INGLEWOOD, Calif. (May 23, 2008) - Irish-bred Daytona, winner of the Hollywood Derby in his last start here, will aim for his sixth win in his last seven starts in the $250,000 Shoemaker Mile on Memorial Day at Hollywood Park.
Daytona, trained by Dan Hendricks, earned his first Grade I victory in the Hollywood Derby. That was the start of a four-race winning streak. The only blemish in his last six starts came on a yielding turf course when he finished third in the Mervin Muniz Jr. Handicap at the Fair Grounds in March. He bounced back in the Arcadia in April while traveling the Shoemaker distance at Santa Anita Park.
Daytona, who has won seven of 14 lifetime starts for earnings of $781,390, will break from the outside post position in the field of eight in the Grade I Shoemaker, which is the oldest stakes race at Hollywood Park. The first running was on opening day of Hollywood Park's inaugural meeting on June 10, 1938.
The field for the Shoemaker Mile lines up as follows from the rail out: Perfect Drift, Victor Espinoza up; Mast Track, Jose Valdivia Jr.; Ever a Friend, Tyler Baze; Get Funky, Michael Baze; Notional, Corey Nakatani; Thousand Words, David Flores; Hyperbaric, Rafael Bejarano, and Daytona, Alex Solis. All carry 124 pounds.
Running on the lead has been the formula to success for Daytona.
"We're not going to change Daytona's style now," Hendricks said. "He should be on or near the lead. He's on tilt and ready to go."
Ever a Friend has won two straight races since being claimed for $62,500 in December - the latest win in the one-mile Frank E. Kilroe Handicap at Santa Anita in March.
Trainer Mike Mitchell is looking for another major score in the male turf division. Besides the Kilroe victory, he sent out Big Booster to win the San Juan Capistrano Handicap and On the Acorn to win the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap.
"I got him in a seven-way shake," Mitchell said. "After the first two or three days that I had him, I knew he was something special. He does everything right. He's a trainer's dream."
The deep Shoemaker lineup also includes the 2007 runner-up in Get Funky.
"He's had his prep race and is coming into the Shoemaker in good shape," trainer John Sadler said. "The Shoemaker is always a good field. The Tin Man (2007 winner) is as solid as you get. With Daytona in there, Get Funky will probably be stalking like he did last year. Ever a Friend is probably the horse to beat."
The contention runs much deeper, however, in the 65th running of the race named in honor of the legendary jockey.
Julie Canani, who has saddled three Shoemaker winners, sends out Hyperbaric who was beaten a nose and a neck in his last two starts, the most recent setback to Daytona in the Arcadia.
Bobby Frankel will send out 4-year-olds Mast Track and Thousand Words, while Notional makes his second start since returning from Dubai, and 9-year-old Perfect Drift makes his first start for trainer Richard Mandella.
Perfect Drift, third in the 2002 Kentucky Derby with Eddie Delahoussaye up, could give Mandella and Espinoza a second straight win as they combined to win with 9-year-old The Tin Man in 2007.
"He's been doing fabulous," Mandella said. "Like most good horses, he has developed a lot of character through the years."
Perfect Drift, a winner of 11 of 46 starts and $4.6 million, has not raced since July. His previous trainer, Murray Johnson, retired six months ago and owner William Reed called Mandella.
"He gave me instructions, 'if the horse acted like he wanted to do it, go ahead. If not, retire him,'" Mandella said. "The way he's doing now, he acts like he wants to go to work."
While Hall of Fame trainer Frankel will be saddling outsiders in the Shoemaker, he might have the favorite in the co-featured $250,000 Gamely Stakes in Precious Kitten.
The 5-year-old mare gave Frankel his seventh Matriarch win here last fall and enters the 1 1/8-mile Gamely with seven wins and eight seconds in 20 starts for earnings of $1.4 million.
She will have to contend with Rutherienne, who beat her in the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April and is shooting for her third straight victory. Rutherienne has won nine of 11 starts for earnings of $744,975.
The field for the Grade I Gamely lines up as follows:
Diamond Diva, Mike Smith, 117; Lavender Sky, Solis, 117; Precious Kitten, Bejarano, 123; Rutherienne, Nakatani, 123, and Solva, Espinoza, 117.
Diamond Diva, trained by Jim Cassidy, is unbeaten in two North American starts. Her latest win came here in the one-mile Wilshire Handicap opening day of the meeting.
"I hope the extra eighth won't be a problem," Cassidy said. "The key is to get her to relax. As far as moving up to a Grade I, the competition is supposed to get tough."
Lavender Sky, also trained by Hendricks, will hope to rally behind a quick pace, while Solva makes her second start following consecutive off-the-board finishes in the Santa Barbara Handicap a year apart.
The Gamely runs as the third race on Monday's ten-race program at Hollywood Park, while the Shoemaker Mile runs as the ninth. First post is at 1:20 p.m.
