AT TIMES IT DOESN'T ADD UP NUMBERS GAME EXPOSED.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Horse Racing 

INGLEWOOD - This is about the happiest racetrack news of the week, the saddest racetrack news of the week, and what both say about the worth - or worthlessness - of raw statistics.

In Bossier, La., there's an undefeated 3-year-old filly named Hallowed Dreams who will try to match the record of Citation and Cigar with a 16th consecutive victory when she faces four other sprinters Saturday in the $40,000 Dixie Miss Stakes at Louisiana Downs.

At Hollywood Park, there was a 5-year-old gelding named Nationalore who was winless when he suffered a fatal injury Wednesday in his 26th career start.

The two horses had nothing to do with each other except for this oddity: The undefeated filly has earned $366,429, and the winless gelding had earned $318,227. Remarkably little difference, considering.

So much for measuring horses by counting wins or money. Hallowed Dreams, who has won a lot of cheap races, isn't as good as her historic streak suggests and might be better than her modest earnings indicate. Nationalore, who lost a lot of rich races, wasn't as good as his earnings suggest or as bad as his winning percentage.

Their stats are skewed because they're among the more strangely managed horses in memory.

Hallowed Dreams has never faced anything but Louisiana-breds, has never run in a graded stakes and has never gone longer than 6 1/2 furlongs. She wins her races by daylight.

``I want to break this record in Louisiana if we do,'' Lloyd Romero, her trainer, told the Associated Press. ``It's good for Louisiana trainers and it's good for Louisiana jockeys. It's a record that if we establish, it will be a long time before it's broken. She's good for the sport.''

Is it proper that Hallowed Dreams could share a line with Citation and Cigar in the racing record book (if she wins Saturday, and if some enlightened soul publishes a racing record book)?

``Those were good horses. I have a good horse,'' Romero said. ``We train for the pleasure of running our horses. If we get a record, it comes. If not, there will be another race for her.''

Romero said he might test Hallowed Dreams against tougher competition next year.

Nationalore spent his entire career racing against tougher competition than he should have.

Bred, owned and trained by Myung Kwon Cho, a 58-year-old native of Seoul, South Korea, the son of Video Ranger and Romantic Jet earned $120,000 by finishing third in the 1997 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Hollywood Park in his ninth start, and later ran sixth in the Santa Anita Derby and ninth in the Kentucky Derby. He finished with seven seconds and seven thirds.

Nationalore met the most unfortunate kind of end in Wednesday's sixth race at Hollywood Park. He had to be euthanized after clipping heels with Dramatic Show in the first turn, falling and fracturing his right shoulder.

Leading apprentice Tyler Baze dislocated a finger in the fall and was off his scheduled mounts Thursday.

``He was a real, real sound horse, a really gentle horse,'' Cho said Thursday after saddling another of his 18 horses. ``What can I say?''

Say it's too bad Nationalore never got to visit a winner's circle and goes to his grave with the dubious distinction of being the nation's richest maiden.

``It was my problem (fault),'' said Cho, a former clothes exporter who got into racing more than a decade ago. ``I put him in too-high conditions early in his career. If you ask me, I will tell you, that horse was my teacher. I learned a lot from him.''

We all could. From Nationalore and from Hallowed Dreams. The lesson is that numbers don't tell the story.

--The joy of six: Twice in the past week, Hollywood Park has been reminded that the most powerful marketing ploy in horse racing is one it can't plan - the pick-six carryover.

A record two-day carryover of $713,923 drew 12,110 fans to Hollywood Park last Friday night, nearly 1,900 more than the previous Friday. A record one-day carryover of $376,152 drew 7,094 to the track Wednesday, nearly 1,700 more than the most recent Wednesday.

Total wagering on those cards was $10.8 million on Friday, up $3.8 million, and $9.7 million on Wednesday, up $2.1 million.

