DOESN'T MISTER FRISKY DESERVE A CITATION?

Byline: Kevin Modesti

At home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and in his construction company's offices, Jose Fernandez reads the horse-racing news from the mainland with a ticklish mixture of emotions. A little bit amused. A little bit sad.

He reads that on Saturday at Arlington International racecourse near Chicago, Cigar will be favored to capture his 16th consecutive victory, and that this would match a modern North American record for thoroughbreds.

Fernandez thinks back to 1989-90, when his colt Mister Frisky won 16 straight races, including the 4-1/2-length victory in the Santa Anita Derby that made him the favorite for the '90 Kentucky Derby. At the time, the newspapers said Mister Frisky's streak equaled Citation's record, set on tracks from Belmont Park to Santa Anita between 1948 and 1950.

But six short years later, Mister Frisky seems to have been forgotten, even by many of the people who write about horse racing for a living. The newspapers say things like this (from the Associated Press on Wednesday): ``If Cigar wins the Arlington Citation Challenge, a race created to attract the Horse of the Year, he will equal Citation's modern North American record of 16 consecutive wins.''

That is the conveniently simple storyline of this thoroughbred summer: Cigar, the best American racehorse of the past decade at least, chases Citation, by some estimations the greatest American racehorse - period.

Rarely a mention of Mister Frisky. Cigar is so clever he has made a horse disappear.

Fernandez doesn't understand. Or maybe he does.

``I'm not surprised,'' he said from his San Juan office. ``You know, the people are always checking the winners. Mister Frisky finished as a loser because he finished eighth in the (Kentucky) Derby and third in the Preakness.''

Of course there is more to it than the fact Mister Frisky lost the Derby, having entered the Triple Crown with the beginnings of the throat abscess that led to his retirement following a 1991 comeback attempt.

To the keepers of racing's flickering historical flame, where Mister Frisky started matters more than where he finished.

The first 13 races in Mister Frisky's streak - in his career, actually - took place in Puerto Rico against competition far inferior to anything Citation faced. Not until he came to California, to Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera's barn, was the horse Fernandez bought for $1,500 as an anniversary gift for his wife Marta tested against major-league horses.

He won the San Vicente and San Rafael stakes before the Santa Anita Derby romp, ridden each time by Gary Stevens.

``I think if anybody wanted to doubt his Puerto Rico record, the style he won those three races in California said they shouldn't,'' said Bill Giauque, bloodstock director at Silverleaf Farm in Florida, where Mister Frisky stands at stud, still looking for his first stake-quality offspring. ``He won in spectacular, underdog style. He earned a spot in racing fans' hearts.''

Giauque said he is uncomfortable ``begging for attention'' for Mister Frisky but thinks he is unfairly ignored.

``We're not trying to say he's as good a horse as Citation, but he did win 16 in a row,'' Giauque said.

For that matter, no fewer than 44 horses have posted winning streaks of 16 races or more worldwide, according to research by the weekly Thoroughbred Times, gleaned mostly from the 1988 ``Guiness Book of Horse Racing Records, Facts and Champions.'' They include Kincsem, the Hungarian filly who won 54 straight races in Europe in the 1870s, and Camarero, another Puerto Rican horse who won 56 in a row from 1953 to 1955.

Many news organizations have rationalized excluding horses like Camarero and Mister Frisky by referring to the ``North American record.'' The Daily Racing Form, accounting for the fact Cigar's 14th straight victory occurred far from North American in Dubai, recently changed its phrasing to ``Citation's modern-day record of 16 straight victories by a thoroughbred based in North America.''

The problem with both of those ways of saying it is that Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth 1,000 miles from Florida, is part of North America.

``I think the people in the States need to see more of our (racing) industry,'' said Fernandez, who still owns horses. ``They don't understand Puerto Rico has a very good horse racing track and industry.''

At El Commandante racetrack, the richest stakes purses are close to $100,000, and $4,500 claiming horses run for generous $9,000 purses - or $11,000 if they are Puerto Rico-bred.

Puerto Rico hasn't produced any Derby contenders since Mister Frisky. Or any 16-race streaks. But the quality of the island's racing isn't the issue. Fernandez has nothing against Citation or Cigar - ``one of the best horses I've seen in my life.'' It's just that 16 straight wins is an achievement that shouldn't be forgotten in six years.

``I'm not upset,'' Fernandez said. ``I had the horse. I enjoyed the horse. It doesn't change my experience. I don't care if people don't remember him. I'm going to remember him forever.''

MEMO: Staff Writer Kevin Modesti's horse racing column appears Fridays in the Daily News.

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Photo

Photo: This victory by Mister Frisky in the 1990 Santa Anit a Derby tied the modern-day record for longest-winning streak in North America.

Daily News file photo