INGLEWOOD, Calif. (May 25, 2008) - Backbackbackgone left no doubt while drawing off in the stretch under jockey Corey Nakatani to register a four-length victory in the $86,300 Willard L. Proctor Memorial in stakes record time of 1:03.04 Sunday at Hollywood Park.
Backbackbackgone, named after the phrase made popular by sports broadcaster Chris Berman, stalked filly Aromatica before taking command on the turn for home. The chestnut cruised to the wire under a hand ride to remain undefeated in two starts while paying $3.60 as the odds-on favorite in the field of seven 2-year-olds.
"He ran a little green today, but he ran a big race," Nakatani said. "He won pretty much in hand. We were trying to get him back off the pace and just wait like we did. He's got a very nice horse and we wanted to teach him something different today. Let's try to just sit on him and make a run, and that's what we did."
The victory was the second straight in the Willard Proctor for trainer Peter Miller and Gerson Racing, owner of Backbackbackgone along with Charleville Stables.
"He's a pretty special colt," Miller said. "We bought him at OBS (Ocala Breeders Sale), which is a synthetic surface. He worked twenty-one and change there and he glided over it so I really wasn't concerned about the synthetic. He still ran a little green today. He never switched leads and kind of looked like he was waiting on horses."
Backbackbackgone, a $65,000 purchase, was a ten-length winner while making his first start May 11 at Bay Meadows. In the Proctor, he broke the stakes record of 1:03 2/5 set by Fleet Nasrullah in 1957.
Conclusive, second under Jose Valdivia Jr., finished four lengths clear of Fassnacht and jockey Joel Rosario in third. Second choice Jack Flash finished fourth.
In the co-featured Cinderella Stakes, Trifecta King broke her maiden in equally impressive fashion, dominating in the final furlong under Rafael Bejarano en route to a 3 ¾-length victory.
Favorite Trifecta King, purchased for $45,000 in March, finished second in her career debut May 15. The daughter of Peace Rules looked seasoned in her second start, covering the 5 ½ furlongs in 1:03.49.
"Last time she came out of a real fast race and for a first-time starter she ran really good," Bejarano said. "Today the instructions were to come from behind a little bit, get her to relax and feeling good. I had plenty of horse when I got to the turn. I never hit her. She's a real nice filly."
Atka, the second choice in the field of eight 2-year-old fillies, had a slow start, but rallied for second, finishing a half-length in front of Upper Manhattan.
"She broke good, then the two-horse stumbled and kind of fell into her," jockey Jon Court said. "It kind of got a little tight down on the inside. On the turn, I got her out to the outside, split horses down the stretch and was second best. She wasn't going to beat the winner, but she might have been a closer second."
Trainer Doug O'Neill made a last-minute decision to run Trifecta King, who banked $46,995 to raise her earnings to $56,595 while paying $5.
"She ran so well first time out, this race was coming up and it wasn't extremely tough," O'Neill said. "It was one of those lucky things. This is the type of filly that makes you dream about the Hollywood Starlet and the Del Mar Debutante. We'll just keep thinking high and shooting for the stars and we'll see what happens. She ran like a filly that will keep going, that's for sure."
With a Pick Six carryover of $117,113 entering Sunday, an additional $881,866 was wagered with the one perfect ticket paying $567,875.80. Soda Pop Kid and Athenry, the only two live horses, finished one-two in the nightcap.
