HOLLYWOOD PARK : Paseana’s Chances in Vanity? Great, No Males Are Running

In discussing Paseana’s probable schedule for the rest of the year, trainer Ron McAnally said that it wouldn’t vary that much from last year’s, when the 6-year-old Argentine-bred mare won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and clinched an Eclipse Award.

There will, however, be one notable difference. The next time Paseana races against males, elephants will fly.

One of McAnally’s strong suits as a trainer is managing a horse’s career. Exhibit A is John Henry, who won two horse-of-the-year titles with McAnally calling the shots.

The way McAnally has brought Paseana to the races is another example, with that one exception last summer when he asked Paseana to beat males at Del Mar. Paseana ran fifth in the $1-million Pacific Classic, her worst finish since McAnally and her owners, Sidney and Jenny Craig, brought her up from Argentina at a cost of about $320,000 in 1991.

McAnally is still haunted by that decision to run at Del Mar.

“She was too feminine to go up against the boys,” he said this week. “She got sandwiched by those two studs (Missionary Ridge, who won the race, and Defensive Play, who finished second) and must have thought that they were taking her to the breeding shed.”

Paseana recovered from the experience nicely. About six weeks later, she finished second to Fowda in the Spinster at Keeneland. And on that afternoon she probably wasn’t at her best, having run off with a new exercise rider during a morning gallop the day before the race. Then she came back in October to win the Distaff convincingly at Gulfstream Park, after the Craigs had paid a supplementary fee of $120,000 to make her eligible for the race.

This year, after a couple of seconds at Santa Anita, Paseana is on another roll. In April, she toyed with a field at Oaklawn Park in Little Rock, Ark., winning the Apple Blossom Handicap for the second consecutive year. And at Hollywood Park, where she has never lost, regular jockey Chris McCarron rode her to a half-length victory in the Milady Handicap on June 12.

Paseana had also won the Milady last year, and McAnally isn’t about to try fixing a routine that isn’t broken. On Sunday, Paseana will try to win the 1 1/8-mile Vanity Handicap for the second consecutive time. A victory would make her the first distaffer to win the Milady and the Vanity in successive years. Horses have won one stake or the other twice, but none has had a four-bagger in two years’ time.

The field for Sunday’s $300,000 race includes Bold Windy, who will carry 114 pounds, 12 less than Paseana, but Gary Jones has no delusions.

“She’ll have to cut through the infield to beat that other mare,” Bold Windy’s trainer said.

Inside post positions are not good for speed-favoring horses at Hollywood, and Paseana broke from No. 1 in the Milady. This time, she drew better, getting the No. 4 hole. Southern Truce, who beat her by a head in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita last winter, drew the rail.

Southern Truce, who will be ridden by Corey Nakatani, has been assigned 114 pounds in the 10-horse field. From the fence out, the rest of the gate will consist of Pleasant Baby, with Sal Gonzalez Jr. riding at a weight of 113 pounds; Re Toss, Eddie Delahoussaye, 114; Paseana, McCarron, 126; Saros On The Town, David Flores, 112; Vieille Vigne, Joe Steiner, 113; Guiza, Kent Desormeaux, 113; Bold Windy, Corey Black, 114; Party Cited, Pat Valenzuela, 115; and Miss High Blade, Gary Stevens, 113. Several horses will carry extra poundage because their jockeys will be overweight.

With 10 victories in 15 starts in the United States and 15 triumphs in 23 starts and purses of $2.1 million overall, Paseana is undefeated in four Hollywood Park races.

“I don’t have the reason for it, but Hollywood has been a speed-bias track for the last seven or eight years,” McAnally said. “This year is no exception. Bertrando, a speed horse, almost stole the (Hollywood) Gold Cup, and that speed filly from Florida (Hollywood Wildcat) shipped in and won the (Hollywood) Oaks last weekend. There should be enough speed in the race to assure a legitimate pace. Paseana should be laying close, and we hope that she makes her move like she usually does.”

At the root of running Paseana last year in the Pacific Classic was building support in the horse-of-the-year balloting. Fillies frequently have to beat colts to have a chance at the national title. Instead, Paseana’s chances were irreparably damaged, and although she finished third in the vote, behind A.P. Indy and Best Pal, she was named on only 11 of the ballots.

This year, racing hasn’t had time to consider horse of the year, having been overwhelmed by a revolving door of horses of the week. In Thoroughbred Racing Communications’ informal national poll, Jovial was on top for several weeks, even though he hasn’t run since April. Devil His Due was also the leader for a while, and Star Of Cozzene shot to the top by winning a race at Atlantic City. Then Best Pal became the leader off only one victory, in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Paseana has been rated near the middle of the top 10 most of the season, in a position not far from Sky Beauty, the crack 3-year-old filly from New York. They might wind up in the same Santa Anita starting gate on Nov. 6, the day of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. That may not be a battle for horse of the year, but it could still upstage the males running in the Classic.

Horse Racing Notes

The last horse to win successive Vanity Handicaps was It’s In The Air in 1979-80. Before that, Convenience won the Vanity in 1972-73 and Annie-Lu-San was the winner in 1957-58. . . . The Vanity is the last major race of the season at Hollywood, which closes on July 26. . . . Pacific Squall, who was weighted at 118 pounds, eight less than Paseana, for the Vanity, has a fever and has been sidelined indefinitely.

California trainers are running horses in stakes that will be simulcast to Hollywood Park this weekend. Ian Jory is running Vying Victor in the Michigan Mile, a 1 1/8-mile race, at Detroit Race Course today. Richard Cross will saddle Silvered, and Bobby Frankel has entered Intelligently in Sunday’s Armour Handicap at Arlington International. . . . Today’s Bel Air Handicap was won in 1989 by the Neil Drysdale-trained Rahy, sire of the the colt that Kentucky Derby winner Genuine Risk foaled on May 15.