HOLLYWOOD PARK : Race Has Soul Of The Matter, Plus You And I

You And I is a horse that came back with a bang. Soul Of The Matter will be trying to do the same thing, against You And I and a few others, in the $125,000 Bel Air Handicap on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

“I’m not saying he’s going to win,” said Richard Mandella, Soul Of The Matter’s trainer. “I’m just hoping he runs as well as he did before.”

When owner-breeder Burt Bacharach’s 4-year-old colt was last spotted in a race, he was the fourth-place finisher, behind Concern, Tabasco Cat and Dramatic Glory, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic more than eight months ago at Churchill Downs.

With five victories in 10 starts, Soul Of The Matter has earned $851,750. You And I, with six victories in 13 races, has earned $658,110. Soul Of The Matter and You And I, California-based horses who have raced to their biggest victories out of state, have one other thing in common--tender feet that require care before the horses are ready to run.

Edmund Gann’s You And I, a disappointment last year with two victories in eight races, went eight months without a start before trainer Bobby Frankel sent him to New York for his 1995 debut. The strategy made sense, considering that You And I’s biggest victory last year was in a minor race on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

You And I finished third in the Carter Handicap at Belmont on May 6, but then, in a succession of cross-country trips, returned for victories in the $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap and the $250,000 Brooklyn Handicap. Only four horses--Hall of Famers Whisk Broom, Tom Fool and Kelso, plus Fit To Fight--have swept the Metropolitan, the Brooklyn and the Suburban Handicap, but Frankel didn’t even blink when he passed up the $350,000 Suburban on July 5.

For one thing, the Suburban is 1 1/4 miles, which would have been taxing You And I’s stamina. For another, New York’s handicap triple isn’t what it used to be, the Brooklyn having been dropped to a Grade II race. And for a third thing, there’s no bonus attached to a sweep, as there is for the Triple Crown for 3-year-olds.

“If they had put up some extra money, I might have given [the Suburban] a shot,” Frankel said.

The Bel Air is 1 1/16 miles, and the weights are right. Soul Of The Matter, who may be rusty, is the high weight in the seven-horse field at 121 pounds, and You And I, the horse on the roll, has been assigned two pounds less. You And I, who started the year at only 113 pounds for the Carter, comes by his advantage naturally. He picks up four pounds off his win in the Brooklyn, which is about as much as any horse will add after a victory in the conservative 1990s.

You And I, teamed up with Chris McCarron again, drew the inside post. The rest of the lineup includes Cleante, with Alex Solis, 114 pounds; Luthier Fever, Corey Nakatani, 116; Bon Point, Eddie Delahoussaye, 114; Soul Of The Matter, Gary Stevens; Constant Craving, Fernando Valenzuela, 113; and I’ma Game Master, Chris Antley, 117.

Frankel also trains Bon Point, and the trainer said that it’s likely that he’ll be scratched to wait for the $150,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 29.

You And I made his last California start at Del Mar, running last in the Del Mar Derby 10 months ago. At Belmont, a track where he never even had a workout this year, You And I has three victories and a third in four races.

“I don’t know why he’s done so well back there,” Frankel said. “Maybe he’ll start doing the same thing back here.”

Soul Of The Matter’s biggest win, his victory by a neck over Concern in the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in October, also turned into a setback, because he came out of the race with a hole in one of his back feet.

“He tore the hoof in the race,” Mandella said. “I don’t know how it happened. Maybe he stepped on a sharp rock or something. But we missed a week of training because of it, and that compromised us going into the Breeders’ Cup.”

With Kent Desormeaux starting a five-day suspension today, Stevens will ride Soul Of The Matter for the first time. Desormeaux has ridden the colt in all but one of his races, including the Breeders’ Cup and a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Stevens won the Bel Air last year for the Mandella-trained Region, and Frankel saddled Marquetry, the winner of the stake the year before, with Desormeaux aboard.

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Horse Racing Notes

After riding at Hollywood Park Friday night, Fernando Valenzuela hit the road, to ride Crafty Dude today in the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park in Maryland. Crafty Dude is 10-1 on the morning line in an eight-horse field, which is headed by Lite The Fuse at 6-5. Lite The Fuse and You And I battled twice at Belmont Park, Lite The Fuse winning the Carter Handicap and You And I beating him by a neck when they raced in the Metropolitan Handicap.

Key Contender, a son of Fit To Fight and fifth and second behind You And I in the first two legs of the New York handicap triple, won the Suburban. . . . Corey Nakatani, Hollywood Park’s leading jockey, was not expected to ride Friday night because of a sprained ankle. . . . Thunder Gulch, who is in training at Santa Anita after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, won’t have too many challengers in the $500,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on July 23. Among the possible entrants are Mr Purple, Dazzling Falls, Petionville, Oncefortheroad, T.J.’s Gold and To Be Khaled.

In Soul Of The Matter’s only start at Hollywood Park, he was third in the 1993 Hollywood Prevue. That was the second race of his career. . . . The Pegasus Foundation, which works to prevent horses from being sent to rendering plants, will hold a fund-raising golf tournament Monday at Via Verde Country Club in San Dimas. . . . Hishi Amazon, injured at Santa Anita a few days before the Santa Ana Handicap in March, emerged from a six-month layoff and finished a disappointing fifth in Japan. The filly, who has earned more than $4 million, had never finished out of the money in 12 previous starts.