Columnist Ralph Siraco: Frankel teams up with top jock to win his first Million

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Aug. 21, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

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

Bobby Frankel has done just about everything a trainer can do in the highly competitive world of thoroughbred racing.

In a career that has reached across five decades, the 59-year-old conditioner has won training titles at every major Southern California track, the tough Saratoga meet in 1970 and, most recently, he added his 28th title trophy at the spring/summer session at Hollywood Park. As a result, he is the second-leading trainer of all time at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

Although Frankel was inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame in 1995 and has been among the nation's top 20 money-earning trainers for the past 29 years, he has yet to win a Triple Crown event or a Breeders' Cup race.

And, until Saturday, the Brooklyn-born native had never won the Arlington Million. It is not that he didn't try, having started 11 runners over the years in an attempt to win the first million-dollar race in the sport's history.

A well-balanced international field of seven lined up for the 18th running of the 1 1/4-mile jewel of the Midwest. In fact, this year the Arlington Million was the third event in an 11-race series of international races tied to the Emirates World Series.

Frankel, who started his career training -- and winning regularly --with claimers, now has a barn occupied by high-class runners owned by international stables.

It was with principal owner Prince Khaled Abdullah that Frankel broke his Million maiden in the form of a horse by the name of Chester House. Shipped to the states for last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, the Juddmonte Farms color bearer came from last place with a furious rally to finish fourth in the Classic, which takes place on a dirt track. Chester House had raced exclusively on turf in his first 15 career races across the pond.

Chester House returned to the races this year with hopes of being a contender in America's classic dirt handicap races. But after beginning this year with another nice finish in a grass stakes at the Fair Grounds in Louisiana, he returned to the main track. Following a lackluster third in the Grade III Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct, Chester House flopped in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs and the Hollywood Gold Cup this summer at Hollywood Park.

The dirt experiment was over. Chester House returned to the green in the Grade II Eddie Read Handicap on July 30 at Del Mar, where he promptly flashed his liking for the sod as a runner-up to Ladies Din, that day's "horse for the course."

Chester House, a son of Mr. Prospector, was so impressive in the race that jockey Jerry Bailey called Frankel from the East Coast moments after watching the race and asked the trainer if he could ride the horse in his next start. Frankel was so impressed by Bailey's call that the Hall of Fame trainer decided to joined forces with the Hall of Fame jockey for Saturday's race.

It was as much the rider as the horse who was responsible for the victory.

Chester House was guided by Bailey to a ground-saving start in the race. Sitting in a stalking pack behind pace setter Asidero, Chester House had dead aim on the target as the field tightened up on the far turn. Trouble was, so did the five other trackers in the race. Bailey would later say he was hoping for precious room while pinned against the rail. It came in a sportsmanlike move by jockey Alex Solis, who was aboard the fading leader Asidero. Moving off the wood at the top of the homestretch, Asidero allowed enough room for Chester House to scrape paint and shoot through the opening.

From there it was not how, it was by how much. Runner-up Manndar suffered the other-side-of-the-coin trip while the longest shot on the board, Mula Gula, checked in third.

Speculation suggests that if Manndar, or for that matter any of the others that were hurt by the logjam at the top of the stretch, had gotten loose early enough, then maybe the finish would have been closer.

But, for the moment, Frankel has gotten the Million monkey of his back and his turf star back as well. Now, the trainer can start concentrating on the Breeders' Cup goose egg. Maybe this year the goose that will lay that golden egg sits in the same House.

Garcia was flagged for sticking an elbow into fellow rider Robbie Albarado during the running of two races on the Thursday card. The second incident lead to an altercation in the jockey's room.

Jockey Corey Black expressed concern over the lack of discipline by track stewards in controlling a potential time bomb.

"A majority of the riding colony is disappointed in the lack of action concerning Matt Garcia and his style and the incidents that happen on a semi-regular basis," Black said.

Hall of Fame rider Chris McCarron added: "Anytime you're talking about riding, safety is a concern. This is a professional concern, not a personal concern."

Garcia did not attend the meeting. After meeting with stewards on Friday, Garcia, 30, who has a history of aggressive riding, was handed a 10-day suspension for his actions in Thursday's races.

Many riders who attended the meeting expected Garcia to receive a stiffer ban.