THOROUGHBRED RACING : Gilchrist Has His Big Horses in Inglewood

Bobby Frankel isn’t the only trainer in California with a pair of female stars in his barn.

Frankel has Possibly Perfect and Wandesta, and Greg Gilchrist, who is based in Northern California, has Work The Crowd and Soviet Problem.

Work The Crowd, a multiple-stakes winner as a 3-year-old in 1994, already has won twice this year and will be at Hollywood Park to race Possibly Perfect in the $300,000 Beverly Hills Handicap on July 2.

Soviet Problem is already in Inglewood. The 5-year-old California-bred mare will make her 1995 debut in the $100,000 Valkyr Handicap during Hollywood Park’s special 14-race card tonight.

Work The Crowd was good last year, but Soviet Problem was even better. The daughter of Moscow Ballet, who was bred and is owned by John Harris and Don Valpredo, had nine victories and three seconds in 13 starts last year.

One of her defeats was by a head against Cherokee Run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a loss that cost her the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top sprinter.

She had her only poor performance in her last start. She finished seventh of 14 in the Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama in Japan and has been on the sidelines since that Dec. 18 race.

She is back now and hopes to begin another successful year in the Valkyr, a race she won last year.

Set to carry 127 pounds--the most weight of her career--she is the 3-5 favorite on the morning line and will have only six opponents in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint.

A loser only once in five turf starts, Soviet Problem had trained well at Golden Gate for her comeback, then went four furlongs in 47 1/5 seconds Wednesday morning at Hollywood Park.

Chris McCarron will be in his usual place atop Soviet Problem, who has 14 victories in 19 starts. She will break from the rail after Friday’s scratching of longshot Time For Saratoga.

The 2-1 second choice in the Valkyr, for fillies and mares bred in California, is Flying In The Lane, who will carry eight fewer pounds than the favorite.

In her first turf start May 26 in a similar 5 1/2-furlong sprint, the 4-year-old Flying Victor filly rallied from off the pace and won by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:01 4/5.

The other entrants are Magical Flyer, who gets a jockey upgrade from Chance Rollins to Gary Stevens; Mystical Sky, Snowy’s Mark, Miss Intergreen and Gorky Square.

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The purses for both the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks have been increased.

The board of directors of Churchill Downs said Thursday that the purse for the Derby has been doubled from $500,000 to $1 million. The Oaks, run the day before the Derby, has been increased from $300,000 to $500,000.

“We realize this isn’t going to create more interest in the Derby,” board Chairman Will Farish told the Daily Racing Form, “but we’re proud of the direction [Churchill Downs] has been going . . . and it’s only fitting that our two biggest races reflect that direction.”

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Frankel, Hollywood Park’s leading trainer, will try to win another big race in New York when You And I takes on 10 opponents in the $250,000 Brooklyn Handicap today at Belmont Park.

Successful in the Metropolitan Handicap despite having been caught in an early speed duel, You And I will try to stretch his speed an additional eighth of a mile in the Brooklyn.

Bought for a reported $850,000 by Edmund Gann about 18 months ago, the 4-year-old son of Kris S. will again be ridden by Jorge Chavez.

The high weight in the race is Devil His Due, who will carry 121 pounds. Wigberto Ramos will ride the 6-year-old, who finished second behind Cigar in the Pimlico Special on May 13.

The rest of the field is Swindle, who will race coupled with Devil His Due; Key Contender, Iron Gavel, Secret Savings, Slick Horn, Electrojet, Federal Funds, Rehlat Farah and Not Surprising.

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Oliver’s Twist, who might have beaten Timber Country in the Preakness had a hole developed at the top of the stretch, is the probable favorite in the $300,000 Ohio Derby today at Thistledown near Cleveland.

The high weight in the Ohio Derby, run at 1 1/8 miles, will be Dazzling Falls, who will be ridden for the first time by Corey Nakatani.

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Horse Racing Notes

The Valkyr will be run as the 11th race on the 14-race card tonight. . . . Miraloma, a promising 2-year-old filly trained by Wayne Lukas, is apparently through for the year after suffering a crack in her right knee while training in New York. The Deputy Minister filly broke her maiden at Hollywood Park on May 10 in her debut, then went to Churchill Downs and beat males in the Kentucky Budweiser Breeders’ Cup. . . . A memorial service will be held today at 1 p.m. for Nancy Arnold at Grace Church in Cypress. Arnold, the wife of Los Alamitos Race Course owner Lloyd Arnold, died of cancer Sunday at 62.