INGLEWOOD, Calif. (June 8, 2008) - Lethal Heat, who was cooled off in her last start after stumbling at the break, made no mistakes Sunday while registering her fourth win in five starts under jockey Rafael Bejarano in the $157,600 Hollywood Oaks at Hollywood Park.
Bejarano, leading jockey at the Spring/Summer Meet with 37 wins including eight in stakes races, was very patient while giving the California-bred daughter of Unusual Heat a stalking trip. She sat comfortably in third most of the way, gained the lead from Tasha's Miracle in mid-stretch and held on to prevail in a three-horse drive to the wire in the Grade II event.
With pressure from the inside and out, she held off a late charge by Smooth Performer to win by a head while covering 1 1/16 miles on Cushion Track in 1:43. Tasha's Miracle, who fought back on the inside in the final sixteenth, was just another nose back in third.
Lethal Heat, owned by trainer Barry Abrams in a partnership which includes Ron McCauley and breeder Madeline Auerbach, broke her maiden in March and capped a three-race winning streak to begin her career in the Grade III Santa Paula Stakes. She was favored to extend the streak here in the Railbird Stakes last month, but ran into some unexpected trouble as Oaks fourth-place finisher Million Dollar Run scored a major upset.
"The last time she broke real bad," Bejarano said. "She really stumbled and I lost all position. She was different today. She got real excited and wanted to run early. I tried to stay comfortable on the outside behind the speed, but she was dragging me from the five furlongs . . . she really wanted to go. But I had a lot of horse. She was still running strong at the end. She'll be even better next time."
Lethal Heat paid $6.60 as the second choice in the field of six sophomore fillies while banking $94,560 to boost her earnings to $254,028.
"She had an easy trip and it was a good weekend," Abrams said. "I didn't expect her to be out ahead, I thought the one-horse would be in front. The race didn't break that way, she relaxed for about an eighth or a quarter of a mile, but she came out of the turn and just took off. Rafael was just holding on and she dragged him around to the finish line. This is a learning experience for her and she's only going to get better from here once she learns how to relax and she can be any kind of a horse. This one is Breeders' Cup eligible - she's the only one we nominated."
Smooth Performer out-ran her odds of 18-1, narrowly missing.
"She was trying, that other horse just had a lot left," jockey Michael Baze said. "Mine likes to be on the outside and she was trying all the way down. Overall we had a good trip. No complaints."
Martin Garcia was pleasantly surprised when Tasha's Miracle re-rallied in the late stages.
"I started asking her at the three-eighths and I thought I was out of horse, but then in the stretch she started running again," he said.
