Richard Mandella

Trainer Richard Mandella, a member of racing’s Hall of Fame since 2001, has been named the 20th recipient of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award. He’ll be honored in that role at Del Mar on Saturday, August 31, FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic Day.

The Pincay Award, named for, and presented by, the Hall of Fame rider, goes to those who have served the sport of racing “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.”

Mandella, 74, went out on his own with a public stable in 1976 and has been saddling winners and collecting purses ever since. He’s up over 2,300 winners now and his runners have banked more than $157-million in purses.

“Richard is a solid as they get when it comes to training racehorses,” Pincay said. “I knew when I got on one of his horses, we were going to have a good chance to win.”

It was Mandella who played a key role in Pincay, Jr.’s quest to become racing’s winningest jockey in 1999 when he gave the Panamanian a leg up for his record-setting career victory No. 8,834 aboard Irish Nip on December 10 at Hollywood Park.

Pincay, Jr. retired in 2003 as racing’s winningest jockey with 9,530 victories.

Mandella’s list of training feats is a long one, undoubtedly topped by the multiple-champion mare Beholder, who won 18 of her 26 starts (with six seconds) and earned $6,156,600 to go along with her four Eclipse Awards. She was a first-ballot inductee into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

The conditioner pulled off one of the great training feats in 2003 when he won four Breeders’ Cup races on the same day with Action This Day in the Juvenile, Halfbridled in the Juvenile Fillies, Johar as a dead-heat winner in the Turf and Pleasantly Perfect in the Classic. That unprecedented feat was a key element in his top year for earnings at just under $10 million.

He engineered one of the game’s most memorable upsets when he saddled Dare and Go at 40-1 to ruin the mighty Cigar’s bid for a record 17th consecutive victory in the 1996 Pacific Classic.

Among his many major stakes winners are Phone Trick, Siphon, Sandpit, Gentlemen, Rock Hard Ten, Best Pal, Memo, Reluctant Guest, Dixie Chatter, Dixie Union, Soul of the Matter, Afternoon Deelites, Arcangues, Event of the Year, Horse Greeley, El Roblar, Champ Pegasus, The Tin Man, Redattore and United.

He is currently one of the board members of the Oak Tree Racing Association, the noted equine racing and charity group that works under the guideline of horsemen helping horsemen.

Mandella has been married to Randi for 54 years. They have a son and a daughter. His son, Gary, is also a trainer.

Pincay rode for 39 seasons, including 27 summers at Del Mar, earning five Eclipse Awards as the nation’s foremost rider. He is still Del Mar’s top rider for victories with 1,013. He led the country in earnings on seven different occasions while compiling his exceptional victory mark. Now 77 years old, he lives in Arcadia near Santa Anita.

The list of previous Pincay Award winners follows: