Big Holiday Doings at Hollywood Park
At a time of year where we count our blessings and say what we're thankful for, one can't help but appreciate the stakes schedule this holiday weekend at Betfair Hollywood Park. It's a lineup of a quality not often seen between the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup and the start of the new year, one that boasts six graded stakes races from Thanksgiving to Sunday, Dec. 1.
In keeping with the Hollywood Turf Festival, five of those affairs will be contested on the grass, including a pair of Grade I races that will be carded for Sunday afternoon. The Hollywood Derby (1 ¼ miles for three-year-olds) and Matriarch (one mile for older fillies and mares) both carry purses of $250,000, ones that figure to attract several top-class horses. Grade I winners Admiral Kitten and Infinite Magic are set to face off with graded stakes-winners Jack Milton, Rookie Sensation, Gabriel Charles, and Dice Flavor in the Hollywood Derby, while defending Matriarch winner Better Lucky will likely line up against top-class distaffers Tiz Flirtatious, Discreet Marq, Dayatthespa, and Pianist, among others, as she attempts to defend her title.
Those races act as the co-main event in a power-packed holiday weekend of racing in Inglewood. The first stakes race on the docket is the Grade III Vernon O. Underwood, which headlines the Thanksgiving Day card. Six older horses will go six furlongs on the cushion track, led by 124-pound highweight Handsome Mike, who was last seen running eighth behind Mizdirection in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint earlier this month.
The Turf Festival kicks off Friday with the Grade II Citation Handicap. Named for the Triple Crown winner whose 16-race win streak stood as an American record for decades, the favorite in this year's running of the 1 1/16-mile affair figures to be the Gary Mandella-trained Silentio, who ran a close-up third behind reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Breeders' Cup Mile last out. Also exiting the Breeders' Cup is He Be Fire N Ice, who ran eighth in the Mile but has two strong second-place finishes to his name two and three starts back. He chased Obviously in the Del Mar Mile in August before another runner-up finish behind No Jet Lag in the City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita.
The Generous and Miesque, both Grade III, $100,000 races, will be run at a mile Saturday. Trainer Simon Callaghan may hold a strong hand in the Generous, as he'll start Irish Group III winner Craftsman and, possibly, Ontology, who was last seen running 10th behind Outstrip in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Meanwhile, the Miesque, for fillies and named after the two-time Breeders' Cup Mile winner, has attracted an imposing presence in Clenor. The Doug O'Neill-trained filly took a three-race win streak into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and attracted some play at just under 9-1 odds. She finished eighth that day, but at her best, the two-time stakes-winner by Oratorio looms large.
The week of racing starts at 11 a.m. Pacific time Thursday.