ALPRIDE VICTORY COULD MEAN ECLIPSE AWARD
Not very often do you see a 7-2 morning line favorite in a grade I stakes event.
That is the case, however, for Sunday's $700,000 Matriarch for fillies and mares. Jenny Craig's Alpride has been made the lukewarm 7-2 favorite by morning line-maker Russell Hudak.
If we assume Alpride delivers the goods -- a big if considering the size and depth of the 14-horse Matriarch field -- would she merit the Eclipse Award for grass filly or mare?
Trainer Ron McAnally says yes.
"I think she would definitely have to be considered," McAnally said Saturday morning. "It would mean she had won two major (Grade I) races in two weeks against good horses."
Possibly Perfect, who won five of six races this year for trainer Bobby Frankel before sustaining a career-ending injury, is perhaps the leading contender for the Eclipse. Alpride defeated Possibly Perfect in the Beverly Hills Handicap last July, but Possibly Perfect came back to beat Alpride in the Ramona and Beverly D. Handicaps.
"We were kind of hoping to run against Bobby's filly in The Matriarch, but it isn't going to happen," McAnally said. "It's kind of disappointing, just one of those things that happens in racing. But if Alpride wins, I would think her record would look pretty good."
ALEC HEAD ARRIVES FOR MATRIARCH
Alec Head, the great French trainer who retired in 1983, was at trainer Richard
Mandella's barn Saturday morning to check up on his 3-year-old filly Matiara.
On Sunday, Alec Head -- the breeder/owner -- will be in the stands here as Matiara, a Kentucky-bred by Bering out of Most Precious competes in the $700,000 Matriarch at 1 1/4 miles on turf.
It will truly be a family affair. Matiara, fourth choice on the morning line at 6-1, is trained by Alec Head's daughter, Criquette Head, and will be ridden by his son, Freddie Head.
Matiara has put in lots of miles lately, and not just on her valuable legs. One of France's top fillys, Matiara was shipped to Canada for the Grade II E P Taylor Stakes at Woodbine on Oct. 15. She finished a good second in that one, shipped back to France and then was in the air again earlier this week, bound for Los Angeles and The Matriarch.
Why The Matriarch?
"The money, I love money," Head said with a mischievous smile. "It's like bees. The bees look for honey. Me . . . I look for money. And The Matriarch is $700,000. That's lots of money."
ESPN TO TELECAST MATRIARCH & DERBY
ESPN will telecast Sunday's $700,000 Matriarch and $400,000 Crown Royal
Hollywood Derby in a one-hour show that airs from 3 to 4 p.m. (PST).
The Matriarch will be the sixth race on the program, post time 3:12 p.m.
The Derby goes as race seven, post time 3:42 p.m.
SPAWR SHAKES SLUMP IN BIG WAY
Good trainers don't just grind their way out of a slump. They smash down the
door and win races in droves.
Case in point, Bill Spawr. Friday, he became the first trainer at the Hollywood Autumn Meeting to win three races on a card. Through the first seven days of the meet he had won with seven of 15 starters, or 47 percent wins.
This from a trainer who might have been coming off the three worst meets of his life. His combined record at Del Mar (5-of-84), Fairplex (4-of-28) and Oak Tree (4-of-43) was 13 wins from 155 starts or 8.3 percent. A streak like that can make even a proven winner begin to second-guess his training methods.
"The worst thing you can do is change the way you've been doing things," said Spawr, who has won or shared three major Southern California training titles since 1990. "But you do begin to do some research. You look at your daily charts from a year ago, because you want to make sure you aren't doing things any differently than in the past."
Perhaps the best sign a slump has ended is when you begin to get the breaks. And Spawr has been getting a few.
Wednesday, Corky's Pal scratched into a bottom-level maiden claimer -- getting the desired outside post as an added bonus -- and cakewalked by nine lengths. And Thursday, Carol, a hard-running filly who had won just once in 12 starts this year while competing in the $40,000 to $60,000 claiming range, was moved up from second to first when Kelkyko was disqualified for interference in the stretch.
Friday, Spawr didn't need help. He won the first with Seattletoo ($24), the third with Conejo ($13.40) and the ninth with River Scout ($3.60), and opened a 7-4 lead over Bobby Frankel in the standings.
"Everything's coming together," Spawr said. "That's the way it works in this business, hot and cold. The slump is over."
KLASSY KIM POSSIBLE FOR BAYAKOA HANDICAP
Bill M. Tomas' Klassy Kim, upset winner of the Cal Cup Distaff Handicap at Oak
Tree on Nov. 11, might be scratched from Sunday's $60,000-added Pine Tree Lane
Handicap, trainer Mel Stute said.
Stute said he is considering waiting and running Klassy Kim in the $100,000-added Bayakoa Handicap on Dec. 3.
Klassy Kim is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line for the seven-furlong Pine Tree Lane. The Bayakoa is a Grade II event at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
Early probables for the 14th running of the Bayakoa: Urbane, Corey Nakatani; Twice The Vice, no rider, and Klassy Kim, no rider.
HENDRICKS TO RUN PAIR IN ON TRUST HANDICAP
Trainer Dan Hendricks said Ed and Natalie Friendly's Goldigger's Dream and Mr.
and Mrs. William J. Murphy's Geenger Man will both be entered in the $100,000-added
On Trust Handicap on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Goldigger's Dream and Geenger Man finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the $250,000 Cal Cup Classic on Nov. 11. While neither horse qualifies as a win-machine -- Goldigger's Dream is just 4-of-27 and Geenger Man is 4-of-17 -- both are steady competitors. Goldigger's Dream has finished in-the-money in 18-of-27 starts and has earned $323,725, and Geenger Man has been in-the-money in 14-of-17 starts and has earned $183,685.
Early probables for the 12th running of the On Trust Handicap, carded for Cal-breds at 7 1/2 furlongs: Argolid, David Flores; Desert Pirate, no rider; Geenger Man, no rider; Goldigger's Dream, no rider, and Kingdom Found, Alex Solis.
The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/alauck)