HOLLYWOOD PARK : Mandella’s Pain Soothed by Corrazona

Trainer Richard Mandella’s strategy is clear. To compensate for the big one that got away, he is going to win the little ones.

The $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup eluded the trainer Saturday when Arcangues ran last. The winner, Slew Of Damascus, beat Arcangues by more than 10 lengths.

But later on the Gold Cup card at Hollywood Park, Mandella’s Chilean sprinter, Memo, won the $107,400 Triple Bend Handicap. And Sunday, longshot Corrazona won the $323,400 Beverly Hills Handicap,

“Whatever I’m doing with Memo and Corrazona, I must not be doing the same thing with the other horse,” Mandella said.

Corrazona, carrying 119 pounds, five less than the Eclipse Award-winning co-high weights, Hollywood Wildcat and Flawlessly, won by a neck under Gary Stevens, who also rode Slew Of Damascus to victory in the Gold Cup.

Said trainer Charlie Whittingham, hoping to win the Beverly Hills for the third consecutive year with Flawlessly: “(Flawlessly) was the best horse today. The best horse easy. But she couldn’t get through, so what are you going to do? That’s horse racing.”

Flawlessly, the champion female turf horse the last two years, was in fourth place most of the way, never far back in the 1 1/8-mile race. But leaving the far turn the 6-year-old mare’s jockey, Chris McCarron, found himself on the rail, trapped by one horse on the outside and behind a wall of three others directly in front.

Belatedly, McCarron found room on the fence in the final sixteenth of a mile. “It was just one of those unlucky trips,” McCarron said. “We never got out. I rode her poorly last time, but I just didn’t have any luck this time.”

Hollywood Wildcat, champion 3-year-old filly last year, had problems at the start Sunday and was next to last for the first half-mile.

“(An assistant starter) grabbed her in the gate to settle her and then she stayed in there too long,” jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said. “Then she broke flat-footed and got squeezed. But at the head of the stretch, I still thought I was going to win it. She just got a little tired.”

Winner of her first two U.S. starts, Corrazona was timed in 1:47 2/5, two-fifths of a second slower than Flawlessly’s times the last two years. Corrazona, who had a record of three victories in eight starts in France, paid $16 and earned $188,400.

In France, Corrazona had perhaps been running poorly last year because of pulmonary bleeding, which can’t be treated with race-day medication under European rules.

“Did I get her because of that?” Mandella said. “I didn’t ask why. When those people want to send me a horse, I just make sure the door is open.”

*

Track chairman R.D. Hubbard was pleased with the opening of the $25-million Hollywood Casino on Friday night, but on Saturday horse attendance and betting were off considerably compared to recent Gold Cup days.

Saturday’s on-track attendance of 17,500 was more than 7,000 less than the crowd for the Gold Cup last year. Overall, Saturday’s attendance was 36,907, which was a drop of about 30% from last year’s 50,053. The total Gold Cup handle was $12 million in 1993 and $10.7 million Saturday.

There are 30 betting windows in the casino, the first such facility to co-exist with a track in the United States. Hubbard said that $165,000 was bet on horses there Friday night; the total was $154,708 Saturday.

“Opening-day attendance in the casino was more than 12,000,” Hubbard said. “So that means that with the 20,000 at the track, we had more than 32,000 people exposed to thoroughbred racing. We were encouraged at the play the horses received from the card players, which came despite the crowded conditions caused by opening night. The sport is becoming more popular as Friday-night racing continues, and it appears that the casino is going to accelerate that momentum.”

*

The reason Corey Nakatani gave for riding Fanmore instead of Slew Of Damascus in the Gold Cup was the chance to continue riding top horses for trainer Bobby Frankel. Nakatani settled for a $15,000 payday instead of $41,250 when Slew Of Damascus beat Fanmore by three-quarters of a length.

On Sunday, Nakatani was at Arlington International, where he rode favored Eagle Eyed to victory for Frankel in the $300,000 Arlington Classic. Eagle Eyed, who was 8-5 in betting at Hollywood Park and 9-5 at Arlington, had previously won stakes at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields under Nakatani.

Horse Racing Notes

Hollywood Wildcat and Flawlessly probably will resume their rivalry in the Ramona Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 6. Corrazona might show up for that race, too, although Richard Mandella is more certain about the Beverly D at Arlington on Aug. 27. . . . Holy Bull, the East’s top 3-year-old, won by 6 3/4 lengths over Twining in Sunday’s Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park, but trainer Wayne Lukas is still aiming Preakness-Belmont winner Tabasco Cat toward a showdown in the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 20. Both colts are expected to run one more time before that meeting, Holy Bull at Monmouth Park and Tabasco Cat at Saratoga. . . . Semillon, who has won three in a row since arriving at Mike Mitchell’s barn, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in today’s American Handicap, with Gary Stevens riding.