HOLLYWOOD PARK STABLE NOTES

Wednesday, June 7, 1995

By Vince Bruun & Ed Golden

STOLLER IS READY
TO TACKLE BIG BOYS
He doesn't have the elite status of Best Pal, Tinners Way or Concern. He doesn't have a recent victory over the surface like Tossofthecoin. He isn't from a high-profile barn like Let's Be Curious or Blumin Affair. In fact, he has yet to win a graded stakes race.

Stoller does have a couple of things going for him, though -- he's improving rapidly and he has speed. Those two things alone should be enough to make him a bona fide contestant in Sunday's $250,000-added Californian (Gr. I) at 1 1/8 miles.

"He just ran the best race of his life," trainer Lewis Cenicola said, referring to the Grade III Inglewood Hanidcap on May 6. In that 1 1/16-mile turf event, Stoller finished a close third to Blaze O'Brien and Savinio.

Stoller, who races in the silks of his breeder, Dr. Howard J. Baker of Encino, began his career in England, where he won one of nine starts before being shipped to Cenicola last fall. The son of El Gran Senor has shown steady improvement for Cenicola. In six starts this year, he has two firsts, three thirds and $125,500 in earnings.

Stoller's last three starts have been particularly encouraging. He went wire to wire to win the restricted San Marino Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on dirt. He was the only horse to give Del Mar Dennis a battle in the Grade II San Bernardino Handicap on dirt -- pressing the winner nearly the entire 1 1/8 miles before weakening slightly to finish third. Then, switched back to turf for the Inglewood, Stoller pressed the pace to the quarter-pole, took a short lead in the upper stretch, and was overtaken late by multiple graded stakes winners Blaze O'Brien and Savinio.

Now, it's back to dirt in the Californian.

"He seems like he can run on any surface," Cenicola said. "And I don't think he'll have any trouble getting the mile and an-eighth. Whether he's good enough to beat these horses, I don't know. Sometimes you've got to take a shot, though, and he's awfully good right now."

In developments Wednesday:

Tinners Way worked six furlongs in 1:13 4/5, handily, on the main track.

Cenicola said Stoller would blowout for the Californian Friday morning.

And agent Vince DeGregory said G. F. Almeida has the call to ride Blumin Affair for trainer Jack Van Berg.

Probables for the 42nd running of the Grade I Californian: Concern, Mike Smith, 122; Best Pal, Chris McCarron, 120; Tossofthecoin, Corey Nakatani, 118; Let's Be Curious, Kent Desormeaux, 118; Blumin Affair, G. F. Almeida, 116; Tinners Way, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116; Stoller, Gary Stevens, 116, and Lottery Winner, Corey Black, 116.

MILLIONAIRES SET FOR THE CALIFORNIAN
In addition to the Breeders' Cup races, there are six others in North America with gross purses of $1 million, and three of the horses scheduled to run in The Californian at Hollywood Park on Sunday have won one of those rich events.

Tinners Way won the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar last year; Best Pal won the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap and the Pacific Classic in 1992, and Concern won the $3-million Breeders' Cup Classic last year.

Blumin Affair, another candidate for The Californian, a Grade I test at nine furlongs on the main track, finished second in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1993.

The other $1-million races, besides the Breeders' Cup, are the Travers at Saratoga; the Arlington Million, and the Molson Million and the Rothmans International Stakes, both at Woodbine.

RAPAN BOY PREPS FOR SHOEMAKER HANDICAP
Rapan Boy, a punctual winner of a one-mile allowance race at Hollywood Park on May 21, prepped five furlongs Wednesday morning for Saturday's $150,000-added Shoemaker Handicap at one mile on the grass.

With exercise rider Willie Lopez aboard the 7-year-old Australian-bred gelding, Rapan Boy was clocked in 1:03 1/5 for trainer Gary Jones.

The probable field for the Grade II event: Blaze O'Brien, Corey Black, 118; Bon Point, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116; Eagle Eyed, Corey Nakatani, 118; Johann Quatz, no rider, 117; Journalism, Alex Solis, 117; Rapan Boy, Kent Desormeaux, 115; Rue De Fraise, no rider, 114, and Unfinished Symph, Chris Antley, 121.

BELMONT STAKES TOPS SIMULCAST SLATE
Hollywood Park will present the 127th edition of the Belmont Stakes via simulcast next Saturday, in addition to three other stakes races on the Belmont Park program.

Scheduled post time for the final leg of the Triple Crown is 2:30 p.m., between Hollywood Park's second and third live races.