Wednesday's carryover contributed to a total pick-six pool of $1.4 million and payoffs of $39,523 for each of 30 perfect tickets.

--The weekend: Eight-year-old River Keen goes into Saturday's Bel Air Handicap with a chance to be the oldest horse to win a stakes at Hollywood Park since Letthebighossroll won the 1996 Answer Do at the same age. But he might have to wait until he's even older.

River Keen, ridden by Victor Espinoza and assigned a race-high 122 pounds, seven more than he carried when he won the 1999 Bel Air, might not be as sharp as possible for his first start since finishing 11th in the Breeders' Cup last November. His competition in the 1 1/16-mile Bel Air includes Prime Timber, Patience Game and Crows, the former Eddie Gregson-trained horse making his first appearance for Vladimir Cerin.

The Bob Baffert barn said River Keen, another claiming horse made good, is being pointed for another try in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Corey Nakatani and Kent Desormeaux will be out of town Saturday to ride in Miami at Calder's ``Summit of Speed'' program of sprint races. A $1 pick-four will be offered.

--Doing well: Eddie Delahoussaye, who hasn't been riding this week as his wife Juanita recovers from surgery to repair an aneurysm near her brain, is scheduled to return to the track aboard Prime Timber in the Bel Air on Saturday.

Juanita Delahoussaye has been reported stable since the operation Monday in Los Angeles.

OUT OF THE GATE

HOLLYWOOD PARK LEADERS

Jockeys

Victor Espinoza 53 wins

Corey Nakatani 44

Laffit Pincay 35

David Flores  34

Kent Desormeaux 30

Trainers

Bob Baffert 20

Clifford Sise 19

Bobby Frankel 17

Richard Mandella 16

Vladimir Cerin 14

PINCAY UPDATE

Laffit Pincay's victory aboard Mikala's Star on Wednesday gave him wins on six of the past seven Hollywood Park programs and extended his career-record total to 8,942.

STAKES SCHEDULE

Hollywood Park

Saturday

$150,000 Bel Air Handicap

3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles

Sunday

$100,000 Robert Kerlan Memorial Handicap

3-year-olds and up, 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

Belmont Park

Saturday

$250,000 New York Handicap 

fillies and mares 3 and up, 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Calder

Saturday

$400,000 Princess Rooney Handicap 

fillies and mares 3 and up, 6 furlongs.

Thistledown 

Saturday

$300,000 Ohio Derby

3-year-olds,1 1/8 miles.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Jerry Hollendorfer became the seventh trainer with 3,000 victories when Boss Ego won the Alameda Handicap at Pleasanton on Sunday. Russell Baze rode Boss Ego, which is fitting since Baze won his 7,000th with a Hollendorfer-trained horse July 4. . . . Frank Stronach said he has bought land in Dixon, 20 miles west of Sacramento, on which to build a training center, a facility he hopes will develop into a racetrack to eventually replace Bay Meadows. . . . Early Pioneer joined the NTRA rankings at No. 10 after his Hollywood Gold Cup victory. Gold Cup runner-up General Challenge remained ahead of him at No. 7. Golden Missile is No. 1 in the media survey. . . . Gold Cup-winning jockey Victor Espinoza added four victories Thursday to take command of the Hollywood Park standings with nine days left in the meet. . . . General Challenge earned enough points in the Gold Cup to tie Golden Missile for first place in the ``NTRA Champions on Fox'' as that series nears its conclusion with the Aug. 6 Whitney Handicap. . . . Speaking of NTRA series (isn't everybody?): Something called ``The NTRA 2-year-old Challenge'' will begin in September and include the Sept. 13 Del Mar Futurity, the Oct. 7 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita and the climactic Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. The big payoffs: a $250,000 bonus to a horse who wins any of the first seven races and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile; $1 million more if that horse goes on to win the Kentucky Derby.

- Kevin Modesti

CAPTION(S):

box

Box: Out of the gate (see text)