Strange Ride for Bailey

For a jockey who is in the Hall of Fame, is making a mockery of the race for 2001 money title and has won five Triple Crown races, Jerry Bailey has bounced around in this year’s series. Bailey rode different horses in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, and will be on a third horse--still to be determined--in the Belmont Stakes two weeks from today.

Bailey’s first two Triple Crown mounts--Talk Is Money, who was last in the Kentucky Derby, and Congaree, third in the Preakness--are not running in the Belmont, and as of Friday, Frank Stronach, who owns Thunder Blitz, hadn’t made up his mind whether Bailey or Edgar Prado would ride his colt in the Belmont. Bailey and Prado are in an unusual position: When Stronach decides about Thunder Blitz, the jockey left out will move on to ride Dr Greenfield, an English horse that is making his U.S. debut in the Belmont.

Bailey, who has won the national money title four times since 1995, seems to be leaving nothing to chance this year after Pat Day beat him out for the title by only $11,148 in 2000. Bailey is currently on a record pace, with $10 million in purses, and he has practically lapped the rest of the field. Jorge Chavez, winner of the Kentucky Derby with Monarchos, is a distant second in the standings with $5.3 million.

Bailey rode Thunder Blitz early this year, but it’s since Prado took over that trainer Joe Orseno’s horse has blossomed in the last two months. With Prado aboard, Thunder Blitz’s first stakes win came in the Flamingo at Hialeah in April. In the Derby, Thunder Blitz went off at 25-1--the consensus was that he beat no one of consequence at Hialeah--but he finished fourth under Prado and then skipped the Preakness.

Likely for the Belmont are Preakness winner Point Given, along with Monarchos, A P Valentine, Balto Star, Buckle Down Ben, Dollar Bill, Dr Greenfield, Invisible Ink and Thunder Blitz.

A busy holiday stakes weekend at Hollywood Park begins today, when Tranquility Lake will try to win the Gamely Handicap for the second time in three years. Trainer Julio Canani’s 6-year-old mare, who has earned $1.1 million, will carry high weight of 124 pounds, five more than she toted while winning the Gamely in 1999.

Tranquility Lake didn’t run in the Gamely last year, when Astra beat favored Happyanunoit by half a length. Happyanunoit is back today, under 121 pounds, as she makes her first start since running third in the Matriarch on Nov. 26. Happyanunoit ended last year with a four-race losing streak, last winning when she captured the Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood almost 11 months ago.

Canani, who has won the Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile the last two years with Silic, will saddle a longshot when Bing Bang runs Monday in the $350,000 grass stake. Canani’s best shots at winning the the Shoemaker--Ladies Din and Val Royal--are on the sidelines.

This is the field for the Shoemaker, in post-position order: Hollycombe, Bing Bang, Irish Prize, Lake William, All The Gears, Native Desert, Spinelessjellyfish, Touch Of The Blues, Brahms and Fateful Dream.

Caller One, whose last race was a convincing win in the $2-million Dubai Golden Shaheen Stakes in the United Arab Emirates on March 24, drew the inside post in the $100,000 Los Angeles Handicap at six furlongs Sunday.