DEL MAR : Phone Chatter, Kotashaan Give Mandella Shot at Stakes Sweep

Richard Mandella is not prepared to classify Kotashaan as the best horse he has ever trained.

“I might be prejudiced, but I say it’s Phone Trick,” the 42-year-old Mandella said this week at his barn office here.

Phone Trick was to sprinting what Kotashaan is to turf racing. In 1985 and 1986, Phone Trick won nine consecutive races for Mandella before suffering an ankle injury while running a game second to Groovy, who had a 14-pound weight advantage, in the Tom Fool Stakes at Belmont Park.

Back home at Santa Anita, Mandella thought Phone Trick’s problems were behind him, but he broke down during a workout, and although saved for a career as a stallion, he was unable to redeem himself in the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Smile beat 2-5 favorite Groovy to win the Sprint, which was run at Santa Anita, and was voted the Eclipse Award for best sprinter. Phone Trick, who finished second in the balloting, had won more stakes for the year.

“Phone Trick was better than Smile,” Mandella says now. “We had beaten Smile. Maybe I didn’t do enough campaigning after my horse got hurt.”

Mandella is enjoying a fine season at Del Mar and nationally, with more than $3.2 million in purses. That figure would increase substantially if Phone Chatter wins today’s Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies and Kotashaan wins Sunday’s Del Mar Handicap. Both are $250,000 races.

Phone Chatter, a daughter of Phone Trick, broke her maiden at Hollywood Park in her second start, then convincingly won the Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 14. Two of the fillies she beat that day, Noassemblyrequired and Becky’s Appeal, will get another shot at Phone Chatter today.

“I’ve had a few Phone Tricks from time to time,” Mandella said, “but nothing like this filly. She could be a very good one.”

Kotashaan, the high weight at 123 pounds, will face six opponents Sunday in the Del Mar Handicap, at 1 3/8 miles on turf. Entries, drawn Friday, produced this lineup:

Stark South, with Corey Nakatani riding, 113 pounds; Corrupt, Corey Black, 113; Beyton, Gary Stevens, 115; Myrakalu, Chris McCarron, 113; Luazur, Pat Day, 116; Campagnarde, Alex Solis, 112; and Kotashaan, Kent Desormeaux, 123. Mandella also trains Beyton. Bien Bien, another grass standout who was unable to beat Kotashaan twice at Santa Anita this year, would have been the second high weight, at 122 pounds. But his trainer, Paco Gonzalez, wasn’t happy with the weight assignment and his colt will go to Belmont, to run against Fraise, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, in the Man o’ War Stakes on Sept. 18.

Mandella’s goal is the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 6. After he won three stakes at Santa Anita, capped by the 1 3/4-mile San Juan Capistrano Handicap on April 18, Mandella gave Kotashaan the entire Hollywood Park season to recover. Then, after Kotashaan’s streak was stretched to four with his victory in the Eddie Read Handicap here on Aug. 8, Mandella planned to run him in the Arlington Million in suburban Chicago last Sunday. But an outbreak of a virus there discouraged him from shipping. Bien Bien stayed home, too.

Mandella would have appreciated a phone call that trainer Ron McAnally received from an Arlington track official at his Del Mar barn this week. McAnally’s Johann Quatz ran third in the Million and his Let’s Elope was first, but was disqualified to third, in the $500,000 Beverly D Stakes the day before. McAnally was told there might be a delay in his horses’ blood tests, creating the possibility that they might not rejoin him in California for longer than the 14 post-race days that were originally promised because of the virus.

“The two weeks was only one of the concerns I had before we decided to stay here (with Kotashaan),” Mandella said. “My big worry was the horse actually catching the virus.”

Del Mar needed an attraction such as Kotashaan for Sunday’s race. Campagnarde is a mare trying to beat males, and Stark South was third in this race a year ago, but the second high weight after Kotashaan is Luazur, who hadn’t won a stake until the $81,825 Escondido Handicap here on Aug. 14.

For a final Breeders’ Cup prep, Mandella has one of two races in mind for Kotashaan: The $500,000 Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 9 or the $300,000 Oak Tree Invitational at Santa Anita the next day.

“It’s nice to have an option, in case something happens,” Mandella said.

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Nakatani rode four winners Friday, but another Corey--Black--was aboard as Kingdom of Spain scored a come-from-behind win in the feature race. . . . Aaron Gryder, who was planning to leave Chicago and return to California for the Hollywood Park season that opens on Nov. 17, will be back Monday, to ride Blues Traveler in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby. Trainer Rodney Rash was left without a jockey when Laffit Pincay kept the assignment on Devoted Brass. Gryder moved East from California in 1989 and is currently riding at Arlington International. Blues Traveler won only one of eight starts in Europe, but was third in the Epsom Derby. . . . There is a Southland flavor to today’s $100,000 Hillsborough Handicap for fillies and mares at Bay Meadows, with Miss Turkana and Southern Truce the standouts in the nine-horse field. . . . Fanatic Boy, winner of the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, will switch back to grass Monday for the $100,000 San Francisco Handicap at Bay Meadows.

Before his current winning streak, Kotashaan lost three consecutive races to Star Of Cozzene, winner of the Arlington Million. Star Of Cozzene is not eligible for the Breeders’ Cup and his owners haven’t decided whether they will supplement him for the Turf at a cost of $240,000. . . . Kotashaan has won five of 10 starts for Mandella after winning three of eight in Europe. Charlie Whittingham, who will saddle Campagnarde Sunday, has won the Del Mar Handicap seven times, first with Scotland in 1961 and most recently with Live The Dream in 1990. The last time a horse won the stake with a weight as high as Kotashaan’s 123 pounds was Go West Young Man in 1980.