IS IT TIME FOR A TOTAL ECLIPSE?; NITPICKING ASIDE, STEVENS IS WORTHY OF BEST JOCKEY AWARD.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing

Is this the year Gary Stevens finally wins the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding jockey?

It could depend on which version of the ``official'' statistics is mailed to Eclipse voters at season's end.

Stevens, who is based here in Southern California, ranks first in earnings with more than $18.8 million in purses this year, according to the list put out by the Equibase Company under the auspices of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

But he's only third, with $16.2 million, behind Kentucky's Pat Day ($17.2 million) and New York's Jerry Bailey ($17 million), in the list published more widely by the Daily Racing Form.

The difference is that the Racing Form doesn't count races run outside North America, costing Stevens credit for Silver Charm's $2.4 million victory in the Dubai World Cup last March and other foreign earnings.

Earnings isn't the definitive statistic when it comes to comparing jockeys - there is no definitive statistic - but it's the first one the voting reporters and racing executives are likely to read. Thus, the Racing Form and the NTRA have a decision to make.

``We're trying to find ways to unify all the data,'' said Irwin Cohen, a Racing Form senior vice president, whose goal is ``a level playing field.''

Although the Eclipse is for North American jockeys, voters won't be out of line if they consider the results of the Dubai World Cup, which has emerged the past few years as one of the sport's biggest events and always draws top U.S. horses and riders.

``I don't see how you really can overlook a race like the Dubai World Cup when one of the leading horses (Silver Charm) in the United States is going over there,'' said Chris Scherf, executive VP of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, which runs the Eclipse voting.

One solution is to give riders credit for purses earned when they ride North America-based horses overseas but not when they ride foreign-based horses overseas. That way, Stevens' Dubai World Cup money would count, because 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm is all American, but the $250,000 Stevens earned in the Dubai Duty Free the same week would not, because he won that race aboard an Arab-based horse.

But such a policy would require judgment calls and produce more controversy than it prevents.

More likely, Cohen said, the keepers of the racing statistics will agree to include the Dubai World Cup and the Dubai among about a dozen foreign races ``in which Americans routinely ride.''

Then, it will be up to Eclipse voters to decide which of each jockey's accomplishments to consider.

Which is how it works when voters compare the horses who are up for divisional Eclipse Awards. Horses' foreign races are included in the Racing Form past-performance charts that are mailed with the ballots.

Stevens, 35, was voted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1997 but has never won an Eclipse, although he's been close, coming in second to Jose Santos in 1990 and to Bailey more recently.

He has three factors going for him in '98:

All of his important numbers compare well with the other contenders. His horses' earnings per race ($22,481, if you include Dubai) dwarf Bailey's $16,575 and Day's $14,051. His million-dollar victories (five) dwarf Bailey's two and Day's one. And although Bailey leads with 14 Grade I wins, five of those came aboard Skip Away, two involved Banshee Breeze and two involved Escena; Stevens' six Grade I wins involved six different horses.

Stevens did well in the brightest spotlights, riding two winners on Breeders' Cup Day and riding Victory Gallop to a dramatic win over Real Quiet and Kent Desormeaux in the Belmont Stakes.

Voters might be tired of Bailey, who has won the award the past three years, an Eclipse record for jockeys.

Coincidentally, Stevens is out of the country again this week, riding in Japan before returning to Hollywood Park on Sunday to ride Manistique in the Bayakoa Handicap. Will the Japan earnings count? We'll have to wait and see.

The weekend: The race that produced Hollywood Park's first-ever walkover in 1997 might be close to a one-horse race in '98.

Last year, Sharp Cat circled the track alone to win the Bayakoa Handicap. Sunday, Manistique might have only two opponents in the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares.

Victory Stripes and India Divina, South America-breds who have yet to win a stakes in this country, are the only other confirmed starters.

Manistique was the nation's hottest 3-year-old after she won her first three races, including the Hollywood Oaks, by a combined 31 lengths. But she has been sidelined because of a throat infection since finishing third to Banshee Breeze in the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga in August.

