A CLASSY CONFRONTATION : TRAINERS MOTT, MANDELLA HAVE FRIENDLY RIVALRY GOING.Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer The spectacle of the 1996 Pacific Classic might never be duplicated. But Cigar, the winner of 16 straight races, and Dare and Go, his 39-1 upsetter here Sunday, are scheduled to meet again. And this won't be the last time - far from it - that their trainers match wits in a major race. Bill Mott and Richard Mandella Richard Mandella (born November 5, 1950 in Beaumont, California) is a Thoroughbred horse trainer and a member of the Racing Hall of Fame. Mandella's father, a blacksmith, introduced him to horses at an early age and while still in high school he began breaking and training , whose low-key, back-to-basics horsemanship horsemanship: see equestrianism. horsemanship Art of training, riding, and handling horses. Good horsemanship requires that a rider control the animal's direction, gait, and speed with maximum effectiveness and minimum effort. makes them perhaps the most respected fortysomething trainers on their coasts, have been forging a rivalry as well as a mutual-admiration society this year. Mott's Cigar frustrated Mandella's Soul of the Matter in the Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Horse Racing Authority (EHRA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in March. Mandella's Siphon siphon (sī`fən, –fŏn), tube through which a liquid is lifted over an elevation by the pressure of the atmosphere and is then emptied at a lower level. upset Mott's Geri in the Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. in June. And then came Sunday's $1 million race, which drew a record 44,181 fans to Del Mar and a record 31,020 to the satellites. Mott seemed to take some consolation in knowing it was Mandella who beat him in the historic race, which kept Cigar from breaking Citation's 20th Century record for consecutive victories by a U.S.-based thoroughbred. He elbowed his way through a crowd of reporters to shake Mandella's hand and offer, ``Congratulations,'' something Mandella said few trainers would do. ``They (Cigar's connections) were so classy about it,'' he said Sunday morning, back at work at his Del Mar barn, next to Bill Shoemaker's, Cigar's home for 64 hours. ``Billy came over and congratulated me. Madeleine (Paulson, the breeder-owner's wife) came over to the barn and gave me a big hug. ``They took it better than I would have.'' Mott said he was just returning a favor. ``They had been gracious when we won in Dubai,'' Mott explained at 6 a.m. Sunday, shortly after Cigar clambered onto a van bound for Ontario Airport and a flight home to Saratoga. ``We cost them a heartbreaker heart·break·er n. 1. One that causes sorrow, grief, or disappointment: "one young and chaste, the other a dissolute heartbreaker of 48; one prim, the other passionate" over there. Between Richard and (Soul of the Matter's owner) Burt Bacharach, they looked almost as happy as we were. ``I just wanted to be as classy as they were.'' Mandella, the 46-year-old son of a Beaumont, Calif., blacksmith, wouldn't go so far as to say he sees some of himself in Mott, 43, a South Dakotan whose father was a veterinarian veterinarian /vet·er·i·nar·i·an/ (vet?er-i-nar´e-an) a person trained and authorized to practice veterinary medicine and surgery; a doctor of veterinary medicine. vet·er·i·nar·i·an n. . ``But I respect Bill tremendously,'' said Mandella, who has known Mott off and on for 18 years, though they are based 2,500 miles apart and are not close friends. ``He's the Rock of Gibraltar. He's the all-American man. He doesn't have anybody telling him what to do. . . . ``I like the way he handles himself and I surely like the way he trains horses. He doesn't look like the world's falling apart when a horse gets beat.'' This will be the quiet counterpoint to the D. Wayne Lukas-Nick Zito Triple Crown rivalry. Mott is only now warming up to the press - which voted him the 1995 Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer. Mandella's wit is masked by a cautious nature. Mandella, who said he enjoyed watching the crowds outside Cigar's barn the past few days, said he didn't resent the conventional wisdom that Dare and Go was not the better horse but the beneficiary of a fast pace that cooked third-place Siphon and the 1-10 favorite. ``I don't have a problem with somebody looking at it like that,'' he said. ``I think the pace had a lot to do with it.'' Mott clearly wants a Cigar-Dare and Go rematch. But he laid down no brash challenge. ``I hope he comes the next two or three times we run,'' said Mott, who said Cigar, if he's as healthy as he appeared Sunday, would race in the Sept. 14 Woodward and/or the Oct. 5 Jockey Club Gold Cup The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers - both races are at Belmont Park - before the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. at Woodbine woodbine, name for several vines, among them honeysuckle and Virginia creeper. woodbine Any of many species of vines belonging to various flowering-plant families, especially the Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, family Vitaceae) of in Toronto. ``We've got to get our reputation back.'' Mandella, wary of Cigar despite the 3-1/2-length margin Saturday, said he would avoid sending Dare and Go up against the 1995 Horse of the Year before the Breeders' Cup. Dare and Go would probably use the Oct. 5 Goodwood, at Santa Anita, as his prep. The future was less clear for Tinners Way, the 1994 and '95 Pacific Classic winner who was pulled to a stop by Eddie Delahoussaye. The 6-year-old son of Secretariat was reported Saturday to have a minor right-ankle injury, but trainer Bobby Frankel said the next morning that X-rays showed no problem. Frankel said a new shoe, meant to protect an old abscess abscess, localized inflamation associated with tissue necrosis. Abscesses are characterized by inflamation, which is due to the accumulation of pus in the local tissues, and often painful swelling. , might have caused Tinners Way to bobble bob·ble v. bob·bled, bob·bling, bob·bles v.intr. To bob up and down. v.tr. To lose one's grip on (a ball, for example) momentarily. n. A mistake or blunder. , though ``that hasn't been a problem before.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1) Mott (2) Mandella |
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