HOLLYWOOD PARK : Delahoussaye Ails, but Sardula Is in Top Form

Eddie Delahoussaye will be at Santa Anita this morning to work out some horses, and if he feels well afterward, he’ll go to Hollywood Park and ride for the first time since last Sunday.

Unable to shake the sinusitis that has been bothering him for several months, Delahoussaye has special incentive for wanting to ride this afternoon. One of his four mounts is Sardula in the $106,200 Princess Stakes.

With Phone Chatter, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Eclipse Award winner, yet to make her 3-year-old debut, Sardula and Lakeway are the top 3-year-old fillies in the country.

Handed her only loss by Sardula in the Kentucky Oaks, Lakeway re-established herself six days ago with a 4 1/2-length victory in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.

Perfect in two 1994 races and only two narrow losses to Phone Chatter away from being unbeaten in seven career starts, Sardula is the 1-2 favorite against four rivals in the 1 1/16-mile Princess, the prep for the July 10 Hollywood Oaks.

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss and trained by Brian Mayberry, the Storm Cat filly showed an extra dimension at Churchill Downs. After looking beaten when she dropped back while Lakeway was rallying on the outside, Sardula found renewed energy, came through along the inside and prevailed by a head after a memorable stretch battle.

Delahoussaye, who has ridden only 89 races through the first 39 days of the Hollywood Park meeting, hopes that he feels well enough to keep his date with Sardula. If he is unable to do so, Chris McCarron, who is approaching 6,000 victories, will substitute.

“I feel better, but I’ve said that before,” Delahoussaye said Friday morning. “It’s very frustrating that I can’t get rid of this.”

On his way out the door of the jockey’s room minutes before he was to ride Crown Sterling in Wednesday’s first race, Delahoussaye suddenly felt faint. He took himself off his mounts and went to the first-aid station.

“It scared the hell out of me,” he said. “They took my blood pressure and it was down. I drank some orange juice, laid down (for about 30 minutes) and my blood pressure was back to normal.

“I had been taking antibiotics for nine days, and my doctor (Peter Gabor) said my body probably couldn’t take any more. He took me off two (of the medications). There’s not much you can do right now. It’s frustrating when you take the pills and they work against you.”

Delahoussaye said he will see Gabor again Tuesday, and if his situation doesn’t get better, he will look for a different option.

“If this doesn’t straight out pretty soon, I’m going to go down to Scripps (Hospital in La Jolla),” he said. “They are the best equipped to deal with any kind of disease or infection.”

Sardula, meanwhile, is in peak condition. Mayberry has said she has done well since returning from Kentucky, and in her only other start at Hollywood Park, she won the Hollywood Starlet six months ago, surviving an inquiry.

“The difference this year is that she’s more relaxed,” said Delahoussaye, who has ridden the filly in all seven of her races. “She’s not as tense. She’s a lot more mature and (the Mayberry barn has) done a good job with her.”