``We obviously have big plans for her,'' said John Shirreffs, who trains the huge daughter of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled for owner Marshall Naify. ``But, for now, we just want to get her through (the Bayakoa).''

Not much will stand in her way.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Hollywood Park leaders: Jockeys (through Wednesday): Alex Solis, 14 winners; Garrett Gomez, 12; Eddie Delahoussaye, 11; Kent Desormeaux, 9; David Flores, Chris McCarron and Ariel Smith, 7. Trainers: Ron McAnally, 7; Neil Drysdale, 6; Paul Aguirre, Bob Baffert and Richard Mandella, 5.

Handicapper helper: Post-time favorites have won only three of the 16 stakes races, including only one of 10 on turf, at Hollywood Park this season.

Upcoming stakes: At Hollywood Park: Saturday, $70,000 Waya Stakes, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/2 miles on turf; Sunday, $100,000 Bayakoa Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1 1/16 miles.

Mileposts: Total purses for non-stakes races at the Dec. 26-April 19 Santa Anita meet will increase more than $2 million because of the tax relief granted to the state's tracks. Santa Anita and Thoroughbred Owners of California estimated non-stakes purses will exceed $25 million. Stakes purses will total more than $10 million, including the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 6 and the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3. . . . Jockey Linda Hughes remained in stable condition but paralyzed from the waist down Thursday, two days after a fall at Calder Race Course in Miami. Hughes, 34, was scheduled for spinal surgery today. . . . Real Connection, the popular one-eyed mare, has officially been retired following her second-place finish behind Squeak in the Matriarch on Sunday. She earned $1.2 million, winning seven of 72 starts. . . . Breeders' Cup Turf winner Buck's Boy will take a winter break rather than travel here for the Dec. 12 Hollywood Turf Cup. But runner-up Yagli will be here with Bill Mott stablemate Rice for the 1-1/2-mile race. . . . The field for the Hollywood Futurity - also Dec. 12 - is expected to include eastern-based Tactical Cat, Norfolk winner Buck Trout and Hollywood Prevue winner Premier Property. . . . Russell Baze, who only recently joined the top 10 in career victories, passed Larry Snyder for ninth place when he rode No. 6,389 last week at Golden Gate Fields. Baze, 40, was then 53 behind eighth-place Sandy Hawley. . . . Laffit Pincay watch: His win Wednesday aboard Media Beach was No. 8,665, putting him 168 from Bill Shoemaker's record. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye is within 23 wins of the 6,000 mark. . . . Del Mar Futurity winner Worldly Manner, the most watched Kentucky Derby prospect since he was bought for $5 million by Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed, is in that country and will start training soon under Saeed bin Suroor. . . . Churchill Downs continued to thrive, posting per-day attendance and wagering increases of about 20 percent at its recent fall meet - not even counting the huge Breeders' Cup Day numbers. . . . Good news off the track as well: The two-week Keeneland November auction of breeding stock produced record gross sales of $264 million. . . . Ladies Din, who won the major 3-year-old races at Del Mar and Oak Tree before finishing fourth in the Hollywood Derby on Sunday, is through for the year after six stakes victories. ``We got killed by Mother Nature,'' said trainer Julio Canani, blaming the Derby disappointment on the ``yielding'' turf. . . . Hyped European import Dr Fong will try the main track next after defeats on turf at Santa Anita and Hollywood. . . . In the fourth week of its fall meet, Hollywood is still waiting for its first pick-six carryover. . . . Indiana jockey Dean Sarvis was suspended 60 days after refusing to cooperate with a search for an electronic device to stimulate horses. . . . Clip and save: The Washington Post's Andy Beyer predicted Bob Baffert-trained Exploit will win the May 1 Kentucky Derby. We'll take the conservative approach and wait until at least January before picking the winner.

- Kevin Modesti

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Box: A WEEK AT THE RACES (See Text)