Gold Rush
Sunday April 24, 2005

Mandella, Todd Seek a Gold Rush

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Apr. 16, 2005) -- Trainer Richard Mandella and owner-breeder Ralph Todd have collaborated to win several important stakes races during a racing relationship that began more than two decades ago.

Now the two men have a chance to win an important race with a 3-year-old they co-bred and, at the same time, make Mandella--a member of the Racing Hall of Fame since 2001--a stakes-winning breeder for the first time.

Panama Lane, an Event of the Year gelding, will represent Mandella and Todd in the $250,000 Cal National Snow Chief Stakes, the richest of 10 added-money events for Cal-breds to be run at Hollywood Park on April 24 in the sixth California Gold Rush. Out of the stakes-placed Affirmed mare Midnight Mama, Panama Lane will be making his stakes debut in the 1 1/8-mile Snow Chief after winning two of his three starts this year, most recently a 1 1/16-mile allowance affair at Santa Anita on March 16.

“He’s just starting to learn what the game is all about,” Mandella said of Panama Lane, who failed to win in three tries as a 2-year-old.

Recalled Todd: “After his last race, (jockey) Tyler (Baze) came up to me and said, ‘This horse is kind of dumb. He had a chance to draw off when he took the lead but wouldn’t do it.’ Hopefully, he’s getting smarter.”

Panama Lane is the result of Mandella’s agreeing to use a breeding right to Event of the Year in 2001 and have the stallion visited at Golden Eagle Farm by Midnight Mama, one of three mares Todd keeps at River Edge Farm in Buellton.

“Both of us were just looking to have some fun,” Tood said. “If we ended up getting a good horse, great. But that wasn’t the main reason why we went in as co-breeders.”

Panama Lane, named for the street in Bakersfield where a friend resides, was gelded before he left the farm because, according to Todd, “He was top-heavy in front.”

A native of Long Beach, Todd, 72, has for more than 30 years been a resident of the Buellton area, where he operates a plumbing supply business and a jewelry manufacturing concern.

Since 1976, he also has been a member of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association and has sent such stakes winners to Mandella as The Tin Man, winner of the San Luis Obispo Handicap at Santa Anita in 2003, and Oraibi.

“Dick is great to work with,” Todd said. “He’s honest and reliable and always available to talk to an owner about their horses.”
Todd also is effusive in his praise of Russell Drake, who manages River Edge Farm for Marty and Pam Wygod.

“I trust him completely,” Todd said. “He makes great recommendations on the breeding of my mares. And he’s a great friend.”
Panama Lane was the first foal of Midnight Mama, who was a daughter of Mama Simba. Now 9 years old, she dropped a Bertrando foal last year, but the colt died less than a month later.

They found him lying on his back in a pasture,” Todd said. “He was beautiful. There was no indication that anything was wrong.”

Bred back to Bertrando, Midnight Mama delivered another colt last month. “We’ve got our fingers crossed for him,” said Todd, who is considering another mating for Midnight Mama with Event of the Year.

Mandella, best known for winning four of the eight races on Breeders’ Cup day at Santa Anita in 2003, sent out Event of the Year to win the 1998 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita. A month later, the colt ran second in the Santa Anita Handicap to Free House.

His connections to California-breds over the years have been limited. But he will never forget that it was a Cal-bred who helped him make his first big splash as a trainer before he reached his 27th birthday.

Bad N Big was voted the best 3-year-old Cal-bred of 1977 and came back the next year to be named the top older Cal-bred.
“That horse got me started,” Mandella recalled.

Asked if he planned to expand his breeding interest in the sport, Mandella quipped: “I don’t know yet. All this time I didn’t breed horses because people with a lot more money than I had were sending me good horses they bred.”
--Larry Bortstein