Pincay Back as a Cinema Star

To say the least, jockey Laffit Pincay had gone a long time between victories in the Cinema Handicap.

Not since scoring with Bad ‘N Big in 1977 had the world’s winningest rider won the Grade III Cinema until he got the money Sunday at Hollywood Park with 4-1 fourth choice Sligo Bay.

An Irish-bred who had won one of five starts in his native land before coming to the United States, Sligo Bay rallied strongly in the final furlong to beat 3-1 second choice Learing At Kathy by a length in 1:48 2/5 for the 1 1/8 miles on turf.

This was the second stakes victory of the weekend for Pincay, who won the Nursery on Saturday with heavily-favored Fertile. On top of the jockey standings with 28 victories, Pincay now has four stakes triumphs at Hollywood Park, two behind leader Chris McCarron.

“I really didn’t know anything about this horse other than what [jockey] Alex Solis told me,” Pincay said. “Alex had been working him and told me he was pretty nice.

“The trainer [Beau Greely] said the horse had been training well and he had run some good races in Europe. He told me to lay behind the speed and make one run. Boy, did he. He came flying.”

Owned by Columbine Stable, Sligo Bay, who raced with Lasix for the first time, had been placed in three consecutive Group races in Ireland before coming to California.

Learing At Kathy, who got the lead inside the eighth pole and looked to be on his way to his third career victory, finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of 19-10 favorite Marine. Pacesetter Macabe faded to fourth, then came Sigfreto, Media Mogul and Resolve.

“The summer goal is the Secretariat, a Grade I at Arlington,” Greely said. “He ran super. We thought he would run well, but I just wasn’t sure because he hadn’t run since last October.”

Owners Denny Boer and Dr. James Streelman, who race under the stable name Dutch Masters III, won the Kindergarten Futurity for a second consecutive year Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Emulating Secret Card in 2000, Sassy Smith remained unbeaten with a three-quarter-length victory over Dont Dink With Me in :15.40 for the 300 yards.

The even-money favorite trained by Jaime Gomez, Sassy Smith is perfect in three starts and is eligible for a $1-million bonus. She will collect the money if she winsthe Ed Burke Memorial Futurity on July 28 and the Los Alamitos Million on Dec. 15.

Ridden by Oscar Andrade, Sassy Smith earned $165,018 of the $329,900 Kindergarten purse, which made it the richest running of the race since 1987.

“We’ve tried to win this race for 15 years and we’ve always come up short,” said Boer, who, along with Streelman, now has a third partner in Dutch Masters III in Doug Benson. “Now, we’ve won it two years in a row and we’re absolutely thrilled.”

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Rather than take on the boys in the $350,000 Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile a week from today, Tranquility Lake will start as the 124-pound highweight in the $250,000 Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Saturday. Among those who will oppose her in the Grade I are Happyanunoit, who has been idle since finishing third in the Matriarch last November, Kalypso Katie, Beautiful Noise and Rare Charmer. . . . There is speculation that Hollywood Park will increase the purse of the Hollywood Oaks from $150,000 to $500,000 if both Golden Ballet, who won the Railbird Stakes on Saturday, and Kentucky Oaks winner Flute run in the race. The Oaks is July 14.