HOLLYWOOD PARK : River Special Wins the Futurity by Five, Looks Kentucky-Bound

In the Hollywood Park paddock Sunday, the work crew numbered four helpers from Bob Hess’ barn and the trainer himself. Hess took off his suit coat to tend to River Special.

“I had trained him by working him longer and slower, which is the way it was early in his career,” Hess said.

“That figured to put more energy in him. We knew we’d be in trouble saddling. In fact, we saddled him on the run. But I loved every minute of it.”

River Special then ran off with the $500,000 Hollywood Futurity, beating previously undefeated Stuka by five lengths with a wire-to-wire performance and planting Kentucky Derby thoughts in the heads of his owners, John and Betty Mabee.

First run in 1981, the Futurity has been an assembly line for horses that have done well in the Triple Crown series.

Three non-winning Futurity horses--Gato Del Sol, Ferdinand and Alysheba--won the Derby, and the Hollywood race has also been a launching pad for A.P. Indy, this year’s Belmont winner, and Snow Chief and Tank’s Prospect, both of whom won the Preakness.

River Special, a son of Riverman and Nijinska Street, a Nijinsky II mare, had barely been led away from the winner’s circle before the Mabees and Hess began thinking out loud about the colt’s opportunities next year at Santa Anita.

A tentative schedule calls for only two races, the one-mile San Rafael on Feb. 27 and the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby on April 3, before River Special would head for Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

“This was the best race he’s run,” John Mabee said. “He might be good enough (for his handlers) to start worrying about the Kentucky Derby. I’m very optimistic right now, even though I know we’ve got Gilded Time and the Santa Anita Derby to get through.”

Undefeated Gilded Time, whose four-race career began at Hollywood Park with a maiden victory last June, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Gilded Time and the Mabees’ colt battled through a long stretch drive at Gulfstream Park before River Special wound up third, beaten by 1 1/4 lengths.

“I might not have trained my horse right for the Breeders’ Cup,” Hess said Sunday.

“The pressure could have gotten to me, and I might have tried to have him too fit, and maybe I was too hard on him. Who knows? Maybe he was just outrun, but I know he wasn’t at his best in Florida. Nobody outran him today.”

Ridden for the first time by Laffit Pincay, who got the mount because Kent Desormeaux is injured, River Special paid $4.60 as the second betting choice, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 1/5, two-fifths of a second slower than A.P. Indy’s winning time last year.

“He went 46 (seconds) for the half-mile, but it felt like he was just breezing,” Pincay said.

“I was hoping nobody surprised me and passed us, because he felt like he was just galloping around. The whole way, he was looking around.

“I didn’t want to see anybody coming to me, but I believe if somebody came close, he’d have gone on again.”

After second-place finishes in two maiden races, River Special won the Del Mar Futurity and was a six-length winner of the Norfolk at Santa Anita in October, his last start before the Breeders’ Cup. Sunday’s victory was worth $275,000, increasing his earnings to $663,900.

Hess was encouraged by the way River Special came back after Sunday’s race, showing little sign of the breathing problem that he has had because of an inoperable throat condition.

“He had only a touch of noise today,” Hess said. “Just a couple of gurgles. After the Norfolk and the Del Mar race, you could hear him a mile away.

“We hope most of this is behind him. We won’t ignore it, but we’re hoping that he’s worked his way out of it.”

Stuka, sent off at 6-5, finished seven lengths ahead of Earl of Barking in the six-horse field. Stuka beat maidens and won the Hollywood Prevue Breeders’ Cup Stakes by three lengths in his only previous starts.

“At the five-sixteenths pole, he kind of took a deep breath like he might have gotten tired or might have had his epiglottis trapped,” said Pat Valenzuela, who rode Stuka.

“He ran good for the first time around two turns. He might have gotten a little tired. I wasn’t where I wanted to be, I wanted to be laying second (instead of fourth).

“I got shuffled around going around the first turn. The outside horse (Codified) put a little pressure on us, and the inside horse (Boating Pleasure) was getting out. That didn’t help our position at all.”

Trainer Gary Jones said he was concerned about the breathing difficulty Valenzuela reported. “If I had to do it over, I’d probably tell Pat to just send him,” Jones said.

Horse Racing Notes

Owners John and Betty Mabee won the 1990 Futurity with Best Pal, who is scheduled to resume racing at Santa Anita in late January or early February. . . . Bob Hess saddled two other winners on the card, giving him 17 for the meeting. With two racing days remaining, Wednesday and Thursday, Hess leads Ron McAnally by three winners. Since Hollywood Park began running fall meetings in 1981, the record for training victories during the track’s short season is 18, set by Charlie Whittingham in 1986. . . . Jockey Laffit Pincay’s previous Futurity victory was with Tejano in 1987.