Pincay Gets to Meet of the Matter

With Bill Shoemaker’s old record now his, Laffit Pincay is homing in on more modest goals, starting with the riding championship at the current Hollywood Park meet.

“I’m going to go for it,” Pincay said. “I’m a fighter. I’m going to be trying, and if I win it, it will be great for me.”

Winning his first race since he broke the Shoemaker record of 8,833 wins by riding Irish Nip to victory on Friday, Pincay teamed with trainer Richard Mandella again in Saturday’s third race. Mandella, who trains Irish Nip, saddled Minor Details and Pincay rode the heavily favored 2-year-old filly to a 1 1/2-length win, the 8,835th of his career.

That was also Pincay’s 23rd win for the first 24 days of the 31-day meet, which ties him in the Hollywood standings with Pat Valenzuela. Meet titles used to be routine for Pincay--he has won 13 each at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita--but the last time he won one was when he bagged 66 races in the longer spring-summer meet in 1991. Pincay still holds the Hollywood Park record, 148 wins during a 76-day meet in 1974.

Minor Details, who broke her maiden in her fifth start when Alex Solis rode her to victory at Hollywood on Nov. 19, gave Pincay his third win for Mandella at the meet. Their richest victory together was Lazy Lode’s win in the $400,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 4.

“Laffit is one of my role models, one of my heroes,” Mandella said. “It was a great honor to be part of [his 8,834th win]. Before Friday, somebody asked me if helping Laffit break the record would be as big as winning a Breeders’ Cup race. I said it wouldn’t be that big, but when [Irish Nip] got to the eighth pole, it was that big. I’m hoarse from yelling that horse home.”

Mandella said, however, that it’s unlikely that Pincay will ride Irish Nip in his next race. Pincay was able to ride the colt Friday after jockey Brice Blanc gave Mandella the OK to switch jockeys. Blanc had ridden Irish Nip to a fifth-place finish in his only start.

“I’d have to think that Brice will be back on the horse,” Mandella said. “It’s only fair, after how gracious he was in giving up the mount for Laffit.”

Even as hot as Pincay is, it’s unlikely he could have found a horse to stop Manistique had he had a mount in Saturday’s $150,000 Bayakoa Handicap. Winning the stake for the second consecutive year and remaining undefeated at Hollywood, Manistique disposed of six other fillies and mares in a three-length cakewalk.

Manistique ran the worst race of her career, finishing last in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Gulfstream Park last month, but her owner, Marshall Naify of 505 Farms, said Saturday that she bled significantly in the hot Florida weather and that compromised her chances.

Both Naify and Manistique’s trainer, John Shirreffs, said that the Bayakoa might be her last race. If so, she’ll go out with a record of 10 wins, one second and one third in 14 starts and earnings of almost $1.2 million after Saturday’s $90,000 payday. All but one of her four losses came outside California; at Hollywood, the huge 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled and Astaire Step is six for six, and she’s also undefeated in four starts at Santa Anita.

Becoming the first double winner of the Bayakoa, Manistique carried 124 pounds, spotting the opposition between seven and 12 pounds, and ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43. She paid $3.20. Snowberg finished second, a length ahead of Riboletta.

“We’ll take it a step at a time,” said Naify, answering a question about sending Manistique to the breeding shed. “We’ll consider the situation at the end of the year.”

Corey Nakatani rode Manistique.

“You can’t really count her race in the Breeders’ Cup,” Nakatani said. “This shows what kind of a good filly she is, coming back after a depressing race and showing her class.”

Shirreffs said the decision on Manistique’s possible retirement is Naify’s. If the trainer had a vote, she’d be running some more in 2000.

“I’d hate to look down that shed row and not see her big head sticking out of the stall,” Shirreffs said.

Earlier on the card, the Naify-Shirreffs combination, this time with jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, won a maiden race for well-bred, high-priced 2-year-old colts with David Copperfield, a son of Halo, making his debut. Finishing second was another first-time starter, Fusaichi Pegasus, a Mr. Prospector colt who brought $4 million at a Keeneland auction last year.

“He’s one we’ve got hopes for,” Naify said. “We’re hoping that he shows more talent come January.”

Horse Racing Notes

General Challenge, a Breeders’ Cup disappointment when he ran 10th in the Classic at 5-1, taking himself out of horse-of-the-year contention, is the 3-5 morning-line favorite in today’s Native Diver Handicap. Chris McCarron, who has won the Native Diver six times, will ride the Pacific Classic and Santa Anita Derby winner for the first time. . . . Isaias Enriquez’s two winners Saturday paid $51 and $87.20. . . . Danny Sorenson, riding for owner Richard Duggan and trainer Kathy Walsh, won the $75,000 Paradise Mile with Ward Hunt at Turf Paradise.