29,856 at Del Mar Watch Favorites Sweep Oceanside

If someone had asked Abigail Van Buren--Dear Abby--her advice on how to bet the split Oceanside Stakes on opening day at Del Mar, she might have said to go with jockeys who were unfamiliar with their horses. Dear Abby is never wrong, right?

Laffit Pincay, who had never seen Kindly Court before, rode that 3-year-old gelding to victory in the first half of the Oceanside, and Fernando Toro, aboard Savona Tower for only the second time, won the second half with a wire-to-wire performance.

A crowd of 29,856, which included Van Buren, Mickey Rooney, Lucie Arnaz and Jackie Cooper, watched the Oceanside and seven other races as Del Mar began its 50th year and 48th season with 20,000 multicolored balloons and the largest crowd in its history.

Besides Pincay and Toro, it helped that both Kindly Court and Savona Tower were the favorites. Kindly Court had never run in California and had won only once in eight starts this year, but the public supported him because of consistent grass form in Florida, Kentucky and New York. Savona Tower had never won on grass, but he was third, behind Something Lucky and The Medic, in the Cinema Handicap at Hollywood Park five weeks ago.

Savona Tower was the faster winner, but just by a tick, running a mile in 1:36 2/5 and paying $5.40, $3.80 and $3. He was a length better than Be Scenic, who paid $8.40 and $5. Celtic Reality, losing the photo for second place, paid $5.60.

As only Pincay can, the veteran jockey wedged Kindly Court through some tight company in the stretch as they prevailed by a neck over Magna Plus, with Mount Laguna, the early leader, winding up a head farther back in third.

Kindly Court, timed in 1:36 3/5 on an 80-degree day, paid $6, $3.40 and $2.80. The other prices were $3.40 and $3 for Magna Plus, and $3 for Mount Laguna.

David Vivian, Kindly Court’s Florida trainer, was able to get Pincay to ride his horse because Pincay’s regular mount, Temptation Time, wound up running in the second division of the Oceanside. Temptation Time, who went off as the second choice, finished seventh, the first time in his career that he had been worse than fourth.

“I wound up with the best jockey in the world,” said Vivian, who plans to keep Kindly Court at Del Mar for other races, with the ultimate goal the Del Mar Derby.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the horse,” Pincay said. “I was lucky to get through. When I moved him to the rail, he was looking for a place to go at the three-eighths pole. Then Chris’ horse moved out and I said, ‘Beautiful.’ ”

Chris McCarron, third with Mount Laguna and second with Be Scenic in the second half of the stake, fared better in other races, winning twice. One of the victories was aboard Matter of Pride, a $750,000 Raise a Native-Old Goat filly who beat 11 males while making her debut for owner Gene Klein and trainer Wayne Lukas.

Kindly Court, a $50,000 claim by Vivian in Florida last year, is owned by Roy Cohen, a former ski lodge operator and now a personal-investments man.

Owners have been known to thank everybody in the winner’s circle--the trainer, the jockey, the exercise rider, the groom and Sam Rubin once even thanked the man who ran the binoculars concession stand at Aqueduct--but Cohen did them one better. He thanked Tex Sutton, the equine transportation operator, who moved Kindly Court from his stall at Calder, near Miami, to his stall at Del Mar in 10 1/2 hours.

That was last Friday. Savona Tower, California-bred and California-raced, had it much easier in terms of logistics. Savona Tower was making only his fourth start of the year, after recovering from surgery for a bone chip in December.

“I didn’t have any instructions,” Toro said. “On the backside, he kind of pulled me to the lead. After he made the lead, he was kind of loafing and looking for other horses.”

But he didn’t loaf enough for Be Scenic to catch him with a late run. John Valpredo, Savona Tower’s owner and breeder, is thinking about running him in the La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 9 and the Del Mar Derby on Aug. 23.

The same two races are on Kindly Court’s schedule. Based on the Oceanside, they’ll only be noses apart.

Horse Racing Notes

Tiffany Lass, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly and loser of only two races in her career, has been retired because of a tendon injury. Aaron Jones, who owns Tiffany Lass, said he is considering breeding her next year to one of four stallions--Alydar, Danzig, Nijinsky II and Lemhi Gold. . . . Wednesday’s handle of $4.2 million set an opening-day record at Del Mar. . . . Trainer David Bernstein, a winner in the Oceanside the last two years, didn’t have a starter in the stake Wednesday, but he did win the seventh race with Pialor. . . . Dave Patton, the leading apprentice at the recently completed Hollywood Park meeting, is still out with a sprained ankle that he suffered last Saturday. . . . Chris McCarron will be at Monmouth Park Saturday to ride Alysheba in the Haskell Invitational, while Eddie Delahoussaye rides Gem Master and Corey Black has Best Solution in the American Derby at Arlington Park, and Russell Baze is aboard Honor Medal in the Cornhusker Handicap at Ak-Sar-Ben.