RIDING WITH AN ACCENT; STEVENS SAYS HE'S A BETTER JOCKEY AFTER EUROPEAN TRIP.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing 

Gary Stevens returned to America last weekend, bringing bad news for his rival jockeys.

The 36-year-old Hall of Famer thinks he's a better rider after nearly three months riding in England and the European Continent for Newmarket-based trainer Michael Stoute.

``It's probably the best experience I've had in horse racing, just the variety of racecourses day in and day out,'' Stevens said at Del Mar on Sunday. ``I'm probably a little sharper mentally, able to assess things in a race a little quicker than before I went over there.

``When you're turning right, turning left, going uphill, going downhill, riding in 25-, 35-horse fields, it's like being on the Hollywood Freeway at 5 o'clock doing 100 miles an hour. It took me some time to feel I was up to speed.''

Stevens enjoyed the change from the daily sameness of U.S. racing marked by small fields and flat left-hand ovals.

He also enjoyed more success than the English press expected, winning 47 of his 229 races, including Group 1 victories aboard Royal Anthem and Zahrat Dubai, and earning $2.3 million in purses.

``I'd wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning looking forward to going to the racetrack,'' Stevens said. ``I'd lost that a little bit (in America). The only time I'd get excited was when it was a $500,000 race or when there was a horse who I knew was going to be something special.''

What he didn't enjoy in England was the long drives required by that country's racing schedule.

So when Saudi Prince Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corp. offered him a contract to ride first call on that ownership group's horses in the United States, Stevens jumped at the chance to come home.

Such agreements rarely last long. Jockeys find the commitment to one owner's horses forces them to pass up too many promising mounts.

But an unusual feature of Stevens' contract seems to guarantee he'll stick with it: He is promised a position as the Thoroughbred Corp. racing manager following his retirement from riding.

Stevens expects to ride for five more years.

``I'd like to think when I'm done with riding I won't have to do anything (to earn a living),'' he said. ``But I'm not that kind of person. I love horses and I'd love to be involved in racing.''

Stevens doesn't think he has the patience to follow his father Ron into a training career. He figures he'd need 20 years to learn that end of the business.

After all, he's been a jockey for 20 years and he's still learning about riding.

Stevens' first U.S. race since May resulted in a gate-to-wire victory aboard Saints Cup in a 2-year-old maiden race at Saratoga last Saturday. The next day he rode at Del Mar and won aboard the claimer Distant Venture in the opening race.

Fans thought they noticed Stevens riding in a more European posture. He explained the English experience taught him to vary his style for different horses.

``I always try to learn something,'' he said. ``I thought I was a better rider when I came back from Hong Kong (where he competed in early 1995), and I think I'm a better rider how.''

Mr. Sensitivity: Basil DeVito, a National Thoroughbred Racing Association senior vice president, raised eyebrows during a conference call with reporters when he described the spate of injuries to Pacific Classic favorites as ``marketing disappointments, not equine tragedies.''

I think DeVito meant to say the injuries to Victory Gallop, Real Quiet and Mazel Trick weren't tragedies because the horses survived. But it was the kind of thoughtless comment NTRA executives must avoid lest they appear to care more about selling the sport than about the sport itself.

It might be too late. Leaders of the fledgling national governing body seem a little too impressed with themselves for getting network and cable TV exposure with the ``NTRA Champions on Fox'' series. More exposure for an inadequate product is not a winning equation.

The series itself was a joke. After the 11th and final race, can anybody identify the champion? Is it Behrens, who had three victories and a series-high 46 points but not a penny to show for it because he missed the climactic Pacific Classic at Del Mar last Sunday? Or is it General Challenge, who won the Pacific Classic and collected a series-high $100,000 bonus despite missing the first 10 events?

If it's General Challenge, then isn't it odd that the series designed as a showcase for older thoroughbreds was won by a 3-year-old?

The streak of breakdowns, out of the NTRA's control, was largely to blame. But the series format should have anticipated the inevitable injuries.

Fortunately, the format will change for 2000, de-emphasizing the final race, NTRA commissioner Tim Smith said at Del Mar. So there's hope.

Down the stretch: The Ramona Handicap, the Del Mar Futurity and a tight jockeys' race are the attractions as Del Mar heads to closing day Wednesday.

