David and Jill Heerensperger's Artiste Royal and jockey David Flores, center, make the turn for home and go on to win the Grade I, $300,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap, Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Hollywood Park,
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (June 7, 2008) - Irish-bred Artiste Royal got the winner's check under jockey David Flores in Saturday's $300,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap, but the connections of third-place finisher Lava Man also felt like winners as the three-time Hollywood Gold Cup champion earned a chance at a fourth straight win in Hollywood Park's signature race with a strong third-place showing.
Lava Man, the 121-pound high weight ridden for the first time by Tyler Baze, went to the front in the 1¼-mile turf race, opened a seven-length lead on the backstretch, but looked very vulnerable as eventual fourth-place finisher Mr. Wolverine snared the lead at the top of the stretch.
With one-two finishers Artiste Royal and Monzante in full stride, Lava Man refused to give in, battling to the wire as he was only beaten a neck and a nose, respectively.
"I've never had a horse that game before, literally," Baze said. "Michael's (Baze) horse (Mr. Wolverine) went by me, like by a good head, and as soon as he went by me, Lava Man just dug back in and said, 'the heck with you . . . you ain't going by me.' I haven't had a horse with this much heart, I couldn't believe it. That was a good feeling. The old boy's back. He was beaten less than a head for second and maybe next time they'll even up the weights a little bit. He ran awesome."
So did Artiste Royal, who covered the distance in 1:59.99 under 117 pounds while winning for the first time in six starts since capturing the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship at the same distance last October.
"I just wanted to see what these guys were doing and where the favorite was," Flores said. "It looked like he was far back so I just tried to find my spot and look for a pocket to get in. Mike Smith (Warning Zone) just ran out of horse in time and that gave me room because this horse looks like he runs his best races on the outside. My horse was just grinding and moving forward and it didn't look like anyone was coming flying. That made it just perfect for us."
Flores was concerned about odds-on choice Champs Elysees, but there was no need for concern as the 5-year-old Great Britain-bred never threatened while finishing sixth in the field of seven older horses.
"I don't know what happened," jockey Rafael Bejarano said. "He was lazy all through the race. He didn't show me too much from the half-mile pole when I started to really ask him. I think he's okay, but he just never picked it up."
Lava Man, who won the Whittingham two years ago and was the runner-up in the Grade I race in 2007, was making his second start following a six-month layoff. It was his longest break since Doug O'Neill claimed him on behalf of STD Racing and Jason Wood for $50,000 in August of 2004 at Del Mar. Now seven, he has earned $5,268,706 - all but $98,603 since the claim.
"I loved it," O'Neill said. "He was tenacious late in the race. Obviously we wanted to win it, but like Steve (co-owner Kenly) said, now as the weights get a little more level, hopefully that will be the missing link. Actually, going a mile and a quarter, being at the end of a mile-and-a-quarter-race, usually they don't have it.
"We all, as a team, wanted to be more aggressive with him today," O'Neill added. "I don't think any of us thought we'd be that far ahead of the rest of the field mid-race. I think we were assuming Plug Me In was going to go. We didn't want anyone . . . if anyone was going to get an easy lead, it was going to be us. That's Tyler's knack, he is so good at getting a horse into a race."
The 69th running of the Hollywood Gold Cup is scheduled for June 28. Lava Man will be shifting to Cushion Track, the surface he won his third Gold Cup on a year ago when he beat A.P. Xcellent by a nose. He won by a record 8¾ lengths in 2005 and by a nose in 2006 - the last two Gold Cups run on Hollywood Park's traditional dirt track.
Now it is back to the synthetic surface.
"That (Hollywood Gold Cup) has got to be the game plan," O'Neill said.
Artiste Royal, also seven, paid $8.40 as the second choice while banking $180,000 to increase his earnings to $773,990 for David and Jill Heerensperger.
"He's always had excuses," said trainer Neil Drysdale, the former Whittingham assistant who has saddled five winners of the race - three since it was renamed for the legendary trainer in 1999. "We haven't run him that many times. We ran him first time down at Del Mar, which was an experiment, and then he came back and won the Clement Hirsch."
The Whittingham was one of four stakes on Saturday's program - three graded.
Fourth-choice Misty Ocean set the pace in the $173,250 Honeymoon Handicap, lost the lead in mid-stretch to third-place finisher Sweeter Still, but fought back under Joel Rosario to win the 1 1/8-mile turf race by three-quarters of a length over Bel Air Sizzle. She was clocked in 1:47.56 while paying $11.60. Favorite Missit finished fourth in the Grade II event.
The victory was the third straight for the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained filly. Owned by Jim Plemmons, she has won four of ten races overall. She established herself as a serious contender for the $750,000 American Oaks here July 5 while banking $111,750 to increase her earnings to $191,462.
Eastern shipper Rebellion rallied from ninth under Bejarano at the top of the stretch to win the $111,700 Ack Ack Handicap by 1½ lengths over Tropic Storm. The Graham Motion-trained 5-year-old horse paid $6.80 while earning $67,020 to increase his bankroll to $467,367. He has won three of four starts on synthetic surfaces for Hickory Tree Stable.
In the Redondo Beach Stakes, Forging Oaks Farm's Passified scored a 12-1 upset win under Hall of Fame jockey Smith. The Jim Cassidy-trained filly covered one mile on the Lakeside Turf Course in 1:34.18 while paying $26. La Tee was three-quarters of a length back in second, while favorite Wake Up Maggie finished sixth.
