HOLLYWOOD PARK : Favored Paradise Creek Outlasts Bien Bien to Win Derby by Nose

As the horses neared the finish of Sunday’s $400,000 Hollywood Derby, Bert Firestone and his wife, Diana, quickly started for the winner’s circle.

“I’m an optimistic owner,” Bert Firestone said, but when he and his trainer, Bill Mott, stood trackside and watched a stretch-run replay of the 1 1/8-mile grass race, they weren’t as certain that their Paradise Creek had held off Bien Bien.

Pat Day, the rider of favored Paradise Creek, also had his doubts. “I saw the other horse coming,” Day said. “I thought he had got by me.”

For Chris McCarron, a victory by Bien Bien would have ended his 17-race winless streak in the stake. But when the photo was developed, Paradise Creek had won by a nose.

“Almost doesn’t count,” said McCarron, who has been second six times in the Hollywood Derby, including the last three runnings. Last year, when the race was split into divisions, McCarron was second with Native Boundary and Bistro Garden as Eddie Delahoussaye swept the day with Eternity Star and Olympio.

The Firestones know about being second in the Hollywood Derby, too. The Virginia couple, who won an Eclipse Award in 1980 after their filly, Genuine Risk, won the Kentucky Derby, saw their Executive Pride finish a neck behind Procida in 1984 in a division of the Hollywood Derby.

Sunday’s renewal of the race wasn’t run the way Day had expected. “I thought we’d be third early,” Day said, “behind Blacksburg and Bidding Proud.”

Blacksburg was the pace-setter for a half-mile in a brisk 45 3/5, but he faded as Paradise Creek took over. What was going through Diana Firestone’s mind then was a race that her colt had won at Saratoga in August. “He was in front all the way that day,” she said.

At the top of the stretch on Sunday, Paradise Creek still had the lead. Some of the late runners couldn’t open up because of the congestion. “My horse (Modernise) should have won in a gallop,” trainer Bobby Frankel said. “He passed eight horses in the last sixteenth of a mile and still only got beat a nose or so for third.”

Paradise Creek has never lost when ahead at the eighth pole. “He seemed more anxious today,” said Day, who had ridden him the first time when they were second to the front-running Lure in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“He was already into the bridle when we warmed up. Then I had a hard time talking him out of it (going to the front). He was all out at the finish and starting to tire. My hope was that the wire would get there before the other horse did.”

This was Bien Bien’s best race since he won the Swaps Stakes on dirt at Hollywood Park in late July. After that, trainer Paco Gonzalez took him out of town with disastrous results, last-place finishes in the Travers at Saratoga and as the favorite in the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. Back in California, and returning to the grass surface that he prefers, Bien Bien was a close third in the Volante Handicap at Santa Anita a month ago.

“He was training great for this race, but we just had no luck,” Gonzalez said. “Gary Stevens (aboard Major Impact) shut him off as he was making his move. He had to check really bad and then tried to make another run. We tried to get him to split the field early, but then he got shut off at the break. If we had had a little luck, we would have won the race easy, because a jump after the wire he was going by like nothing. It was a tough one.”

Paradise Creek’s time was 1:47 1/5, four-fifths of a second slower than the stakes record. Bien Bien finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Kitwood, and less than a length separated him from the next five finishers--Shanghai, Major Impact, Modernise, River Majesty and Siberian Summer.

Paradise Creek, who has five victories and three seconds in nine starts, ran fourth in the Hopeful at Saratoga, the only time he has raced on dirt. Paying $5 Sunday, Paradise Creek earned $220,000 for the Firestones, who bred him through a mating of Irish River and North Of Eden. The dam of North Of Eden, Tree Of Knowledge, also produced Threatrical, who won the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Hollywood Park while racing in a stormy partnership involving the Firestones and Allen Paulson. Day rode Theatrical to that victory and Mott trained the horse.

“When he was a 2-year-old, I thought he was as good a horse as I’d had in a long time,” Mott said of Paradise Creek. “I made the comment several times that he was the best 2-year-old I’d ever had, and I still think that’s true.”

Paradise Creek will be sent back to Florida to prepare for a campaign as a 4-year-old. The Eastern-based Mott, 39, has brought another horse to California, Paulson’s Fraise, for the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 13. Fraise, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Sky Classic are leading contenders for the male grass title. That’s the championship that Theatrical won for Mott in 1987.

Horse Racing Notes

A.P. Indy has reportedly been retired and will be headed for his first breeding season next year at Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky. . . . Jockey David Flores was released from a hospital Sunday after treatment for injuries suffered in a three-horse spill Saturday. Flores suffered a concussion and facial cuts and is not expected to resume riding until next weekend.