Frankel Is on the Money Again

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s rapid-fire streak in million-dollar races continued Sunday when Riviera, a French-bred 6-year-old who could only win at Del Mar because of a disqualification, needed no help from the stewards in capturing the $1-million Atto Mile at Woodbine in suburban Toronto.

Riviera’s victory, at 10-1, gave Frankel three wins in races worth $4 million in the last 23 days. On Aug. 19, Frankel saddled Chester House to win the $2-million Arlington Million, and the 59-year-old Hall of Fame trainer came back a week later to win the $1-million Pacific Classic with Skimming at Del Mar.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Frankel said. “I don’t smile much, but this keeps me smiling.”

Beating Arkadian Hero by a nose Sunday, Riviera earned $600,000 for owner Edmund Gann of Rancho Santa Fe. Skimming’s purse here was also $600,000, and Chester House, who has since been retired because of injury, earned $1.2 million at Arlington International.

Gann, 66, teamed with Frankel to win another million-dollar race, the Japan Cup, with Pay The Butler in 1988.

“Bobby bought this horse in Europe,” Gann said. “It was a very competitive field, but I wasn’t overwhelmed by the win. This horse is very competitive.”

Counting the Japan Cup, Frankel has won nine races worth $1 million or more. The record for most million-dollar wins in one year in North America is four, set by Shug McGaughey in 1989 and equaled by Wayne Lukas last year. There are 10 million-dollar races left in North America this year, eight of them on Breeders’ Cup day at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4. Although Frankel’s horses have earned $3.2 million in the Breeders’ Cup, none of his 34 starters has won. Frankel will probably run several horses in this year’s Breeders’ Cup, including Riviera in the Mile.

“A mile is stretching it for this horse,” Frankel said. “That’s the farthest he’s ever run. He’s run four times at a mile and won three, but every one has been really close. He’s a fighter.”

Both of Riviera’s stakes wins in the U.S. came via disqualification, after the stewards took down American Spirit’s number in the Wickerr Handicap here on Aug. 4, and after Kahal was moved down for interference in the Morvich Handicap at Santa Anita last November.

John Velazquez, riding Riviera for the first time, had just returned to action Friday after cracking a collarbone in a spill at Saratoga on Aug. 4.

Riviera, who missed the track record by one-fifth of a second, running in 1:33 on a course labeled firm, was seventh after a half-mile, but moved to the front at the top of the stretch. Arkadian Hero, who was 21-1, just missed at the wire, finishing 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Affirmed Success. Ladies Din, another Del Mar shipper who went off as the 19-10 favorite, was fourth.

Frankel’s other horse in the race, the filly Honest Lady, finished seventh at 6-1.

Notes

Walkslikeaduck, tying the track record on grass for 1 1/8 miles, came home in 1:46 3/5 to win the Del Mar Derby by 2 1/2 lengths over favored Purely Cozzene. The record had been set by Al Mamoon, a 5-year-old, in the 1986 Eddie Read Handicap. Walkslikeaduck, who carried 121 pounds, the same as Al Mamoon, gave Eddie Delahoussaye his fifth win in the Derby. The only other jockey to win the race five times is Laffit Pincay. Walkslikeaduck, who went off at 7-1, notched his third win and first in a stake for trainer Paddy Gallagher. . . . This is the field, in post-position order, for Wednesday’s closing-day Del Mar Futurity: Learing At Kathy, Meetyouatthebrig, Revelling, Street Cry, Glorious Bid, High Cascade, Flame Thrower, Arabian Light and Squirtle Squirt. . . . At Belmont Park, Gaviola, ridden by Jerry Bailey, scored her sixth consecutive win by taking the $250,000 Garden City Breeders’ Cup Handicap by three lengths.