MORE MARQUEE MOUNTS SOMEHOW PASS BY PINCAY.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Horse Racing 

Laffit Pincay continues his record pursuit this weekend while Hollywood Park holds its annual Turf Festival.

Sad to say, one attraction has very little to do with the other.

Pincay, 11 wins from Bill Shoemaker's career-record 8,833, is scheduled to ride in only one of the six stakes that make up the Turf Festival today, Saturday and Sunday. And Pincay's lone mount, Reba's Gold in Saturday's Generous Stakes, is not considered a contender in that $200,000 race for 2-year-olds.

The scarcity of strong mounts in the richest races is an old story for Pincay, who missed the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup this year and hasn't ridden a Grade I stakes winner since Tactical Cat in the 1998 Hollywood Futurity.

But these days it's especially poignant, because Pincay should be center-stage as his big moment approaches, and puzzling, because he's riding as well as anybody on the circuit.

Pincay is too classy to complain.

``It doesn't frustrate me. I understand,'' Pincay said Wednesday in the Hollywood Park jockeys' room. ``There are a lot of good riders here. Most of the stables have their own riders that they ride.''

He realizes he loses a few would-be mounts because he can't work with horses during morning training as often as some jockeys do. His 850-calories-a-day diet and personal fitness routine requires him to conserve energy for the afternoons.

``I quit going in the mornings because I had to, not because I wanted to. As hard as I was dieting, I just couldn't do it,'' he said.

But Pincay, who will turn 53 on Dec. 29, thinks his age has become an issue in the past few years for some of the trainers and owners who pass him over for younger jockeys.

He admits to feeling ``a little satisfaction'' when he has been replaced following a horse's poor performance, and the horse runs badly under the new rider, too.

``You say, `I wonder who they're blaming now,' '' Pincay said with a smile.

After finishing third in the Oak Tree jockey standings, Pincay (with nine wins) was second to Pat Valenzuela (10) at Hollywood Park going into the Thanksgiving Day races, where he won twice. Pincay's 22.5 winning percentage was the best at the 11-days-old meet.

``It's important to feel that I'm not just hanging on to break the record,'' Pincay said.

So why does Pincay - winner of a Kentucky Derby (Swale, 1984), three Belmont Stakes, seven Breeders' Cup races, seven Hollywood Gold Cups and 13 million-dollar races - have (as of mid-week) only one mount in the $2.1 million Turf Festival?

Was it so long ago that he was a fixture in the Turf Festival races, winning the Citation Handicap three times, including both divisions in 1991 with Notorious Pleasure and Fly Till Dawn; winning the Matriarch twice, most recently in 1994 aboard Exchange; and the Hollywood Derby and Hollywood Turf Express once each?

Why do younger riders who have accomplished none of the above even once have two or three mounts? Hall of Famer Chris McCarron and Corey Nakatani will be busiest with five each.

Agent Bob Meldahl said he can't understand why Pincay doesn't get stakes mounts anymore. The fact Pincay is climbing an exercise machine instead of exercising horses most mornings doesn't matter.

``If it's a stakes horse and someone wants him to work him, he's here,'' Meldahl said.

But Meldahl can do the math. A lot of good riders scramble for mounts at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar.

``It's not like New York, where they have four top riders,'' Meldahl said. ``Here we have 10 - for six-horse races.''

Also, because Pincay rides at 117 pounds, heavier than most local jockeys, he loses some stakes horses who are assigned lower weights. Reba's Gold is supposed to carry 114 in the 1-mile Generous. Trainer Dan Hendricks said he isn't bothered by the three pounds of overweight.

``If I had five more (Turf Festival horses), I'd give them to him (Pincay),'' Hendricks said.

Pincay would have ridden Daytime for trainer Kathy Walsh in the $500,000 Hollywood Derby, but that horse won't make the 14-horse field. So Pincay will go to Turf Paradise in Phoenix on Sunday to ride Kits Peak for trainer Walter Greenman in a $75,000 race called the Queen of the Green Handicap.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Hollywood Park leaders: Jockeys (through Wednesday): Pat Valenzuela, 10 wins; Laffit Pincay, 9; Alex Solis, 8; Isaias Enriquez, 7; Corey Nakatani, 6. Trainers: Jack Carava, 5; Bob Baffert, Ian Jory, Richard Mandella and Ted West Jr., 4; Wally Dollase and Mike Mitchell, 3. Handicapper helper: Front-runners are winning 32 percent of the 6-furlong sprints at Hollywood Park but less than 20 percent of other main-track races.

On the stakes schedule: At Hollywood Park: today, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Express, 3-year-olds and up, 5-1/2 furlongs on turf, and $200,000 Miesque Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf; Saturday, $500,000 Citation Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles on turf, and $200,000 Generous, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf; Sunday, $500,000 Matriarch, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/8 miles on turf, $500,000 Hollywood Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles on turf, and $100,000 Cat's Cradle Handicap, California-bred fillies and mares 3 and up, 7-1/2 furlongs. At Churchill Downs: today, $400,000 Clark Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/8 miles; Saturday, $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, 2-year-olds, 1 1/16 miles, and $200,000 Golden Rod, 2-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles. At Aqueduct: Saturday, $350,000 Cigar Mile, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile, $200,000 Remsen, 2-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles, and $200,000 Demoiselle, 2-year-old fillies, 1-1/8 miles. At Golden Gate Fields: today, $100,000 Forty Niner Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Mileposts: Farma Way, the 1991 Santa Anita Handicap winner, had to be destroyed Nov. 18 after breaking a leg while running in his paddock at Ballena Vista Farm in San Diego County. As a 4-year-old, the D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt became the first horse since Ack Ack to win Santa Anita's four winter handicaps, from the 7-furlong San Carlos to the 1 1/4-mile Big 'Cap . . . . Forestry, one of Bob Baffert's eight Breeders' Cup losers, finishing fourth behind Artax as the Sprint favorite, has been retired to Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. He cost Aaron Jones $1.5 million as a yearling and earned nearly $600,000 by winning 7 of 11 starts at 2 and 3. . . . Whatever-Happened-To Dept.: Lee Ferrell, whom Baltimore police say was intoxicated when he ran on the Pimlico track and tried to punch Artax during a Preakness-day race, has been sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to reckless endangerment. . . . Jockeys are the fastest-healing athletes, example No. 34,752: Robby Albarado told the Daily Racing Form he expects to resume riding today at Churchill Downs. That's 14 days after he fractured his skull in an accident. . . . Texas today joins the list of states permitting equine nasal strips like those worn by Breeders' Cup winners Cash Run, Anees and Cat Thief. California officials are studying the matter. . . . Four-time Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser Lonesome Glory was retired at age 11 after a tendon injury forced him to miss last Sunday's Colonial Cup in South Carolina. The 2-3/4-mile race was won by 12-year-old Ninepins and jockey Arch Kingsley Jr. So begins and ends our steeplechasing coverage for 1999. . . . The Fair Grounds in New Orleans opened an 88-day season Thursday that will include the March 12 Louisiana Derby. . . . Hollywood Park and the Daily Racing Form sponsor a handicapping contest Saturday and Sunday. The top four will earn a spot in a national championship contest Jan. 7-8 in Las Vegas; the top 10 will split $10,000 in prize money.

- Kevin Modesti

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Box: A Week at the Races (see text)