Bill Mott, best known as the trainer of Cigar, flew in an arsenal of five horses Monday from the East Coast to run in this weekend's $2-million Turf Festival at Hollywood Park.
Mott, who left here a winner in July when Horse of the Year favorite Cigar scored an impressive victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup, also has winning credentials in Hollywood's Turf Festival. He sent out Paradise Creek to win the Hollywood Derby in 1992, watched him finish second in the '93 Citation, and regained his winning touch a year ago with Bail Out Becky in the Miesque.
Mott, who sent Bail Out Becky west in August to capture the Del Mar Oaks, will run her in Sunday's $700,000 Matriarch, the final event in the six-race Turf Festival.
The dynamic Turf Festival lineup follows:
The $200,000 Hollywood Turf Express and $200,000 Miesque on Friday; the $250,000 Generous Stakes and $300,000 Citation Handicap on Saturday, and the $400,000 Crown Royal Hollywood Derby and Matriarch on Sunday.
Mott will be represented in four of the six races. He runs Platinum Blonde in the Miesque, a one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies; Blushing Richard in the Generous, also a mile-race, for 2-year-olds; Green Means Go in the 1 1/8-mile Hollywood Derby, and Bail Out Becky and Duda in The Matriarch, a 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares.
"Platinum Blonde was a graded stake winner in Canada, but has run on the soft ground here in New York the last two times," Mott said from his New York base. "We're hoping to get some firm ground for her out in California.
"Blushing Richard has only broken his maiden, however, he was a very good fourth here the other day in the Pilgrim Stakes at Aqueduct. He ran quite well even though he was fourth.
"Bail Out Becky, you know, she won the Del Mar Oaks. The other filly, Duda, is a graded stake winner here in New York over a mile-and-three-eighths earlier in the year."
Mott's other Turf Festival hopeful, Green Means Go, goes into the Crown Royal Hollywood Derby after a layoff. He bruised his left forefoot while stretching a winning streak of three in the Lexington Stakes at Belmont on July 16.
"I feel the horse is awfully nice," Mott said. "He'd been beaten one time, and that was in the second start of his life in a stake at The Meadowlands. He's done everything else we've asked of him. We think he's a quality horse, one of the better 3-year-olds we've seen on the East Coast. On turf, of course. If we've got him ready, I believe he would be competitive. I think he's a good horse no matter where he runs.
"The foot seems fine now," Mott added. "We're back on track, and we've got quite a bit of work in him . . . good works. I'm optimistic he'll give a good account of himself. I don't know if he can win off the layoff, but I think he'll run well."
Mott isn't a frequent visitor to Southern California, but he has is eye on Hollywood Park every fall.
"Generally, we still have some horses that are ready to run at the end of the year and we still want to get another race into them," he said. "The timing is great for quality racing. Of course, we've got virtually no turf racing left in New York. The turf course is pretty much gone with all the weather that we've had up here. Then they've got some very important races -- Grade I races -- at Hollywood Park that anyone would want to run in . . . no matter what time of year it is."
CONSISTENT FRENCH FILLY AIMING FOR MATRIARCH
Matiara can usually be found hovering around the winner's circle. That's exactly
where renowned French trainer Criquette Head hopes to find the 3-year-old bay filly
when she lands here for Sunday's $700,000 Matriarch.
"She's always been in the money," Head said from her Chantilly, France, stable. "The one time she was fourth, in the Group I Prix Vermeille, she had a bad run on the rail. She should have been second to Carling. You know, we've been fighting with Carling all the time. I mean, I beat her, she beats me. It was same when they were 2-year-olds. My horse is a very tough filly.
Matiara enters the Matriarch with four wins and three seconds in eight starts. She's made $518,672 while battling Carling for championship honors in France, a title Head concedes to the latter.
"I would say that Carling is the best 3-year-old filly," she said. "Even if the two of them are very close, Carling should be the best 3-year-old filly in France. Carling is supposed to run in the Japan Cup, so we'll see how she does there."
Matiara was second most recently at Woodbine in the E.P. Taylor Stakes -- one of Canada's most prestigious events for fillies and mares.
"After she ran in the Taylor, she came back well," Head said. "So I had it in my mind to come and run in the Matriarch. And, to tell you the truth, that filly of Bobby Frankel's (Possibly Perfect), to find out she is not running, I think this race is easier. She's a very good traveler. She doesn't mind anything. I would say between a mile and a mile-and-one-quarter is her best distance."
Head, respected by her peers world-wide, is very familiar with Southern California.
