HOLLYWOOD PARK STABLE NOTES
Friday, June 2, 1995
By Vince Bruun & Ed Golden
STOLLER, BLUMIN AFFAIR EYE THE CALIFORNIAN
Stoller and Blumin Affair, outsiders if the prospective field holds up, are candidates for The Californian at Hollywood Park on Sunday, June 11.
Trainer Lewis Cenicola has also nominated Stoller to the $150,000-added Shoemaker Handicap at one mile on the turf next Saturday, but said he is "60-40" towards running in The Californian, a Grade I event at 1 1/8 miles on the main track with a purse of $250,000.
"But we're keeping our options open," Cenicola said.
Reports from Jack Van Berg's barn indicated Blumin Affair is firm for the race.
The probable field: Best Pal, Chris McCarron; Blumin Affair, no rider; Let's Be Curious, Kent Desormeaux; Stoller, Gary Stevens; Tinners Way, Eddie Delahoussaye, and Tossofthecoin, Corey Nakatani.
RAPAN BOY PROBABLE FOR SHOEMAKER HANDICAP
Trainer Gary Jones said Friday morning that Rapan Boy is a likely starter in the $150,000-added Shoemaker Handicap at one mile on the turf next Saturday, June 10.
Corey Black rode the grass specialist to victory in his most recent start, but is committed to Blaze O'Brien for the Grade II event. Jones has engaged Kent Desormeaux to handle Rapan Boy.
The probable field: Blaze O'Brien, Black; Bon Point, Eddie Delahoussaye; Eagle Eyed, Corey Nakatani; Journalism, Alex Solis; Rapan Boy, Desormeaux, and Unfinished Symph, Chris Antley.
Weights are due Sunday.
HOLLYWOOD PARK PRESENTS MASSCAP SIMULCAST
The $250,000-guaranteed Massachusetts Handicap, featuring handicap sensation Cigar, will be shown at Hollywood Park via simulcast Saturday. Scheduled post time for the nine-furlong event is 1:40 p.m.
Cigar, owned by Allen E. Paulson and trained by Bill Mott, is the 2-5 morning line favorite and looms the heaviest MassCap public choice in 56 runnings of the race.
The lowest win payoff in the MassCap was generated by Stymie ($2.60) in 1947.
The MassCap field in post position order: Double Calvados, Bull Inthe Heather, Poor But Honest, Dusty Screen, Secret Savings, Personal Merit, Patysprospect, Kandaly and Cigar.
Also on Saturday, Hollywood Park will simulcast of the $200,000-guaranteed Alabama Derby from Birmingham Race Course. Scheduled post time is 2:30 p.m.
The Alabama Derby lineup: Dazzling Falls, Ali Baba, Pyramid Peak, Viking Ship, Keepscratching, Oak Springs Ace, Car Dealer, Scratch Paper and Royal Eighe.
The Massachusetts Handicap will be simulcast between the first and second live races, while the Alabama Derby will go between the second and third on the 10-race program.
EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR MATT GARCIA
Matt Garcia celebrates his 25th birthday on Sunday, but he won't get a better present than the two 26-1 longshots he rode to victory at Hollywood Park on Thursday.
The victories on Gwaun River Rose ($54.80) in the fifth race and Cool Shades ($54.40) in the ninth made it six wins this meet for Garcia, who has toughed it out on the Southern California circuit since losing his apprenticeship late last year.
"Sure, I thought about leaving (after losing the bug)," Garcia said. "But it's never come to that point. I've always had positive feelings about being here. Going somewhere else just wouldn't be the same. I'm tired of traveling, anyway."
Garcia, a native of San Jose, rode in Oregon and on the Golden Gate and Bay Meadows fair circuits before joining the Southern California circuit on a regular basis at Fairplex last September.
"I've had my lows and I've had my highs since I began riding here," Garcia admitted. "The highs are high and the lows are low, but it's worth the wait when you get a day like yesterday and win a couple races.
"It's not just winning a couple of races, but I'm riding here with the best riders in the world. This is where my dreams are."
Garcia gives considerable credit for his success to his agent, Joel Winicki, and his girlfriend, Jamie Brooks. Together, Jamie and Matt care for his 18-month-old son, Matt Jr., in Glendale where they reside.
Garcia has gained valuable knowledge from veteran riders such as Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Gary Stevens and Laffit Pincay Jr. "They're all good people and they're trying to help me as much as they can," he said. "It makes me feel real good and real important. It's just real nice to be here."
LONGTIME WHITTINGHAM FOREMAN LAMBERT DEAD AT AGE 92
Funeral services for Louis (Ed) Lambert, foreman for trainer Charlie Whittingham for 47 years, will be held Monday, 5 to 7 p.m., at Zook's Funeral Parlor, 600 E. Foothill Blvd. in Monrovia. Lambert died Wednesday at age 92.
"He was a big, strong, tough sonofagun," recalled Whittingham, who was 82 on April 13. "He had muscles on him like a body-builder."
Whittingham said Lambert, who was born Dec. 10, 1902, retired "about five or six years ago. But he has a brother who's 103 and still living."