Tuzla (David Flores) and Tranquility Lake (Chris McCarron) are co-highweights at 121 pounds among 10 filly and mare turf specialists in Saturday's Ramona. Tuzla can make Bob Baffert the first trainer to sweep Del Mar's five Grade I races. Tranquility Lake is trained by ex-Tuzla trainer Julio Canani and would be a fitting spoiler.

Baffert plans to send Forest Camp, Captain Steve and Cameron Pass in pursuit of the trainer's fourth straight Futurity victory on Wednesday. Richard Mandella-trained Dixie Union (Alex Solis) is favored.

Solis went into Thursday's races leading by two victories over David Flores, four over Corey Nakatani and six over Chris McCarron.

McCarron rides Old Trieste in the colt's comeback in Sunday's Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap.

A WEEK AT THE RACES 

Del Mar leaders: Jockeys (through Wednesday): Alex Solis, 31 wins; David Flores, 29; Corey Nakatani, 27; Chris McCarron 25; TChris Antley, 24. Trainers: Bob Baffert, 21; Mike Mitchell, 17; Bob Hess Jr., 10; Ron McAnally, 9; six tied with 7.

Handicapper helper: Flores and Antley have ridden four 2-year-olds to maiden-breaking victories at Del Mar this season. Martin Pedroza has been next-best aboard juveniles with three maiden wins. Flores and Antley teamed with Baffert three times; Pedroza teamed with three different trainers.

On the stakes schedule: At Del Mar: today, $75,000 El Cajon Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile; Saturday, $400,000 Ramona Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/8 miles on turf; Sunday, $200,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile; Monday, $300,000 Del Mar Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles on turf, and $100,000 I'm Smokin, California-bred 2-year-olds, 5-1/2 furlongs; Wednesday, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs. At Saratoga: Friday, $200,000 Spinaway, 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs; Saturday, $200,000 Hopeful, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs; Sunday, $300,000 Diana Handicap, fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/8 miles on turf; Monday, $250,000 Forego Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs.

Mileposts: Charismatic arrived Monday at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Ky., where the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is scheduled to begin stud duty in 2000 at a per-foal fee of $35,000. The colt had been at D. Wayne Lukas' Belmont Park barn since having surgery to repair the fractures he sustained while running third in the Belmont. He was to begin walking for exercise this week. . . . Mazel Trick, who broke down in training for last Sunday's Pacific Classic, is scheduled to be flown to Kentucky today to continue his recovery from surgery that employed 18 screws, a compression plate and wire to repair the sesamoid bones in his right foreleg. . . . Prime Timber races today at Del Mar for the first time since his fourth-place Kentucky Derby finish. The Santa Anita Derby runner-up will face older horses in a 1-mile allowance race. . . . On the downside for trainer Bob Baffert: ETxcellent Meeting will miss the rest of the year after the filly had surgery to remove a bone chip from an ankle. The chip might be to blame for her ninth-place finish in the Del Mar Oaks. . . . Laffit Pincay's victories aboard Encore Express and Dixie Snow at Del Mar on Wednesday put him within 51 of Bill Shoemaker's career-record 8,833. . . . Bay Meadows opens a 55-day thoroughbred season tonight at 7:15. . . . Travers winner Lemon Drop Kid jumped into the top 10 at No. 3 and Pacific Classic winner General Challenge went from unranked to No. 8 in the NTRA media poll. . . . But those who put stock in the clock will note that General Challenge's win earned a 117 Beyer speed figure - the highest-rated two-turn race by a 3-year-old in 1999 - while Lemon Drop Kid got a 110 (about five lengths slower). . . . Valhol is out for the year after surgery to remove a bone chip from his left knee. He gained notoriety when he won the Arkansas Derby only to be disqualified when jockey Billy Patin was found to have carried a buzzer. . . . Oaklawn Park, in Arkansas, blamed declining revenue for its decision to cut the purse of the April 8, 2000 Oaklawn Handicap from $750,000 to $600,000. . . . Retired: Iselin Handicap winner Frisk Me Now.

- Kevin Modesti

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: Gary Stevens said the variety of courses he rode in England and throughout Europe have made him mentally tougher.

Daily News File Photo

Box: A WEEK AT THE RACES (See text)