"I've been there before, I've got a sister who lives in L A.," she said. "I train for her, and she's got a ladies' clothing shop on Rodeo Drive."
HAWK ATTACK SETS SIGHTS ON DERBY
Hawk Attack, winner of two legs of the import Mid-America series for 3-year-olds,
will arrive here Thursday to run in Sunday's $400,000 Crown Royal Hollywood Derby.
Hawk Attack, winner of the Secretariat and Arlington Classic, was kept out of the American Derby by a fever and did not have a chance to sweep the Mid-America. The son of Silver Hawk is trained by Elliot Walden and runs for Cavalier Stable, which includes Kentucky Governor Brereton C. Jones.
Walden says he has never had a more consistent horse.
"It's a pleasure to know that you're gonna be in the hunt," he said. "If you put the tack on him, he's gonna . . . he's never found any horses that could really out-run him. I mean he's gotten beat, but he's not been just out-run except for the one time at Churchill, and obviously you could tell something was wrong there because he came back and won a Grade I and then a Grade II within two to three months."
Hawk Attack beat eventual Super Derby winner Mecke in the Grade I Secretariat and looks imposing heading into Sunday's Grade I Derby.
"I think Mecke is a good horse," Walden said. "Not only did he win the Super Derby, he went on and just got beat in the Rothmans with an outstanding race. In fact, the Rothmans was a race we were considering for Hawk Attack, because I believe he'll run anywhere from a mile-and-an-eighth to a mile-and-a-half. But it was loaded with good
3-year-olds from Europe and I felt like it was gonna be a little salty considering it was weight for age, so I decided not to run and just prepare for this race in California. That's a good point. Mecke has gone on and made the Secretariat form stand up a little bit.
CARESS TO TAKE SHOT IN THE MATRIARCH
Flamingo, white and black, the official colors of the Harbor View Farm and the
unofficial colors of Hollywood Park's $700,000 Matriarch (Gr. I) -- centerpiece of the
$2-million Turf Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Track of the Lakes and Flowers.
Harbor View Farm (Louis and Patrice Wolfson) campaigned the champion Flawlessly, who won the 1991, '92 and '93 Matriarchs, clinching Eclipse Awards the latter two years. This year Caress will carry the Habor View colors in Sunday's 15th running of the Grade I Matriarch, one of the world's most prominent races for fillies and mares.
A 4-year-old Storm Cat filly out of the Affirmed mare La Affirmed, Caress has won 10 of 19 starts and $429,310. Racing exclusively in the East, Caress has faced primarily Gr. III competition. Her triumphs include the Beaugay Handicap (Gr. III) at Aqueduct and the Poker (Gr. III) and Just A Game Handicaps at Belmont Park. Most recently, she rallied for a one-length victory in the $117,000 Suffolk Handicap at Belmont Park.
Caress will mark the first Turf Festival start for 66-year-old Hall of Fame trainer
H. Allen Jerkens. Jerkens -- a.k.a. "Giant Killer" -- saddled Handsome Boy to upset Buckpasser in the 1967 Brooklyn Handicap; beat Kelso three times with Beau Purple, and twice defeated Secretariat: with Onion in the 1973 Whitney and Prove Out in the 1973 Woodward.
Probables for the 15th running of the Matriarch, to be decided at 1 1/4 miles: Angel In My Heart, Cash Asmussen; Bail Out Becky, no rider; Balanka, no rider; Caress, no rider; Duda, no rider; Matiara, no rider; Morgana, Gary Stevens; Sleep Easy, no rider; Wandesta, Corey Nakatani; Windsharp (s), G. F. Almeida; Bold Ruritana (s), Todd Kabel, and Alywow (s), no rider.
Possible: Alpride, Chris McCarron; Flagbird, no rider; Jo Knows, no rider, and Twin Bet, no rider.
SMALL FIELD TAKING SHAPE FOR THURSDAY'S BARRERA
Score Quick worked seven furlongs in a bullet 1:26 1/5, handily, on a fast main
track Sunday morning, and trainer Mel Stute said he was now leaning toward running
the Morvich Handicap winner in Thursday's $100,000-added Lazaro S. Barrera
Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
Stute, however, still hadn't ruled out running Score Quick in next Sunday's $400,000 Crown Royal Hollywood Derby (Gr. I).
Confirmed for the 15th running of the Lazaro S. Barrera: Spingold, Corey Black, 115; Farofino, no rider, 113, and Adams Trail, Alex Solis, 113.
Possible: Lake George, Corey Black, 119, and Score Quick, G. F. Almeida, 118.
The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/alauck)