Lambert is survived by a grandson, Huey Barnes; a brother, Frank Lambert of Virginia; a niece, Lucy Williams of California; a nephew, George Lambert of Virginia, and a daughter, Florence Flannigan of New York.
FINISH LINES: Trainer Bill Spawr reports Sidney Craig's Exchange is galloping daily, but the 1994 Matriarch winner is not likely to race this meet. "Her major goals are the Beverly D ($500,000-guaranteed at Arlington International Racecourse on Aug. 26) and the Matriarch ($700,000 at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26)," Spawr said. "She'll be breezing again pretty soon, but as slow as she works, she probably won't make the work tab anyway," the trainer joked. Spawr entered Craig's recently purchased 2-year-old sensation, Bridge of Royalty, in Sunday's Westchester Stakes. He drew the rail in a field of eight, including three entries . . . Leading trainer Bobby Frankel said Wandesta came out of her unplaced try against males in the Hollywood Turf Handicap none the worse for wear and will be pointed to the $300,000-added Beverly Hills Handicap on July 2 . . . Mike Mitchell, who hoped to have Semillon ready for his return in the $150,000-added Shoemaker Handicap next Saturday, did not nominate Lady White's turf specialist to the Grade II event. "I just had to back off on him," the trainer said. "It would have been pushing him too fast, but I still hope to make a race with him here before the meet ends." Semillon has been recovering from suspensory problems since the Arlington Million last August.
Burt Bacharach's Soul of the Matter worked five furlongs Friday morning in1:02 2/5 on Hollywood Park's fast main track. "He just went evenly," assistant trainer Chris Baker said. Richard Mandella hopes to have the colt ready to race before the end of the meet. Exercise rider Jon Turner was aboard for the drill. Prominent turf works (firm, dogs up) Friday morning included those by Rapan Boy (:47 4/5), Lit De Justice (:59) and Marina Park (1:00 2/5) . . . Bob Baffert , leading trainer at the recent Santa Anita meet, will send out Charlies Paradise for her 3-year-old debut in Saturday's $100,000-guaranteed Camillo Ursa Handicap at Golden Gate Fields. Fernando Valenzuela rides Ballerina Gal for Jerry Fanning in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares . . . Barry Abrams on saddling Gwaun River Rose to a $54.80 upset in Thursday's fifth race: "There was nothing to like about that horse. She hadn't won in more than two years." The 5-year-old mare was making her 16th start and had one win, two seconds and two thirds. Her only previous win came at Portland Meadows in December of 1992.
For Immediate Release
FRANKEL SEEKS FIFTH HOLLYPARK STAKES WIN OF MEETING WITH ODDS-ON POSSIBLY PERFECT
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Bob Baffert hit the nail on the head when he said, "They ought to name this place Frankel Park."
Baffert, the leading trainer at the recent Santa Anita meeting, uttered the quip after Frankel sent out Sleep Easy to defeat Baffert's Texinadress in the Railbird Stakes at Hollywood Park on May 27. The "this place" he was referring to was Hollywood Park.
Frankel, a nine-time Hollywood Park training champion, including six years in a row, was the leader through the first 27 days of the current 67-day session. In addition, the 53-year-old Brooklyn native who was elected to Thoroughbred Racing's Hall of Fame in April, has won four of the first 11 stakes races at the meet.
Stakes win No. 5 is expected Sunday, when Frankel sends out the nation's reigning female turf star, Possibly Perfect, in the $161,900 Gamely Handicap. Frankel has won three of the last five runnings of the Gamely with Toussaud (1993), Metamorphose (1992) and Double Wedge (1990).
The Grade I fixture for fillies and mares drew seven entries, but the 1 1/8-mile grass event has been all but conceded to Possibly Perfect. The 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Northern Baby has won her last four races, including the Grade
I Santa Ana and Santa Barbara Handicaps.
Owned by Blue Vista, Inc., nom de course of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Witt of Encino, Possibly Perfect won the Grade II Wilshire Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 14. Her overall record shows eight wins, one second, four thirds and earnings of $743,773 in 14 starts.
Charlie Whittingham, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974, has won the Gamely three times and will send out two horses in a bid to upset Possibly Perfect. Aube Indienne, third to Possibly Perfect in the Wilshire, will try to regain the glory she captured in winning the Grade I Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita last November.
Lady Affirmed, a newcomer to Whittingham's stable, will make her West Coast debut for the Harbor View Farm in the Gamely. Whittingham developed Harbor View Farm's multiple stakes-winning turf mare, Flawlessly, into an Eclipse Award winner before she was retired last year.
Trainer Gary Jones is hoping for better luck against Frankel with Morgana in the Gamely. The daughter of El Gran Senor was second to Possibly Perfect in the Wilshire, and a troubled third to another stakes-winning Frankel filly, Wandesta, in the Santa Barbara Handicap on April 9.
The Gamely field in post position order with riders and weights: Wende, Corey Nakatani, 113; Aube Indienne, Chris McCarron, 118; Morgana, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116; Lady Affirmed, Gary Stevens, 114; Fondly Remembered, Alex Solis, 114; Possibly Perfect, 123, Kent Desormeaux, and Don't Read My Lips, Fernando Valenzuela, 111.
With seven starters, the winner will earn $94,400. First post time on the 10-race program is 1 p.m.