SANTA ANITA : Delahoussaye Gets Hall of Fame Credential With 5,000th Victory

Eddie Delahoussaye joined one exclusive club Wednesday at Santa Anita and membership in another could be forthcoming.

When 2-1 favorite Ackler won the fifth race, Delahoussaye became the 14th rider to win 5,000 races, and the milestone might help him get elected to racing’s Hall Of Fame.

Ballots were mailed out recently to 100 turf writers around the United States, and Delahoussaye is again on the list of jockeys. Results will be announced on April 19.

“One of these days, they’ll put me in there,” he said. “I feel like I’ve achieved quite a lot in my career. My feeling is I’m just as good as any of the top riders.”

After moving to within one victory of 5,000 on Sunday, Delahoussaye won with the second of his six mounts. He got a head start toward 6,000 with two more victories. The 41-year-old Louisiana native won the seventh with Stan’s Natti and the ninth on Frequent Flyer.

Trained by Daniel Smithwick and owned by Jack Kent Cooke, Ackler, a 4-year-old Ack Ack gelding, was fifth after a half-mile in the turf sprint, got the lead in the stretch and went on to beat Patriotaki, a 14-1 shot, by a half-length.

Delahoussaye had ridden Ackler and Patriotaki in their last races, and he made the right choice Wednesday.

“At least, I picked the right one,” he said. “I told (agent) Terry (Lipham) to stick with this one because he has some speed and he’s bred for the grass.”

Weighing out after the victory, Delahoussaye was hit with cups of water by Chris McCarron and David Flores. “It tasted pretty good, too,” he said. “I opened my mouth and caught some of it.”

He was then joined in the winner’s circle by Santa Anita President Cliff Goodrich, who presented him with a sign commemorating the occasion. Delahoussaye was joined by his wife, Juanita, his mother-in-law and her husband.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “Ten years ago, I was hoping to reach 3,000 (victories). Then, I got to 4,000, and I didn’t think it would continue. It seems like I get better as I get older.

“It’s a great achievement for myself. I’m not looking for 6,000, but if it happens, it happens. Mentally, I feel better now than I did 10 years ago. I was in limbo then. I wasn’t into the game as much as I am now.

“In the last five years, since I got together with Terry, we’ve done great together and we’ve worked hard. Things have worked out fine and he’s done a great job.”

The other riders to surpass 5,000 victories are Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Angel Cordero, Jorge Velasquez, Larry Snyder, John Longden, David Gall, Sandy Hawley, Carl Gambardella, McCarron, Pat Day, Earlie Fires and Jacinto Vasquez. Eight of the thirteen--Shoemaker, Pincay, Cordero, Velasquez, Longden, Hawley, McCarron and Day--are in the Hall of Fame.

Even if filly Eliza--an impressive winner in the Santa Anita Oaks last Sunday--skips the Santa Anita Derby, owner Allen Paulson won’t be without a chance to win the April 3 race for the second time in three years.

Corby, a rapidly improving son of Dahar, is Paulson’s hope, and the colt will meet some California’s leading 3-year-olds--River Special and Personal Hope, to be specific--in the $200,000 San Felipe Stakes on Sunday.

With San Rafael Stakes winner Devoted Brass and the quality sprinter Denmars Dream also scheduled to be in the field, the 1 1/16 mile San Felipe figures to be the strongest race for 3-year-olds run this year before the Triple Crown events.

Sadler agrees with such an assessment and is anxious to see how Corby, who has won three of his seven starts and has been worse than third only once, does against the big boys.

“This will give us a good gauge,” he said. “I think the Derby favorite will come out of there. I think it’s a test to see how he fits with these. We’d like to see him running well at the end (Sunday) because it’s going to be to our advantage when they go farther.”

Bred in Kentucky by Paulson, Corby comes off the best race of his career. Against six allowance rivals, he breezed home by five lengths on Feb. 10 in a race that was scheduled to be run on the grass, but was moved to the main track. He ran the last quarter in 24 3/5 and wasn’t asked for his best late by Pat Valenzuela.

“I really don’t know what he had behind him, but we like the way he did it,” Sadler said. “We’re happy where we’re at with him, and he’s coming up to this race well.

“His work on Monday (seven furlongs in 1:29) was OK. The track was bad and he didn’t go as fast as I wanted, but I think he got enough out of it. Since Saturday, the track’s been ugly and I didn’t work anything (Tuesday or Wednesday). All the works on Monday were horrible, so I pretty much wrote the work off to the track. We’ll just gallop him up to the race.”

River Special also worked seven furlongs Monday morning at Santa Anita, but he went in 1:26 4/5 with regular rider Kent Desormeaux aboard.

“We were pleased, but not ecstatic with his work,” trainer Bob Hess said . “He was pretty tired afterward, even more than usual. We expect a good race from him Sunday, but nowhere near his best. The main thing is that he gets something out of it.”

Scheduled to run in the San Rafael, River Special skipped the race after coming down with a fever, and the San Felipe will be his first start since he won the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 20.

Horse Racing Notes

Likeable Style, who suffered her first loss as the favorite in the Santa Anita Oaks on Sunday, bled in the race and was also a little sore afterward. “The bleeding was moderate,” said Gary Mandella, son and assistant trainer to Richard Mandella. “We’ll keep a close eye on her.” . . . Corey Nakatani had two winners Wednesday.