Pincay to Make Presentation on Gold Cup Day

(fro Hollywood Park notes)
Laffit Pincay Jr. will visit Hollywood Park to make the presentation of the inaugural Laffit Pincay Jr. Award, which will be presented annually on Hollywood Gold Cup Day to a person who has served the sport with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.

Pincay, who surpassed Bill Shoemaker as the world's leading jockey with win No. 8,834 here aboard Irish Nip on Dec. 10, 1999, retired in 2003 with a record 9,530 victories.

Besides making the presentation of the Pincay Award following the second race, he will be in the paddock area at 11:45 a.m. to sign autographs with other "oldtimers" and current riders to benefit the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund.

"I'm looking forward to the day," Pincay said. "I am very happy Hollywood Park has named this award for me."

Pincay rode a record nine Hollywood Gold Cup winners, including Aptitude in 2001 and Sky Jack in 2002, his final mounts in the 1 1/4-mile classic. He surpassed Shoemaker as the leading Gold Cup jockey when Sky Jack prevailed by a nose over Momentum in a dynamic stretch duel. The triumph came 32 years after his first Gold Cup win aboard Pleasure Seeker in 1970.

He won 44 riding titles, including 41 on the Southern California circuit. He won five Eclipse Awards as the nation's outstanding jockey and a sixth in 1999 for "singular achievement" in surpassing Shoemaker. Many of Pincay's finest moments came at Hollywood Park, where he holds the record for wins (3,049) and stakes wins (288).

Pincay, who won his first of 16 Hollywood Park riding titles in 1968 and his most recent at the 2001 spring/summer meet, also rode Gold Cup winners Ancient Title (1975), Crystal Water (1977), Affirmed (1979), Perrault (1982), Greinton (1985) and Super Diamond (1986).

"I enjoyed all of the Gold Cups," he said. "I'm very proud of every one of them, but Affirmed was probably the most impressive. He carried a lot of weight, he was inside all the way, he got hooked by three different horses and he ran very fast."