HOLLYWOOD PARK : Paseana Becomes ‘Impulse Thing’ That Pays Dearly

Sid Craig had never paid more than $50,000 for a horse when trainer Ron McAnally’s call came from Argentina four years ago.

“I raced claiming horses,” Craig said. “But Ron was so high on the horse, I decided to buy her. It was an impulse thing. And it was a breakthrough for us in the game, because it took us to a new level of horses.”

Sid and Jenny Craig bought Paseana for about $320,000 and now she has earned $3.1 million, most of it for them, and is on the threshold of becoming the richest female to run in North America.

Amid concerns over her age, the 8-year-old mare with the white star on her forehead added $63,300 to her bankroll by winning the $108,300 Hawthorne Handicap by two lengths Sunday at Hollywood Park, and now she’s $130,133 short of Dance Smartly, who set the record when she racked up $3,263,836 in 1990-92.

In Sunday’s 1 1/16-mile race, she was next to last, 11 1/2 lengths behind, after the first half-mile. But the fast pace up front cooked the leaders, and Paseana and Chris McCarron made a long run from the far turn to the wire for her 19th victory--17 of them stakes--in 34 starts.

“She’s not through yet,” McAnally said. “There was a good, fast pace, and that’s what we wanted.”

Marty and Pam Wygod’s entry was the 6-5 favorite, and one of their fillies, Pirate’s Revenge, finished second, three-fourths of a length ahead of Top Rung.

In further pursuit of Dance Smartly’s record, Paseana could run in the $150,000 Milady Handicap on June 25 and perhaps the $300,000 Vanity Handicap on July 23.

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Favorites and high weights haven’t fared well in recent runnings of the Hollywood Turf Handicap, but Sandpit might overcome both of those factors now that he’s back at a shorter distance for today’s 27th edition of the stake.

Sandpit is a mild 5-2 favorite on the morning line and the high weight at 122 pounds.

Sandpit, a Brazilian-bred, had four wins and one second in five races in the United States before finishing fourth at 7-10 at Santa Anita in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, a marathon of almost 1 3/4 miles.

“I think the distance got him,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “He’s at his best between a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half.”

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Mandella has a shot at winning another major race today when he runs Romarin in the $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. Like the Hollywood Park stake, the one-mile New York dirt race is wide-open and has drawn 10 horses. There will be betting on the Metropolitan between the second and third live races at Hollywood Park.

Romarin, mostly a grass runner, scored a facile victory at Churchill Downs in the $260,900 Early Times Turf Classic on May 6, Kentucky Derby day. Then a cough prevented Romarin from running in the middle race in the Early Times grass series, the $200,000 Dixie at Pimlico on May 20. With Corey Nakatani riding Sandpit today, Mike Smith gets the assignment on Romarin.

Much of the support in the Metropolitan will go to Silver Goblin, who had won eight in a row before he finished second, 2 1/2 lengths behind Cigar, in the Oaklawn Handicap. Before that race, Silver Goblin hadn’t lost since his eighth-place finish in last year’s Preakness.

Devil His Due is the 121-pound high weight, a pound more than Silver Goblin and five pounds more than Romarin, even though he has been winless for eight races and almost 11 months. Devil His Due has run second six times during the slump, once against Cigar in the Pimlico Special earlier this month, and he was second to Holy Bull in last year’s Metropolitan Mile.

Others running are Our Emblem, Lite the Fuse, You and I, Mr. Shawklit, Not Surprising, Key Contender and Cleante, a longshot who shipped in from trainer Ron McAnally’s barn at Hollywood Park.

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Nakatani, the Hollywood Park meet’s leading rider, won three races in addition to Kent Desormeaux. Nakatani has 34 winners through the first 24 days. . . . Trainer Roger Stein saddled three winners, two of them ridden by Desormeaux and one by Nakatani. . . . David Flores, who has missed a month while undergoing treatment for an ulcer, resumes riding Wednesday. . . . Harry (Bud) Brubaker, manager of operations at Del Mar, died Friday at his home in Encinitas. Brubaker, 85, was a former NFL referee and high school baseball coach whose players included Sparky Anderson and Billy Consolo.