Refinado Tom Gives Mandella Another Win

After Sunday’s Native Diver Handicap, jockey Gary Stevens recalled his win in the Hollywood Park stake a year ago.

Stevens drew a parallel between Gentlemen and Refinado Tom, which leaves Refinado Tom in the best of company since Gentlemen was a record-breaking winner of the 1996 Native Diver.

“The acceleration of this horse reminded me of the acceleration of the other horse,” said Stevens, who rode Refinado Tom to a seven-length victory in the $100,000 race. Longshots finished second and third, with Steel Ruhlr outrunning Boggle by one length for the place. The 8-5 favorite, Kukulcan, finished fourth, 12 lengths back.

It was the second stakes win in as many days for trainer Richard Mandella, who returned Saturday night from Columbus, Ohio, where his daughter, Andrea, 18, is recovering from injuries suffered in an automobile accident.

“[Saturday] was her first day of rehab,” Mandella said. “Her third lumbar vertebra was crushed. They took more than eight hours to put in a pin and two screws and do bone grafts. She’s in great pain, but she walked up five steps of stairs Saturday. It’s a miracle that she’s come out of this.”

Like Gentlemen, who has gone on to become a horse-of-the-year candidate, Refinado Tom is an Argentine-bred. Refinado Tom swept the Argentine Triple Crown in 1996, but after winning six of eight starts as a 3-year-old, the colt was winless in three U.S. starts this year for Mandella. Last month he was fifth, beaten by 10 1/2 lengths on an off-track at Hollywood.

“He injured his shoulder earlier in the year, and we’ve been working therapeutically on that,” Mandella said. “I think we turned the corner with this race. He’s obviously a good horse.”

Earning $60,000 for his owner, Carlos Blaquier of Buenos Aires, Refinado Tom paid $6.40 as the second choice. Running in second place, and into a stiff head wind down the backstretch, Refinado Tom finished strongly to complete 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 4/5. Gentlemen’s track-record time was 1:45 1/5.

Horse Racing Notes

With two winners Sunday, Richard Mandella has 14 for the meeting and has clinched the training title. . . . Kent Desormeaux rode three winners, giving him 37 for the meeting, four more than Alex Solis and Corey Nakatani. Desormeaux rides in six races today, while Solis has seven mounts and Nakatani five. . . . After today’s finale, racing shifts to Santa Anita on Friday, when Silver Charm will run in the $200,000 Malibu Stakes, making his first start since he finished second to Touch Gold in the Belmont Stakes on June 7. In Silver Charm’s last workout, a 1:10 4/5 clocking for six furlongs, he posted the fastest time among 23 horses, breaking from the gate with a 2-year-old stablemate. Santa Anita officials were concerned that Silver Charm’s presence might account for a small field, but that apparently won’t be the case. Eight other horses may run, including Latin Dancer, second to Advancing Star in the Hollywood Turf Express; Apalachee Ridge, who broke Hollywood Park’s track record for six furlongs on Dec. 12; and Trafalgar, who will run coupled with Silver Charm because he’s also owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis.

This Snow Is Royal, ending the seven-race winning streak of his stablemate, Corona Cash, won Saturday night’s $1.1-million Los Alamitos Million Futurity, richest race in the history of the Orange County track. Artesias Specialchic ran second and Strawflyin Buds was third as the filly Corona Cash finished out of the money. This Snow Is Royal, ridden by Sam Thompson and trained by Donna McArthur for an ownership group that includes James and Marilyn Helzer, paid $6.70 for $2, running 400 yards in 19.67 seconds. The victory was worth $466,524. This Snow Is Royal, who had been the fastest qualifier in the Futurity trials, won for the sixth time in eight starts and finished the year three for three at Los Alamitos.