 5-year-old gelding who won the $30,000 California Arabian Cup Open last Saturday. Oh By Gosh is trained by Bill Waldron, who owns Tinkkerbell, a 3-year-old filly who won the $50,000 Gladys Brown Edwards Memorial Arabian Cup Distaff but is not eligible for the Daughters of the Desert Futurity.

A third brother, Mansoor Bin Zayed, owns TC Tomahawk, who is expected here by the end of the week with trainer Yancey Carter, who last October won two stakes at Los Alamitos. Besides being the only horse to have beaten PL Cavalier, TC Tomahawk won two stakes at Delaware Park this summer.

Both PL Cavalier and FMR Hadassah came out of Friday’s races om good shape and will race next in the trials for the futurities on Oct. 1.

“I’m dreading (the trials) but I’m looking forward to them,” Ashby said. “When you have a horse that wins consecutively, it gets tougher each time.”

Ashby entered the Hollywood Park meeting 13th in the nation in victories by a trainer. Her goal is to be the nation’s leading trainer by the end of the year but her stable includes only nine horses.

Ashby worked for thoroughbred and quarter horse trainers before setting out on her own in 1989. At the Los Alamitos meeting earlier this year, she was fifth in the Arabian standings.

“I want to be the youngest leading trainer,” she said.

Hollywood Park Notes

Saturday’s 12th race was canceled because of a power failure just before post time. The stewards decided it wasn’t worth the wait for the lights, which take several minutes to reach full power. The 870-yard quarter horse race was for $1,600 claimers.

Shawnes Diamond, who won the Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Handicap on Saturday, is being pointed to the Go Man Go Handicap next month at Hollywood Park, instead of the Breeders Championship Classic. . . . Thursday’s program includes trials for the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Assn. Breeders Futurity and Derby. The futurity finals are Oct. 3, the derby the next night.