HOLLYWOOD PARK : McAnally Seeks Third Straight Training Title

The pressure is on Ron McAnally, who will be attempting to win his third straight Southland training championship at the Hollywood Park meeting starting today.

“That kind of pressure I don’t need,” said McAnally with a grin as he closed up shop at Santa Anita Tuesday. “But we’ll give them a try. We’ve got five (horses entered on) opening day.”

Bobby Frankel was the last trainer to put three local titles together, winning the Oak Tree and Hollywood Park meetings at the end of 1981, then taking the 1981-82 Santa Anita winter meeting. More recently, Mike Mitchell won the 1983 Del Mar and Oak Tree meetings but finished in a tie with Laz Barrera at the top of the ’83 Hollywood winter standings.

After taking this year’s Del Mar and Oak Tree titles with a well-balanced barn headed by Bayakoa, Hawkster, Warning Zone, In Extremis and the popular white horse, Flippable, McAnally will try to get off to a fast start at Hollywood. He leaves Saturday for Tokyo, where he will prepare Hawkster for the Japan Cup on Nov. 26.

The Japan Cup offers $1 million to the winner, but of more immediate concern to McAnally is today’s ninth race, in which he will send out a 2-year-old colt named Silver Ending, who cost just $1,500 as a yearling. Silver Ending races for McAnally’s wife, Debbie, and their longtime friend Angelo Costanza.

“I’ve always heard that wives are the worst owners for trainers to have,” said Debbie McAnally on the eve of the race. “So I’ve worked hard to be very quiet about the colt and keep my excitement inside. It’s not easy.”

Silver Ending, by Silver Hawk out of a daughter of 1969 turf champion Hawaii, will be making his grass debut after his maiden victory last time out. Silver Hawk also sired Hawkster, who is undefeated in four starts on grass.

The opening-day feature at Hollywood will be the 6 1/2-furlong Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Bel’s Starlet and Dramatic Joy are the “now” horses in the field of eight. But chances are all eyes will be on Leonard Lavin’s roan rocket, Ten K.

When last sighted, Ten K was finishing a distant eighth to Rue de Palm in the Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3, her first loss after two exciting wins. She was favored that day at even-money.

“If I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn’t have run her in the Debutante,” trainer W.L. Proctor said shortly after the race. “That was her third race in a month, and she just wasn’t ready for it mentally.”

Gary Stevens, last winter’s leading jockey, will be back aboard Ten K. Eddie Delahoussaye will return on Dramatic Joy, and Robbie Davis will ride Bel’s Starlet again. The rest of the Moccasin field includes Owiseone, Nasers Pride, Puppet Show, A Wild Ride and Interlope.

Hollywood Park will be open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, with the first post at 1 p.m. On Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, the first race will be at 11 a.m., and on closing day, Dec. 24, it will be at noon.

The $1-million Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17 headlines the stakes schedule. Other noteworthy events include the $500,000 Hollywood Starlet Dec. 3 and the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup Dec. 10.

The nightly telecast of race replays will be shown on KDOC (56) at 8 and on Prime Ticket at 10:30.

New additions for this meeting include a third $3 triple bet, several “sports centers” for television viewing and at least a ton of bricks in the garden areas behind the main grandstand.

Even though he still has 41 days to serve on a 60-day suspension for a positive cocaine test, jockey Patrick Valenzuela has begun laying the groundwork for his return to competition when the Santa Anita winter meeting opens on Dec. 26.

Valenzuela was out early Tuesday at Santa Anita, working horses for such trainers as Bruce Headley, Donn Luby and Darrell Vienna.

“It felt great,” Valenzuela said later. “People seem really concerned about me. I was honest with them all and told them I was doing what I had to do. That’s the main thing--honesty. The rest will fall into place.”

Although he is barred from attending the races or entering the stable area of the host meeting, Valenzuela is allowed free access to off-site training facilities, such as Santa Anita or Fairplex Park, during the Hollywood Park season.

Valenzuela received his suspension after a urine sample taken Oct. 20 tested positive for cocaine. As a result, he lost the mount on Sunday Silence, who went on to win the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 4 at Gulfstream Park.

“Sure, I watched the Breeders’ Cup on television,” Valenzuela said. “And I hurt inside because I wasn’t there. But I almost cried for joy because the horse deserved to win so much. People kept knocking him and knocking him, saying he wasn’t as good as Easy Goer. As far as I’m concerned, he might be the best horse that ever lived.”

Valenzuela confirmed that he is continuing with drug and alcohol abuse programs and that he and his wife, Jeanna, had separated. They have three daughters.

Valenzuela also said he had “gained a few pounds” since his suspension began.

“I’m not worried about it right now, though,” he added. “With about 40 days to go, I’ve got plenty of time to get my weight down. The thing now is to stay fit and convince people I mean business. The future looks bright.”

Horse Racing Notes

Figs Form, the daily handicapping publication that set itself up as an alternative to the Daily Racing Form, has folded after a run of only eight months.

Pranke, who broke down in Monday’s Burke Handicap at Santa Anita, remains in stable condition at trainer Eddie Gregson’s Santa Anita barn. The Argentine horse ruptured the suspensory ligaments of his left ankle and has been fitted with a splint that shifts the weight to the toe. “He won’t be entirely out of the woods for another 24 hours,” Gregson said Tuesday. “With the increased blood flow to the injury, there’s always the danger of a high white count and possibly colitis.”

Co-owner Arthur Hancock, on Sunday Silence’s knee injury: “Compared to the other things he’s lived through, this is no big deal. Still, I’ll sleep better when the operation is over.” The colt survived a severe intestinal virus as a weanling and a van accident at age 2.

Hollywood Juvenile Championship winner Magical Mile, who suffered a hairline fracture in a knee last July, should be back in serious training soon. Trainer Warren Stute reported that the undefeated son of J.O. Tobin has just completed three weeks of aqua-tread therapy.