HOLLYWOOD PARK : Sandpit’s Win Is Real Bonus for Mandella

What had been a forgettable Hollywood Park meeting for trainer Richard Mandella has picked up considerably in the last week.

Six days after Soul Of The Matter won the Bel Air Handicap while Mandella was in Kentucky attending the Keeneland yearling sales, Sandpit earned a $312,500 bonus Saturday by winning the $264,700 Caesars Palace Turf Championship.

Sandpit, who beat favored Special Price by nearly two lengths, had also won the $500,000 Caesars International Handicap on June 25 at Atlantic City, N.J. Caesars guaranteed a $750,000 payoff to a horse that won both races, thus adding $312,500 to Sandpit’s winner’s share of the purses.

In winning for the 10th time in 22 starts, the 6-year-old Brazilian-bred certainly earned the money. He battled with Urgent Request through some extremely fast fractions (23 3/5, 46 3/5 and 1:10) for the distance (1 1/2 miles), put the Santa Anita Handicap winner away, then, although tired, had enough left to win in 2:25 2/5. Ridden by Corey Nakatani, he paid $4.60 as the 13-10 second choice.

After collecting only three victories in the first 60 days of the season, Mandella, long one of the nation’s top trainers, has three in the last five days.

“When you’re in that groove, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Mandella said about his slow meeting. “You just have to keep your nose to the grindstone and keep trying and it’ll come back around.

“I just encouraged Corey to ride him today like he rode him in Atlantic City, don’t try to rate him too much. If you try to take him too far back, he’ll get mad, like we did in the Hollywood Turf Handicap [when second on May 29]. You just have to go along with him and not make him mad.”

The Arlington Million is next for Sandpit, who would not have been a participant Saturday if not for the bonus. He would have waited for the Eddie Read Handicap on Aug. 6 at Del Mar.

“The best preparation for the Arlington Million is probably not a mile-and-a-half race,” said Mandella. “But, this guy’s so big and strong and he’s so happy around the barn, he gets over his races quick. So, I don’t think there will be a problem going back to 1 1/4 miles [the Million distance].”

Special Price, who had won the Golden Gate Handicap by seven lengths in his last start on June 24, got the fast fractions he needs, but he never looked like a winner and was only a nose better than Liyoun, the longest shot in the field at 18-1. Continuing to prove his Big ‘Cap victory was a fluke, Urgent Request finished fourth and Jahafil was last in the field of five.

“The winner was just too much horse,” said Eddie Delahoussaye, who was aboard the favorite. “I thought he was going to stop because they were going so fast. I was sure it was going to be between me and [Liyoun] and it was . . . for second and third.

“I really couldn’t have moved any sooner. He’s a one-paced horse and, if you try to move him too soon, he won’t sustain it for more than three-eighths [of a mile]. But the thing is, the winner just ran a tremendous race.”

*

Three of the seven 3-year-olds who will run in the $500,000 Swaps today at Hollywood Park have never won a Derby, but only one of them has a realistic chance of winning this afternoon.

While T.J.’s Gold and To Be Khaled appear to be overmatched, Mr Purple is improving for trainer Ron McAnally and he is the 5-2 second choice behind Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Thunder Gulch in the Grade II Swaps.

After finishing second in a pair of grass races, Mr Purple has put together consecutive victories in the Harry Henson Stakes and Affirmed Handicap. In the latter, he won for the first time around two turns. Plus, he is perfect in four starts on the Hollywood Park main track.

Thunder Gulch, who was a distant second to Afternoon Deelites in the Hollywood Futurity last Dec. 18 in his only other local start, has trained well for his first race since his two-length victory in the Belmont, but he will be spotting Mr Purple eight pounds.

Dazzling Falls, who will be making his California debut, has three Derby victories--Remington Park, Arkansas and Alabama--and that’s one more than Petionville, who captured the Louisiana and Ohio derbies.

Da Hoss, who has six victories and two seconds in eight races, won the Jersey Derby in his last start.

In the race before the Swaps, Paseana will try to surpass Dance Smartly and become the richest female of all-time. With $3,163,703 in career earnings, she is $100,133 short of Dance Smartly, meaning a win today in the $300,000 Vanity would put her in first place.

Those most likely to upset the 8-year-old mare are Wandesta, who has trained well for her first start on the main track, and Top Rung, who figures to set the pace.

*

Horse Racing Notes

The Vanity and Swaps will be shown live on Channel 9 today beginning at 4 p.m. . . . Cardmania, the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner who was retired on Thursday, will lead the post parade for today’s fifth race, the $85,000 Answer Do Stakes. The 9-year-old gelding, who was voted champion sprinter the year he won the Breeders’ Cup, finished with 16 victories, 12 seconds and 19 thirds in 76 starts. . . . The Answer Do will mark the return to racing of Megan’s Interco, who hasn’t run since finishing seventh in the Hong Kong International Bowl last Dec. 11.