INGLEWOOD, Calif. (June 27, 2008) - Multiple graded stakes winner Foxysox will carry high weight of 118 pounds as she aims for her second straight victory in Sunday's $150,000 Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Foxysox, a Great Britain-bred mare owned by Warren B. Williamson, defeated fellow Beverly Hills starter Black Mamba by a nose in the Santa Barbara Handicap while traveling the Beverly Hills distance of 1¼ miles on April 19.
The 5-year-old daughter of Foxhound drew post nine in a field of ten fillies and mares for the Grade II event, which will break as follows from the chute on the Lakeside Turf Course:
Black Mamba, with Garret Gomez up, will carry 117 pounds; Solva, Aaron Gryder, 115; Island Hop, Julio Garcia, 110; I Can See, Jon Court, 113; Green Lyons, Joel Rosario, 113; Double Trouble, Rafael Bejarano, 116; Marzelline, Brice Blanc, 113; Forest Melody, Tyler Baze, 113; Foxysox, Victor Espinoza, 118, and Gotta Have Her, Richard Migliore, 114.
Foxysox, trained by Carla Gaines, has won six of 20 starts while earning $596,718. She won the Senorita Stakes and Bayakoa Handicap here in 2006.
New Zealand-bred Black Mamba won her North American debut last summer, but has failed to win in seven subsequent starts, although running very competitively. Besides the Santa Barbara, she has finished second in the Palomar Handicap, the Las Palmas Handicap, the Dahlia and the Buena Vista Handicap. She was third last fall in the Yellow Ribbon Invitational Handicap and third two starts back in the American Beauty Handicap.
Double Trouble, the betting choice in the Santa Barbara, finished fifth after tracking the pace. She was then fifth on Cushion Track when tiring in the Milady Handicap here May 31.
I Can See was only beaten a head while finishing third in the Santa Barbara. Most recently, she finished third in the one-mile Long Beach Handicap.
Gotta Have Her won the Harold C. Ramser Sr. Handicap in October and tuned up for the Beverly Hills with a one-mile allowance win here June 4.
Solva, sixth in the Santa Barbara while making her first start since finishing fifth in the Grade II race a year earlier, finished fifth here in the Gamely Handicap on Memorial Day and third in the Yerba Buena Handicap at Golden Gate Fields on June 8.
Island Hop has a maiden win to date; Green Lyons won an allowance race at Santa Anita in April and finished third most recently in the Redondo Beach; Irish-bred Marzelline has won consecutive allowance races and is two-for-three in North America, and Forest Melody finished sixth in the Ouija Board Handicap on Memorial Day at Lone Star Park after a fourth in the Santa Barbara.
The Beverly Hills Handicap will run as the eighth race on Sunday's nine-race program at Hollywood Park. First post is at 1:20 p.m.
