SOLIS DESERVES HALL PASS.

Byline: ART WILSON 

HORSE RACING 

ARCADIA - It's almost comical, but it doesn't make Alex Solis laugh. He just goes about his business of riding thoroughbred racehorses like a Hall of Famer should.

But Solis is not in the Hall of Fame, and there's a good chance he won't make it this year either when the list of inductees is announced April 21.

Three jockeys are up for induction in 2008 -- Solis, Edgar Prado and Randy Romero -- and only one can get in. Conventional wisdom says Prado will receive the nod because of his ties with Barbaro. But neither Prado nor Romero has the resume Solis has compiled since beginning his career in Panama in 1981.

"In my opinion, there's not even a contest there," trainer Mel Stute said Thursday at Santa Anita's Clockers' Corner.

Stute may be biased, since it was Solis who rode the trainer's lone Triple Crown winner when he guided Snow Chief to victory in the 1986 Preakness Stakes. But look at it another way -- the 80-year-old Stute has been around the game long enough to know a Hall of Fame rider when he sees one.

"He's probably the second-best finisher that I have ever had around in my years," Stute said. "Maybe only second to (Eddie) Arcaro."

Yes, for the record, Eddie Arcaro is in the Hall of Fame.

The 43-year-old Solis, the leading money-winner among active jockeys and the sixth all-time with more than $206 million in earnings, deserves a spot alongside him.

The list of stakes victories Solis has amassed takes up almost four pages in Santa Anita's 2008 Horsemen's Biographies book. The list includes wins in three Breeders' Cup races, the Dubai World Cup, Santa Anita Handicap, Santa Anita Derby, Pacific Classic and Florida Derby, to name a few.

Perhaps it's the one he hasn't won -- the Kentucky Derby -- that is keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.

Solis, who will ride long shot Celtic Dreamin in Saturday's 71st running of the Big 'Cap, has won 20 riding titles at five major racetracks, ridden some of the best horses and shown up for work every day without making headlines for any off-the-track antics.

He's ridden against -- and beaten -- jockeys who are in the Hall of Fame, excellent riders like Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron and Gary Stevens.

"He's had a Hall of Fame career," trainer Dan Hendricks said of Solis. "He's won practically any race you can name. He's the ultimate professional. He's there every day, he makes few mistakes and he's ridden consistently, and there's something (to be said) for that."

So far, that something hasn't included a ticket to Saratoga in August for a Hall of Fame acceptance speech. He's fallen short the previous two years, and it's even-money he'll finish second-best again.

East Coast bias?

Consider: the majority of the 180 ballots cast next month will come from New York, Florida, Kentucky and California, according to Mike Kane, the communications officer for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

"I don't care what anyone says, there's a bias to everything," Hendricks said. "Everyone has a bias. So maybe that has hurt him."

Said Stute: "He did most of his riding in California, and you've got to be more national to get into the Hall of Fame. He started in Florida, but he came here and then he just stayed here. He never raced much in New York or anywhere like that."

True, Solis may not be well-known outside of California, but his reputation as a giant slayer should count for something.

Solis rode Dare AndGo, a 35-1 longshot, to an upset victory in the 1996 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, snapping the great Cigar's 16-race win streak.

Solis guided VictoryGallop to a win over the previously undefeated Favorite Trick in the 1998 Arkansas Derby.

Solis was aboard Got Koko for trainer Bruce Headley when the horse ended Azeri's 11-race winning streak in the Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap at Oak Tree in 2003.

"He's ridden so many great races for me and won so many stakes for me that I think he's great," Headley said of Solis. "Right now, he's had a resurgence. His back is better from his spill and he's really riding good. He's moved right up on the list."

A hot streak the past two weeks has helped Solis move into a tie with Tyler Baze and Michael Baze in the Santa Anita jockey standings, all with 21 victories. Hopefully, it's served to silence the skeptics who have been quick to criticize Solis since he was involved in an ugly spill on July 7, 2004 at Del Mar that left him with a broken back that required nine hours of surgery to insert two metal rods.

Doctors said Solis would be sidelined one year. He was back in seven months.

"He's had a consistent career that I really admire, and that's why I ride him," Hendricks said. "I come out seven days a week and work my butt off and he comes out seven days a week and works his butt off, and I appreciate that."

Headley, never too shy to express an opinion, thinks all the naysayers who wanted the veteran trainer to stop using Solis should perhaps stick to reading their Daily Racing Forms.

"Most of the people that want to be an authority don't have enough time invested in the game to suddenly say this or that about a trainer or jockey," he said. "I think it's human nature to try to be smarter than the next guy. I think it's just a matter of a person thinking too much of their own opinion."

Anyone who doesn't think Solis can still ride with the best of them should watch a replay of Sunday's first race at Santa Anita, when he expertly guided Kiss My Crown to victory with a textbook come-from-behind effort.

Perhaps the 180 or so Hall of Fame voters should also watch it, or perhaps they need to do some research on how much Solis has accomplished during his 27-year career.

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- Art Wilson