DEL MAR : Trainer Gilchrist Hopes to Go Three for (All) Three Today

Trainer Greg Gilchrist was sitting in a viewing stand along the backstretch at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, leaning forward and squinting for a look at five horses charging in his direction from the six-furlong chute. As they went past him, No. 5 was in the lead.

“He won’t stick,” Gilchrist said, more to himself than anyone else.

Gilchrist watched the field as it ultimately disappeared behind the tote board on the front straightaway. The cheers of the crowd would tell him nothing, but he already knew.

“I sold that horse a week ago,” he said. “I had six horses down here when the meet started. I had one claimed, I sent one home and I sold that one. I’m down to three.”

Barn U, tucked against the track and a maintenance yard at the west end of the backstretch, is becoming a lonely place. That’s the Southern California home of Gilchrist’s stable, which is headquartered at whatever Northern California track is active.

All three of Gilchrist’s horses are entered to run Sunday, one in the featured Del Mar Oaks, another in a $100,000 match race, and the third, the baby of the trio, in a maiden race for 2-year-olds.

“It could be very profitable,” he said. “Or it could be a disaster.”

He paused and caught himself.

“Really,” he said, “it’s kind of a convenience having them all go at once. I’ll probably pack up Monday and head home.”

And this convenience is also an opportunity.

The first of his horses to run will be Mamselle Bebette, in a match race against Soviet Problem between the fifth and sixth races. Then Tac Squad, the maiden, is to run in the sixth race. Gilchrist’s third entrant will be Work The Crowd in the Oaks, the $175,000 Grade I feature.

Chris McCarron has the mounts on Gilchrist’s horses in the two high-profile events.

“I haven’t ridden much for Greg but I like what I’ve seen,” McCarron said. “His horses impress me a great deal. I know he does very well up north.”

Gilchrist is not the sort to stray too far from home for too long. He was born in Ft. Dick, population 75, near Crescent City. He learned horses and racing on what might be called the fair circuit. His horses take him across the country these days, but not for long.

“I haven’t ever left California without being glad to be back,” he said. The same applies to his home in Castro Valley, east of the San Francisco Bay area.

To Gilchrist, the week before a weekend such as this has probably been quieter than most. His horses, two of them at least, are entered in major events, but still there are only three here to command his time.

To hear Gilchrist describe these horses, they are the beauty, the beast and the baby.

Soviet Problem, the 4-year-old sprinter, is a menacing presence in Barn U. She has powerful haunches and a broad chest. She would as soon nip her trainer as a bag of oats.

Work The Crowd, Sardula’s main adversary in the Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, is long and lean with gracefully shaped legs. She is as charming as Soviet Problem is fractious.

“A novice could look at the two of them and tell which was which,” Gilchrist said.

Tac Squad, being a mere 2-year-old, was not subjected to a personality profile. She will definitely be deferring to her elders on Sunday, at least when it comes to the spotlight.

In truth, Soviet Problem’s nature perfectly suits the game she plays, the frenzied sprinting game, and Work The Crowd’s nature her game, the lie-back-and-let’s-see-what-happens distance game. One lives life on the edge and the other is serenely patient.

“You train them totally differently,” Gilchrist said. “You run Soviet Problem short and sharp. Work The Crowd trains harder, getting more strenuous gallops.”

For Soviet Problem, it will be a matter of going head to head against Mamselle Bebette from the moment the gate opens.

“I’m just going to tell Chris to get out and go,” Gilchrist said.

It will be a different sort of race for Work The Crowd, what with five other horses going the 1 1/8 miles. With Twice The Vice, Pharma, Wood Of Bin and Malli Star entered along with Sardula and Work The Crowd, there is not a weak horse in the field.

“They’re not going to have to contend with some 50-1 shot getting in the way,” Gilchrist said. “The jocks have a lot of time to get where they want to be and they’ll be watching one another all the way.”

Gilchrist stood up and stretched, dusting off his jeans. The horse he had been watching, the one he had sold, finished fourth among five. It hadn’t stuck.

Horse Racing Notes

Lykatill Hil, ridden by Gary Stevens, caught Tossofthecoin at the sixteenth pole to win the $61,400 Windy Sands Handicap by 1 3/4 lengths before 14,076 at Del Mar. The 4-year-old gelding by Pilgrim was timed in 1:34 2/5 for the mile and paid $9.00. Tossofthecoin returned $3.00 and $2.40 and Slerp paid $3.40. Lykatill Hil earned $34,400 to push his career earnings to $366,700.. . . Today’s feature is the $100,000 Pat O’Brien Breeders’ Cup Handicap, but the best race on the card might be the second. The presence of horses such as Sardula and Work The Crowd scared some outstanding 3-year-old fillies out of Sunday’s Del Mar Oaks and into the $60,000 Sandy Blue Handicap. The even-money morning-line favorite is Dancing Mirage, a close third to Work The Crowd in the San Clemente Handicap. . . . D’Hallevant is the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Pat O’Brien, but Minjinsky is close behind at 9-5. . . . Brocco, the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, will make his first start since the Kentucky Derby in the $200,000 Del Mar Budweiser Breeders’ Cup on Sept. 11. Brocco beat Tabasco Cat in the Santa Anita Derby April 9, but finished fourth in Kentucky as the second choice.