Unlike Best Pal, Alphabet Soup is Letter Perfect

The last time Alphabet Soup was entered to run, in the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 23, the track came up sloppy and the trainers of Best Pal and Luthier Fever scratched their horses.

They did the right thing, because Alphabet Soup, who thrives on wet going, won the Native Diver by 7 1/2 lengths.

The opposition figured to have a better chance Monday, on a fast track in the $210,100 San Pasqual Handicap, but the result was basically the same. Alphabet Soup didn’t win by as big a margin, but the 5-year-old roan fought off all the challenges for a 1 3/4-length victory.

Luthier Fever finished second, but Best Pal ran eighth in the worst performance of his 47-race career, and the 8-year-old gelding is probably as close to retirement as he’ll ever be. He is no longer consistently competitive at a top level. His jockey, Chris McCarron, was unable to pinpoint the reasons for Monday’s nadir, and trainer Richard Mandella has been saying for some time that the future is a race-to-race proposition.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Mandella said after Monday’s race. “We’ll have to see how he comes out.”

Best Pal’s eighth-place finish was the worst since he ran 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1993. He beat only one horse in the San Pasqual and finished more than 13 lengths behind Alphabet Soup. Before Monday, the worst that Best Pal had ever placed was fifth, 11 lengths behind Hansel, in the 1991 Preakness.

Best Pal has won 18 races, 17 of them stakes, and earned $5.6 million, more than any horse in training, but since 1993 he has had difficulty in major races. In 23 starts over the last three years, he has six victories, with only three in graded competition. His last Grade I victory was in the 1993 Hollywood Gold Cup.

In three previous tries, Best Pal had never won the San Pasqual, but at least he was always a contender, finishing fourth last year and second twice before that. This time, at high weight of 120 pounds, two more than Alphabet Soup, he was running for the first time in two months, and Mandella was looking forward to his return.

“If I knew [how he would do], I wouldn’t have run him,” Mandella said. “I thought he was doing pretty good. He had been working great and he always runs fresh.”

Later, McCarron said: “He didn’t have any excuse that I could tell. He felt great. I mean, he feels fine running. But he just wasn’t there when I asked him. He started to get into the race at the half-mile pole. He ran to the turn, then he just started backing up. I was screaming at him, hitting him. I don’t know if he’s not trying to run or if he’s trying and can’t keep up. All I know is that he is getting outrun.”

Best Pal went off the 2-1 second choice to Alphabet Soup, who was pressured all the way. David Hofmans, Alphabet Soup’s trainer, had hoped that Luthier Fever would be the early leader, giving his horse a target, but that rival broke awkwardly. So Alphabet Soup was up front on the turn, surrounded by Luthier Fever and Uncaged Fury. Alphabet Soup was only a head in front of Luthier Fever with an eighth of a mile to go, and jockey Chris Antley squeezed out every inch in a hard-fought finish.

Running 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 3/5, Alphabet Soup paid $5.20 and earned $130,100 for his owner, Georgia Ridder, who bought him as an unraced 2-year-old for $60,000. Cezind finished third, two lengths behind Luthier Fever.

With the question about Alphabet Soup’s stamina still unanswered, Hofmans would like to run him in the 1 1/8-mile San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 3. If Alphabet Soup doesn’t rebound in time for that assignment, he would go directly into the 1 1/4-mile Santa Anita Handicap on March 2.

Providing that Cigar doesn’t come from Florida for the Big ‘Cap. “That would stop us from running,” Hofmans said. “But if there would be a muddy track, we’d still run. If it rained, I wouldn’t be afraid of running him a mile and a half.”

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With the stewards’ hearing in the Corey Nakatani whip incident scheduled for Friday, the jockey’s attorney, Darrell Vienna, said that he’s heard the rumors about what penalty his client might receive.

“I’ve heard that he’s going to be fined, and I’ve heard that they might try to give him six months,” Vienna said.

Vienna said that if Nakatani is fined, “He’d probably just write them the check.” The prospect of a more severe penalty would result in a prolonged hearing involving dozens of people giving testimony.

Nakatani struck his mount, Tillie’s Joy, several times past the finish line after a race at Santa Anita on Dec. 29. The 2-year-old colt, who finished sixth in the maiden race, broke down on his way back to the unsaddling area and was euthanized.

Vienna has researched whip infractions in California for the last 10 years. The most severe penalty he has found was when Brian Campbell, riding in Northern California, was suspended for five days and ordered to make medical restitution after he hit a horse in the eye in 1985.

“Otherwise, most of the penalties have been fines,” Vienna said. “The highest fine was $400. About 75% of the fines were $100.”

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Horse Racing Notes

Honour and Glory, who finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, heads the field for the $100,000 San Miguel Stakes on Thursday, which is the next day of racing for Santa Anita. Others entered in the six-furlong race are Benton Creek, Valid Expectations, Odin’s Primo, Back at Five, Spellbounder and Afleet Affair. . . . Desert Stormer, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will not run again and will be bred to Seeking the Gold.