For Mandella, It Shouldn’t Be Close but No Cigar This Time

Last year in the Dubai World Cup, trainer Richard Mandella had Cigar to beat and almost pulled it off. This year, Cigar has been retired and Mandella is running the two favorites in the $4-million race.

Siphon, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap on March 2, is the 5-2 favorite for Saturday’s race in the desert of the United Arab Emirates. Mandella’s other horse, Sandpit, was second at Santa Anita, and he’s second on the Dubai morning line at 3-1.

Siphon and Sandpit, who are regularly stabled at Hollywood Park, have traveled almost 9,000 miles to face 11 rivals in the 1 1/4-mile international race, which will be run at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. There will be off-track betting at Santa Anita and at other sites on the California simulcasting network.

In the inaugural Dubai race, Mandella’s Soul Of The Matter lost to Cigar by half a length. That was the smallest victory margin during Cigar’s 16-race winning streak, which ended in August at Del Mar, where Mandella finally did beat him. Siphon softened up Cigar early, and then Mandella’s other horse, Dare And Go, came on to win the Pacific Classic.

With L’Carriere running third in Dubai a year ago, horses from the United States took the first three positions. That could happen again Saturday, although Formal Gold, the third U.S. horse, will have to improve off his sixth-place finish in the Santa Anita Handicap.

Mandella ran an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the Big ‘Cap when Gentlemen finished third, but he has been left at home. Gentlemen bled in his last two races and Lasix, the diuretic that is given to bleeders in the United States, is banned in Dubai.

The Dubai course is an inch shallower than it was last year, but it still favors American horses, who are also used to running around its left-handed turns.

“I can see where the Americans could run 1-2-3 again,” Mandella said. “We did it last year, when before the race some people said that we were crazy even to try.”

Sandpit had run 31 times, all on grass, before he made a late run to finish three lengths behind Siphon in the Santa Anita Handicap. Second money of $200,000 pushed Sandpit’s earnings past $2.9 million.

Siphon, who has won 12 of 21 starts and earned $1.7 million, has a front-running style. He wasn’t pushed on the lead in the Big ‘Cap and was able to coast home.

“Sandpit ran an exceptional race, considering it was his first try on dirt,” Mandella said. “He got ahold of the track and was kicking in late. If somebody hooks Siphon [Saturday], Sandpit would have more of a chance to catch him this time.”

David Flores, who has won with Siphon four of the five times he’s ridden him, has the assignment Saturday. Corey Nakatani will ride Sandpit.

The third choice on the morning line, at 11-2, is Singspiel, who finished second to his stablemate, Pilsudski, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Woodbine in October. Earlier, Singspiel won the Canadian International at Woodbine and was voted the best male turf horse in North America for 1996.

Jerry Bailey, who won the Dubai race with Cigar, has been hired by trainer Michael Stoute to ride Singspiel. Here is Saturday’s field, in post-position order, with jockeys and odds:

Even Top, Richard Hills, 25-1; Singspiel, Bailey, 11-2; Formal Gold, Joe Bravo, 7-1; Helissio, Olivier Peslier, 6-1; Bijou d’Inde, Jason Weaver, 40-1; Flemensfirth, Gary Hind, 10-1; Luso, Mick Kinane, 40-1; Hokuto Vega, Norihiro Yokoyama, 33-1; Juggler, Glen Boss, 20-1; Siphon, Flores, 5-2; Kammtarra, Frankie Dettori, 7-1; Sandpit, Nakatani, 3-1; and Key Of Luck, Carlos Arias, 12-1.

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George Steinbrenner didn’t have any luck in Florida with Acceptable, whose races were compromised by a breathing problem, so now the New York Yankee owner will try to win another Kentucky Derby prep Saturday when Concerto runs as the 3-1 favorite in the $600,000 Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park in Kentucky.

Concerto, a son of Chief’s Crown, was also bred by Steinbrenner. The colt is on a three-race winning streak that includes a victory at Turfway. Concerto last lost in the Laurel Futurity in November, when he was beaten by less than a length by Captain Bodgit. Captain Bodgit became one of the Kentucky Derby favorites with his victory over Pulpit in the Florida Derby.

At 7-2, Funontherun, a shipper from Santa Anita, is second on the morning line. He will be ridden by Goncalino Almeida. Inexcessivelygood, who lost by three-quarters of a length to Funontherun in the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita, is 4-1 in the Beam’s 11-horse field. His rider is Chris McCarron.

Wayne Lukas and Nick Zito, who between them have won four of the last six runnings of the Derby, are each running two colts in the 1 1/8-mile race, but they’re all longshots. Lukas will saddle Twin Spires and Mercer Mill, and Zito’s duo is Shammy Davis and Jack Flash.

Others running are Celtic Warrior, Hoxie, Air Cool and Jules.

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Besides three broken ribs, Laffit Pincay also suffered a hairline fracture of the pelvis in Wednesday’s spill at Santa Anita. Pincay is scheduled to be released from Arcadia Methodist Hospital today.

The best estimate on the time he will be out of action is a month.

Horse Racing Notes

Traitor, making his season debut, won a $100,000 race in Ocala, Fla., by a head Monday, despite having lost a shoe coming out of the gate. His final prep for the May 3 Kentucky Derby is expected to be the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York on April 12. . . . Owner Allen Paulson and trainer Bill Mott, who raced Cigar, have a Derby prospect in Zede, who won last Sunday’s Tampa Bay Derby. His final test will be the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 12. . . . Captain Bodgit worked half a mile on a sloppy Hialeah track in 51 seconds Thursday and will be flown tonight to Maryland, where he will resume training for the Wood. . . . Add Swiss Yodeler to expected runners in the Santa Anita Derby on April 5.