Columnist Ralph Siraco: Pincay tries to hold off ‘P-Val’ in race to wire

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Dec. 20, 1999 | 9:46 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday, and his Southern California selections run Tuesday through Friday on the scoreboard page. Write to him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 800 S. Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89107.

The 1999 Hollywood Park fall race meet comes to an end today and this session will go down in racing history as the place and time that Laffit Pincay, Jr. became the winningest jockey in thoroughbred racing.

This meeting will forever carry that stamp of distinction, but if the man they called "the Pirate" has anything to do with it, he will take away the riding title to boot.

Pincay, who sits in the shadow of his 53rd birthday -- which he will officially celebrate December 29 -- can win his 35th Southern California riding title if he can hold his two-race edge of 30-28 on Patrick Valenzuela.

Valenzuela, who is in the midst of an historic comeback of his own, has led the jockey standings for most of the 31-day stand, but Pincay snagged a three-bagger on Saturday to finally surge past P-Val on the 29th day of the meet.

Both Valenzuela and Pincay drew goose eggs on Sunday as Laffit scaled one more ride -- seven mounts to six -- than Pat, with the showdown set for today's finale.

Going into today's racing action, Pincay has seven scheduled rides while Valenzuela has secured eight in his quest to regain the lead and title. They will meet in heads-up competition in all seven of Pincay's engagements, while Valenzuela will try to grab a victory as Pincay sits the pine in the featured eighth race of nine.

Valenzuela will have to use all his skills however, as he sits on the longest shot in the field of eight. Valenzuela does ride a pair of morning-line favorites compared to Pincay's one, but, this duo have outrun the odds throughout the session.

Should Valenzuela manage a pair of unmatched wins through the first eight races, then the showdown for the title is set for the last race of the meeting when Pincay scales lukewarm favorite Fantasy Leap (7-2) while Valenzuela counters on 5-1 shot Helen of Troy.

Of course the title would be icing on the cake for Pincay, who already holds the record for most career victories at both Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. In addition to his trio of riding titles at the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita, he also has 13 trophies as title-holder at both Hollywood Park and Santa Anita with another five on the mantle from Del Mar.

But this title would have to rank high on the list, as Pincay has not won one since the spring-summer meeting of 1991 at Hollywood Park. And that was attained in the last race of the last day of the meeting.

All in all, it should make for an exciting finale at the Inglewood oval.

* CHRISTMAS VACATION: With the close of Hollywood Park today, and the special Monday card from Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, racing in California will close down until after Christmas.

Aqueduct racetrack in New York will also take a Christmas vacation with the conclusion of today's special Monday racing program.

Other tracks racing at this time of year will continue this week at their regular schedules until Friday. Christmas Eve racing will be confined to just Calder Race Course in Florida and the Fair Grounds in Louisiana before all area racebooks break for Christmas on Saturday.

Racing will resume with a full slate of holiday programs on Sunday and continue through New Year's week, with the most notable opening coming at Santa Anita Park.

* CONTESTS TAKE HOLIDAY: Several local racebooks that hold special wagering promotions and contests will also take the week off due to the light racing schedule.

Stations Casinos' popular "Twin-Q" offering will take a holiday break after today's special "Monday Q" and will return with the Santa Anita opener on Sunday.

Handicapping contests at both Texas Station (Wednesday and Friday) and Sunset Station (Friday) are also off the boards this coming week due to the dark days in Southern California.

Also on Wednesday, Arizona Charlie's popular combination contest known as the "Win-Quinn" will be suspended until the following Wednesday. The contest, based on the Southern California races, will return with a double pot on December 29.

* COAST RESORTS UPDATE: : The Coasts' popular free handicapping contests based on the Southern California racing programs return with the opening of Santa Anita. Plans call for multiple contests each week through the Santa Anita season with each contest carrying a $1000 pot and free entry. The contest will be held in rotation through the three Coast properties --the Barbary Coast, the Gold Coast and The Orleans hotel-casinos.

* LAFFIT PINCAY HONORED IN LAS VEGAS: A special night to honor Laffit Pincay, Jr. as the world's winningest jockey will be held here in Las Vegas on March 13. According to Coast Resort racebook director Robert "Muggsy" Muniz, Pincay confirmed a commitment to the date earlier this week. Pincay made his last Las Vegas appearance here at The Orleans in October just before his whirlwind run at the record.

He was met with a full house in the property's sprawling Mardi Gras Ballroom. Details of the banquet and ticket prices will be announced shortly.

* FINALLY: Since we'll be taking a holiday from these pages for this Christmas week, I would like to take this space and time to wish all of the readers of this corner a happy holiday season ... Merry Christmas to you all.