DEL MAR : Pincay Wins on Three of Four Mounts; Within Three of 8,000

DEL MAR —  Laffit Pincay made his biggest move of the meeting toward his 8,000th victory when he won on three of his four mounts Saturday, drawing within three.

For Pincay, who trails only Bill Shoemaker in career victories, it was his first three-victory afternoon of the meeting.

Pincay’s first mount was Ruff Hombre in the fourth race and he scored a victory worth $7.60. This started a mini-streak that continued with victories aboard Cee’s Maryanne ($12.80) in the fifth and Music Merci ($5.40) in the sixth.

“I thought it might be my lucky day after I won with Ruff Hombre,” Pincay said. “I thought I had a good chance with the horse in the fifth race all along. I didn’t know anything about the gray horse in the sixth race, but he ran a big race and I won. I haven’t been winning too much, so it was kind of nice.”

The gray horse was Music Merci, the winner of $1.4 million in career earnings, who was running in a $50,000 claimer.

Pincay has six mounts today, all at morning-line odds between 9-5 and 4-1.

“Maybe it’s tomorrow,” Pincay said Saturday. “If not, maybe I’ll do it Monday. I haven’t been thinking about it, but it’s exciting now that it’s getting close.”

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Potridee, an Argentine import making his second Del Mar start, won the $75,000 Osunitas Handicap over 1 1/16 miles on the turf course.

Jockey Alex Solis kept Potridee off the early pace set by favored Bel’s Starlet and Lyin To The Moon and then rallied his filly through the stretch to score a $13.40 upset. Lyin To The Moon finished second and Bel’s Starlet was third.

Potridee’s only previous Del Mar start had produced a fifth-place finish in an allowance race won by Gravieres, the last-place finisher in the Osunitas.

However, a clue to Potridee’s potential was the fact that she had won two Grade I races in Argentina before coming to the United States to run at Santa Anita in April.

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The weights assigned to Kotashaan and Bien Bien for next Saturday’s Del Mar Handicap were not pleasing to Bien Bien’s trainer, Paco Gonzalez. Bien Bien was given 122 pounds to Kotashaan’s 123.

“He beat us giving us two pounds,” Gonzalez said. “Why do we get only one pound here?”

Kotashaan defeated Bien Bien by a nose in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita on April 18, when Kotashaan carried 121 pounds to Bien Bien’s 119. That was their last confrontation.

Since then, however, Bien Bien set a Hollywood Park track record in winning the Hollywood Turf Handicap on May 31, beating Best Pal in that race, and won the Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park on July 25.

In his only start since the Capistrano, Kotashaan won the Eddie Read Handicap here on Aug. 8.

Gonzalez said Bien Bien’s next start will instead be in the Man o’ War, a $400,000 race at Belmont Park on Sept. 18.

Meanwhile, trainer Richard Mandella said Kotashaan is definite for the Del Mar Handicap. The only other certain starter is Luazar, who won the Escondido Handicap August 14. Possibles include Fanatic Boy, Corrupt, D’arros, Stark South and the mare Campagnarde.

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Magical Maiden is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in today’s Chula Vista Handicap, a $200,000 Grade II race for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles.

The lack of a solid front-runner will probably cause jockey Gary Stevens to keep Magical Maiden a little closer to the front than she was in winning the Fantastic Girl Handicap on July 30. Her most serious challenger, Re Toss at 2-1, is also an off-the-pace runner.

Party Cited, the winner of the Bayakoa Handicap, is the third choice at 7-2.

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In a secondary feature Saturday, the $60,000 How Now Handicap for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles on the turf, Idle Son held off the late-running Blaze O’Brien and Big Blow to win under Stevens.

Idle Son, trained by Bobby Frankel, stayed on the lead with Tertian and Bossanova through the early part of the race while the others in the five-horse field trailed by considerable distance. Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux, riding Blaze O’Brien and Big Blow, respectively, trailed together and rallied together, but Idle Son had enough left to hold them off.

“You get (Idle Son) into the race and he gets enthusiastic,” Stevens said. “We get into the stretch and I asked him to run and he gave it to me.”

And if Idle Son doesn’t feel enthusiastic?

“He has a little bit of an attitude problem,” Stevens said. “I guess that’s why we get along.”

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Gary Stevens was suspended for five days beginning Wednesday for his ride aboard the disqualified Assert Oneself on Friday. The suspension will not affect his eligibility to ride in the Del Mar Debutante Saturday or the Del Mar Handicap Sunday. . . . Yukio Okabe, Japan’s second-leading rider, rode Berg Rosa for trainer Akihito Nakamura in Saturday’s fifth race. Okabe, who exercises horses for several Del Mar trainers, will appear in a commercial promoting the Japan Cup that was shot at Del Mar. Berg Rosa went off at 97-1 and finished seventh in a field of 12. . . . Del Mar racing was delayed by almost 20 minutes because of the lengthy deliberation in Chicago over the finish of the Beverly D. The race was simulcast with betting at Del Mar and satellite locations. There will also be local betting today on the Arlington Million. . . . Half the field scratched in the sixth race, leaving no show betting with a four-horse field.