Harmatz Returns to Saddle : Del Mar: Jockey, 62, who won the 1959 Preakness aboard Royal Orbit, rides Bear’s Pizazz in the ninth race.

Willie Mays was in center field. Cassius Clay was reciting poetry. Joe Namath was dropping back to pass. Wilt Chamberlain was hauling in a rebound.

And Bill Harmatz was riding thoroughbreds.

Harmatz doesn’t have the fame of his aforementioned contemporaries, but he won the 1959 Preakness Stakes aboard Royal Orbit. He rode the legendary Silky Sullivan when he rallied from 36 lengths behind to win. And he rode Round Table, perhaps the greatest horse of that generation, to victory in the 1958 Strub Stakes.

Harmatz rode again Monday at Del Mar. It was not a between-races exhibition. It was not a “rocking chair derby” for retired jockeys on retired horses. It was not waving from an open convertible.

Harmatz, 62, rode in the ninth race aboard a 7-year-old gelding, Bear’s Pizazz.

“Age is mind over matter,” he said. “This is kind of a kick in the pants. I can show senior citizens it can still be done.”

Winning the race was not the point, although he was very serious about trying to do so. Bear’s Pizazz went off at 47-1.

“I’ve got a one-run horse,” Harmatz said. “If he fires, fine. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. I know I won’t get much of anything out of him if I rush him. Maybe he’ll like the track. I’ll be really happy if I can get a piece of it.”

Bear’s Pizazz had been on enough tracks, or at least in enough races, to know what he liked and didn’t like. This was his 45th start. He had won eight, but hadn’t done a whole lot lately. He finished seventh.

Harmatz, who owns a bowling center in nearby Vista, started exercising horses during the 1992 Del Mar meeting at the urging of his old buddy Bill Shoemaker.

“I enjoy it,” he said. “It’s more fun not having to do it. And I’ll tell you, it’s a lot safer out there in the afternoons than it is in the morning. There are tons of horses out there in the morning going every which way, a lot being ridden by green exercise people.

“Actually,” he said, “Del Mar’s my vacation away from the bowling center.”

Harmatz was greeted from all sides on his walk to the paddock, posed for photographs and was applauded when he climbed aboard.

“Go get ‘em, Bill,” called a voice from one side.

“Ride the hell out of ‘em, Bill,” called a voice from the other.

One rider in the race, Laffit Pincay, had been around when Harmatz retired from race riding in 1971. Pincay now is 10 short of his 8,000th career victory.

When the horses went on the track for the ninth race, there was no announcement that No. 6, Bear’s Pizazz, was being ridden by a 62-year-old. It was business as usual.

Part of business as usual is that a 47-1 shot is much more often than not going to finish far back in the pack. Bear’s Pizazz made a little bit of his run, but not enough to get close to the leaders.

Harmatz was smiling when it was over.

“I got a lot of dirt in my face racing back there,” he said. “Would I do it again? I might. I didn’t get this much attention when I won the Preakness.”

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Ron McAnally has decided to send Let’s Elope and Johann Quatz to Chicago for the Beverly D and Arlington Million, respectively, on turf. Del Mar trainers have been uncertain about shipping to Arlington because of the equine virus there and the ban on horses returning to California from there. Trainers Paco Gonzalez (Bien Bien), Richard Mandella (Kotashaan) and Charlie Whittingham (Flawlessly) are still undecided.

Bill Shoemaker will present Whittingham for induction into the San Diego Hall of Fame at a luncheon Wednesday in the track’s Equus Skyroom. . . . Best Pal’s last workout for Saturday’s Pacific Classic will be this morning.

Laffit Pincay will skip the Pacific Classic, instead flying to Saratoga to ride Devoted Brass for trainer Noble Threewitt in the Travers.

Irish Linnet won the $90,150 Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga by 4 1/2 lengths. It was her second consecutive victory in the stake. Irish Linnet, ridden by Jose Santos, returned $5.00, $2.80 and $2.40. Azadeh paid $4.00 and $3.00 and Missymooiloveyou paid $3.20.