Drysdale Plays Hot Hand in Opener

These aren’t Grade I races by any means, but trainer Neil Drysdale will still be in the thick of them today when Hollywood Park opens its 31-day fall meeting with two modest stakes.

Hollywood Park’s second season doesn’t heat up until later, with the turf festival over Thanksgiving weekend and three Grade I’s in mid-December. Until then, Drysdale will try to add to an already exceptional year by running three horses today in two stakes--the Itsallgreektome for 3-year-olds and the Steinlen Handicap for older horses. Both races are on the grass, where Drysdale has done most of his serious winning in 1998.

Drysdale is running two 5-year-olds--Prize Giving and Tamhid--in the Steinlen, and he’ll saddle Bodyguard in the Itsallgreektome. Tamhid and Bodyguard are newcomers to the Drysdale barn, Tamhid making his first start after being based in New York and Bodyguard starting for the second time under Drysdale after a career in England.

Drysdale didn’t win any Breeders’ Cup races last Saturday at Churchill Downs, but all three of his horses ran well. Gold Lane, who broke slowly, was fourth in the $1-million Sprint, and Hawksley Hill and Labeeb were 2-3 in the $1-million Mile. Hawksley Hill, who was last, about 10 lengths from the lead, at the quarter pole, looked like a winner in the final strides, but Da Hoss came back after giving up the lead and won by a head.

“I’m very proud of [Hawksley Hill and Labeeb],” Drysdale said. “They both ran very well. Labeeb got taken wide [after starting from No. 13 in the 14-horse field] and the ground may have been a little bit too soft for him.”

Labeeb, who was on a three-race winning streak in some widely spaced races, was considered Drysdale’s biggest threat in the Mile, but it was Hawksley Hill, at 15-1, who almost kept Da Hoss from winning the Mile for a second time.

“I made all the right decisions,” said Alex Solis, who rode Hawksley Hill. “Unfortunately, we ran into Da Hoss. He’s such a competitor. We put a neck in front and he came back on us.”

The next day, Drysdale won the $500,000 Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita with Fiji, who probably clinched an Eclipse Award for females on grass with her sixth win in seven starts this year. Fiji could be the only 1998 Eclipse Award winner who didn’t run in the Breeders’ Cup, unless Real Quiet outpoints Victory Gallop in the voting for best 3-year-old colt.

Fiji, a 4-year-old, is expected to continue racing next year and might even run again this year in the $700,000 Matriarch at Hollywood Park on Nov. 29.

“She came out of the Yellow Ribbon in excellent shape,” Drysdale said. “We are considering the Matriarch, but the ultimate decision will be made by her owner [Prince Fahd Salman of Saudi Arabia].”

Hawksley Hill, Labeeb and Gold Land earned $381,600 at Churchill Downs, and Fiji’s share of the Yellow Ribbon purse was $300,000. They’re the big winners in the Drysdale barn, having accounted for 45% of the $6 million the trainer’s horses have earned. Drysdale ranks fourth nationally on the money list, behind Bob Baffert, Bill Mott and Wayne Lukas. Baffert has sewed up the title with $13.2 million in purses.

Without winning a race, Drysdale protected his fifth-place standing in Breeders’ Cup purses. Since the Breeders’ Cup’s inception in 1984, Drysdale horses have earned $4.9 million, with five wins, three seconds and one third in 19 starts.

Drysdale has won 23 stakes in Southern California, Kent Desormeaux riding 17 of them. Today, Desormeaux will ride Tamhid for the first time and he rides Bodyguard in the Itsallgreektome, after they finished second behind Captain Collins in an $80,000 claiming race at Santa Anita on Oct. 23.

Six of the 16 Southern California stakes worth $300,000 or more this year will be run at Hollywood’s fall meet: The $300,000 Citation Handicap on Nov. 28, the $700,000 Matriarch and the $500,000 Early Times Hollywood Derby on Nov. 29, the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup and the $400,000 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 12 and the $400,000 Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 13.

Horse Racing Notes

The meet runs through Dec. 21. There will be racing Wednesday through Sunday, plus the Monday closing day. . . . There’s a change in the Friday-night schedule. After nighttime programs this Friday and on Nov. 20, the other four Fridays will be run in the afternoon. Post time is 12:30 p.m., except for 7 p.m. for the two Fridays and 11 a.m. on Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day.

Sharp Cat, knocked out of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff with a near-fatal case of muscle cramps, has been retired. . . . Chris McCarron leads the Southern California circuit with 35 stakes wins this year. Corey Nakatani is the local leader in overall wins with 198. Nakatani has won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint the last three years, with Reraise, Elmhurst and Lit De Justice. The only other jockey with three straight wins in the same race is Jerry Bailey, whose Classic wins in 1993-95 came with Arcangues, Concern and Cigar. . . . Michael Dickinson, who trains De Hoss, plans to run Cetewayo, the sixth-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, in the Hollywood Turf Cup. . . . Flawless, running in today’s seventh race for a $20,000 claiming price, has won seven of 12 starts this year. The 5-year-old gelding has been claimed twice in 1998 and will be saddled today by Julio Canani.

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Hollywood Park Fall Meeting

* WHEN: Today through Dec. 21

* RACING: Wednesday through Sunday, plus Monday closing day.

* POST TIME: 12:30 p.m.

* SPECIAL POST TIMES: 7 p.m. Nov. 13 and 20; 11 a.m. Nov. 26.

* TURF FESTIVAL: Nov. 27-29, headed by Grade I stakes Matriarch ($700,000) and Early Times Hollywood Derby ($500,000) on Nov. 29.