HOLLYWOOD PARK : Soviet Problem, Abaginone Could Strike a Match

Provided all the details can be worked out, Hollywood Park could stage its first match race in 21 years on July 22.

The opponents would be Soviet Problem, a 5-year-old mare who has match-race experience and 15 victories in 20 starts; and Abaginone, a 4-year-old colt who has four victories in five outings, and the six-furlong dirt race could carry a $150,000 winner-take-all purse.

Hollywood Park management is willing to put up as much as $50,000, and so are Abaginone’s co-owners--Ron Charles and Clear Valley Stables. John Harris and Don Valpredo, Soviet Problem’s owners, have also expressed some interest in the proposal.

“I really hope this happens,” Charles said. “I’ve always said more match races would generate more interest in this game, and this one would have all kinds of angles. It would be north versus south [Soviet Problem began her career in northern California and is still based there with trainer Greg Gilchrist], boy against girl and a superstar against an up-and-coming horse.”

Plus, Charles said, there would be appeal because the owners could be putting up their own money.

“We’d kind of be getting back to the basics of how horse racing started,” he said. “ ‘My horse can beat your horse, so, OK, let’s bet.’ The timing is perfect [for Abaginone]. It would give him five weeks between races, and it would give us a chance to take on a real top-caliber horse.”

Dominant in his first two races of 1995 after winning two of three last year, Abaginone has never run in a stakes race, but Soviet Problem has multiple added-money victories.

Two races before Abaginone beat five allowance rivals by five lengths in 1:14 4/5 for 6 1/2 furlongs on June 17, Soviet Problem was successful in her first start in seven months.

Carrying 127 pounds, she won the $100,000 Valkyr Handicap for the second consecutive year, by a length, completing 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf in 1:02 2/5.

Worse than second only once in 13 starts last year, the Moscow Ballet mare is equally comfortable on turf or dirt, and she proved herself many times against males in 1994. She beat the boys in the Oakland Handicap at Golden Gate, the Bay Meadows’ Budweiser Breeders’ Cup and the Laurel Dash and was second, only a head behind Cherokee Run, in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Soviet Problem also toyed with Mamselle Bebette in a 5 1/2-furlong match race on turf last Aug. 21, winning by 6 1/2 lengths. Originally, her opponent was going to be Cool Air, but she was injured.

The last match race at Hollywood Park wasn’t much of a contest. In a $350,000 winner-take-all showdown on July 20, 1974, Chris Evert defeated Miss Musket by 50 lengths, running 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.

Two years earlier in Inglewood, Convenience, ridden by Jerry Lambert, defeated Typecast and Bill Shoemaker by a head in 1:47 3/5 for 1 1/8 miles.

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Only five fillies and mares were entered for today’s $150,000 Milady Handicap, the race in which Paseana will try to draw closer to becoming the sport’s top female earner.

If the 8-year-old mare wins the Milady for the third time, she will earn $91,000 and that would leave her $39,133 shy of Dance Smartly’s record of $3,263,836. That would mean she could move to the top of the list with another victory in the Vanity Handicap on July 23.

There will be only four betting interests in the Milady because Pirate’s Revenge and Private Persuasion will be coupled. Melrose Wine and Emerald Express round out the field for the Grade I race, which is run at 1 1/16 miles.

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Racing with Lasix for the first time and surviving an inquiry, Concept Win held off Gold Land to win the $108,100 Triple Bend Handicap on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Pat Valenzuela, Concept Win, the 5-year-old Manila horse, ran with 11-10 favorite Lucky Forever most of the way, took the lead late in the race and beat the 7-2 second choice by half a length in 1:21 for seven furlongs.

It was the eighth victory in 22 starts for Concept Win, who paid $10.80 as the 4-1 third choice and earned $63,100 for owner Leonard Lavin’s Glen Hill Farm.

Things tightened for Lucky Forever in the final sixteenth of a mile, but the stewards ruled there would be no change in the order of finish after they lit the inquiry sign. Lucky Forever’s rider, Goncalino Almeida, also claimed foul against Valenzuela and Concept Win.

“I sweated quite a bit,” said trainer Willard Proctor regarding the claim of foul. “They take this guy’s [Valenzuela’s] number down quite a lot and I figured with him being on, it might come down.

“He came in a little bit, but [Valenzuela] snatched him out. He never bothered [Lucky Forever], but it scared me with Patrick on him.”

Gold Land, who was trying to provide Gary Stevens with his fifth victory of the day, finished a length in front of Lucky Forever. Then came Crafty Dude, Powis Castle and Nasr Allah.

Horse Racing Notes

Making his first start since finishing second in the San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita, Special Price easily won the $200,000 Golden Gate Handicap on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields. Ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye for trainer Neil Drysdale, the 9-10 favorite won by seven lengths in 2:15 for 1 3/8 miles on turf. Bluegrass Prince was second, ahead of Sans Ecocide, Raintrap, Liyoun and Ocean Orbit. . . . Apprentice jockey Leslie Mawing will be sidelined 4-6 weeks after breaking his left collarbone Friday night at Hollywood Park. Mawing was riding 24-1 shot Towiel in the second race when the 4-year-old maiden colt broke down in the stretch and Mawing, a native of South Africa who has failed to win with 25 mounts during the Hollywood meeting, went down heavily. X-rays taken at Centinela Hospital Medical Center revealed the fracture. Towiel had to be destroyed. . . . Gary Stevens’ victories Saturday came with Miss Butterworth in the first race, Fastness in the third, Bis Cat in the seventh and Blinking Lights in the eighth.