HOLLYWOOD PARK : Scratches Help Alphabet Soup in Native Diver

For two years, the owners of Alphabet Soup kept trying to sell the roan colt. Finally they got an offer that was acceptable.

Georgia Ridder bought Alphabet Soup in 1993, when he was a 2-year-old, and now he has won three stakes, collected a paycheck for almost all of his 16 starts and earned close to $400,000. A purse of $61,400 was added to Alphabet Soup’s total at Hollywood Park on Saturday when the mud-loving 4-year-old won the $106,400 Native Diver Handicap, a race made considerably easier when Best Pal, the 9-5 favorite, and Luthier Fever, another contender, were scratched.

Instead of edging closer to the $6-million mark in earnings, Best Pal will have to wait for the Santa Anita meet that opens Tuesday. The 7-year-old gelding, who won the Native Diver last year, has run on off tracks only three times, never winning, during his 46-race career.

David Hofmans, who trains Alphabet Soup, monitored the rain-splattered Hollywood track from race to race Saturday. After the third race, jockey Chris McCarron gave Hofmans the assurance he needed.

“Chris said that the track was in great shape,” Hofmans said. “It had a great bottom to it, it was even, and it was safe. My horse just skipped right through it.”

The track was labeled sloppy, and Alphabet Soup, ridden by Chris Antley, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47, breaking by two-fifths of a second the stakes record that had been shared by Warcraft and Slew Of Damascus. Alphabet Soup missed The Wicked North’s track record by two-fifths of a second.

Paying $3.80, the favored Alphabet Soup finished 7 1/2 lengths ahead of El Florista to post the biggest winning margin in the history of the stake. El Florista finished half a length ahead of Regal Rowdy in the five-horse field.

Alphabet Soup, bred in Pennsylvania, is a son of Cozzene, a winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Illiterate, who is a daughter of Arts and Letters, winner of the Belmont Stakes. Offered at auction as a yearling, Alphabet Soup was bought back by his consigners for $28,000. Early in 1992, he was again sent through the sales ring, and bought back for $29,000. Then came the successful private offer by the widow of publisher Ben Ridder.

“We didn’t run him until he was a 3-year-old,” Hofmans said, “because I know that Cozzenes take time.”

Alphabet Soup was hounded by Cocooning through the first six furlongs Saturday before he and Antley shook loose on the far turn.

“He kept throwing his ears up and was just kind of galloping with the other horses,” Antley said. “I had to get after him going to the three-eighths pole, because he wanted to stay with that other horse. But as soon as he shot away from them, he went on. He was much the best.”

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For today’s meet-ending Dahlia Handicap, Hofmans has the 5-2 morning-line favorite, Yearly Tour, but he’s hoping that the race is taken off the soggy grass course.

“The turf course is pretty well chewed up,” Hofmans said. “I’d just as soon run on a sloppy main track.”

Yearly Tour has carved out a steady record on grass--four wins, five seconds and two thirds in 11 tries--but she’s also won five times on dirt, including a victory over Pirate’s Revenge in the California Cup Matron Handicap in her last start.

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Trainer Richard Mandella said Advancing Star, who was undefeated before running second to Cara Rafaela in the Hollywood Starlet, will be sidelined for an estimated three months after suffering a stress fracture in one of her legs.

Advancing Star, winner of her first two races by convincing margins, was diagnosed as having a sore shin after the Starlet on Dec. 16. X-rays, taken later, showed that she had a fracture. She was outrun in the stretch by Cara Rafaela and lost by a head.

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Another prominent horse in Mandella’s barn, Afternoon Deelites, returns to action Tuesday in the opening-day, $150,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita.

Afternoon Deelites hasn’t run since he suffered a tendon injury in May, while finishing eighth in the Kentucky Derby.

The seven-furlong Malibu drew 11 horses. In post-position order, they are: Mr Purple, Paying Dues, Afternoon Deelites, Lake George, Placid Fund, Score Quick, Adams Trail, Hoopstar, First Watch, Frio River and High Stakes Player.

Lake George also ran in the Derby, finishing 18th in the 19-horse field. He won two races shortly after that, including a division of the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar, but in tougher competition is winless in his last four races, most recently running eighth on the grass in the Hollywood Derby.

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The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has suspended its investigation into the $300,000 mutuel-department shortage at the off-track betting facility at Lake Perris. The shortage occurred during the last two weeks of the Del Mar season, which ended on Sept. 13.

“We haven’t heard from Del Mar for weeks, and we can’t do anything until we do,” Sgt. Steve Hill said. “It’s on the back burner as far as we’re concerned. Del Mar may have decided to handle it internally.”

Del Mar officials have been reluctant to discuss the matter. “Most of the loss is covered by insurance,” said Craig Fravel, executive vice president at the track.

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Horse Racing Notes

Pat Valenzuela has told the Daily Racing Form that he’s moving to Florida to ride in the Gulfstream Park meet that opens Jan. 3. . . . Apprentice Brice Blanc rode three winners Saturday. . . . Trainer Wally Dollase’s son, Craig, saddled his first horse and won the second race with Brush Storm, ridden by Blanc. . . . The condition of Nick Santagata, injured in a three-horse spill at Aqueduct on Friday, was upgraded from critical to stable. Santagata, who suffered six broken ribs and a fractured sternum, is scheduled to be moved from intensive care. Despite wearing a protective vest, he has the hoof print of a horse on his chest. “I used to hate the guy who invented those vests,” Santagata said. “Now I’m sure glad that he did.” . . . After one race Friday, racing was called off at Bay Meadows because of unsafe running conditions, and the San Mateo track also canceled Saturday’s card.