The other simulcasts: the $100,000-added Hill Prince Stakes (Gr. III) for

3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on the turf (12:27 p.m.), the $100,000-added Riva Ridge Stakes (Gr. III) for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs (1:05 p.m.) and the $200,000-guaranteed Early Times Manhattan (Gr. I) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/2 miles on the turf (1:42 p.m.).

Hollywood Park will also simulcast the $200,000-guaranteed Mother Goose Stakes (Gr. I), featuring Serena's Song, from Belmont Park on Friday, along with the $75,000-added Jaipur Stakes (Gr. III) for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on the turf.

The Jaipur runs at 1 p.m. and the Mother Goose at 1:30 p.m.

AGENT SEES BLACK RIDING WITH CONFIDENCE
Craig O'Bryan offers no fanfare for the resurgence of his jockey, Corey Black.

The 25-year-old rider from Westminster suffered through his worst meet ever at Santa Anita, winning only 19 races in 89 days.

But through Wednesday, Black has already won 24 races in 30 days at Hollywood Park to rank third in the overall standings.

"He got days twice at Santa Anita, which didn't help," O'Bryan explained. "I can't really put my finger on any reason for the turnaround. He's just riding with confidence would be about it.

"But several people stuck with us . . . Paul Assinesi, Mark Molina, Brian Mayberry. Sandy Shulman's given us a good shot. You just have to go with the flow. When you're hot, they want you, and when you're not, they don't. It's pretty simple."

FINISH LINES: Jockey Kent Desormeaux, presently in Louisiana for his sister's wedding, is not scheduled to resume riding until Saturday, according to Hollywood Park clerk of scales Charlie McCaul . . . Richard Cross sent Henry Pabst's Hollywood Turf Handicap upsetter Earl of Barking three furlongs on Hollywood Park's fast main track Wednesday morning in :38, handily. "His next start will either be in the American Handicap or the Caesars," the trainer said. The $150,000-added American Handicap (Gr. II) is a nine-furlong turf event at Hollywood Park on July 4. The $500,000-guaranteed Caesars International Handicap (Gr. I) is a 1 3/16-mile grass test at Atlantic City on June 25 . . . Sandy Shulman was pleased with Abaginone's bullet drlll in :59 4/5 on Sunday and has his eye on the $100,000-added Triple Bend Handicap on June 24 for the rapid son of Devil's Bag.

American Day and Soul of the Matter each worked five furlongs Wednesday morning, with Francisco Alvarado and Jon Turner aboard, respectively. American Day was clocked in a bullet :59 2/5, while Soul of the Matter went in 1:02, handily. Trainer Richard Mandella has expressed hope that Soul of the Matter would return to the races before the Hollywood Park meet ends on July 24. "He should make it, if he keeps going like he is," said assistant Chris Baker of Soul of the Matter, who has been sidelined since the Breeders' Cup Classic last November . . . Leading trainer Bobby Frankel reports Los Angeles Handicap winner Forest Gazelle is recovering from the Oakland Handicap at Golden Gate Fields on May 29. He was unplaced after banging around in the starting gate and came out of the race with "a little chip in his knee. The vets think he'll be all right and we won't have to operate," Frankel said of Forest Gazelle, who set a Hollywood Park track record of 1:07 4/5 in his Los Angeles Handicap victory. "We'll try to get him back at Del Mar."

Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg celebrated his 59th birthday Wednesday and his crew presented him with a huge cake displaying a horse and the inscription, "Happy Birthday, Jack." The cake was decorated in the Van Berg colors of purple and gold. How did he come by those hues? "My dad (the late Marion H. Van Berg) picked 'em out," Jack said. "I guess he just liked 'em." . . . Roger Stein will host his Trackside radio program live from Belmont Park Saturday and Sunday. The show airs from 8 to 9 a.m. on XTRA 690-AM . . . Bluegrass Prince, winner of the Grade III All American Handicap at Golden Gate Fields, will skip the Shoemaker Handicap and return to the Bay Area for the $200,000-guaranteed Golden Gate Handicap on June 24. Trainer Rodney Rash said the deciding factor was the 1 3/8-mile distance of the San Francisco. Another Rash horse, Santa Anita Handicap winner Urgent Request, worked six furlongs in 1:15 flat Tuesday and remains on course for the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 2 . . . Several prominent horses worked on the main track Wednesday. Metropolitan Handicap winner You And I drilled three furlongs in :37 1/5 for Frankel; Del Mar Dennis went five furlongs for Paco Gonzalez in 1:01 3/5 in preparation for the Hollywood Gold Cup; Sleep Easy worked five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 for Frankel as she prepares for the $100,000-added Princess Stakes on June 18, and Honeymoon Handicap winner Auriette worked five furlongs for Gary Jones in 1:04 3/5.

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