INGLEWOOD, Calif. (July 5, 2008) - Favorite Pure Clan split horses in mid-stretch and out-ran Satan's Circus in the final sixteenth to win the $750,000 American Oaks by three-quarters of a length under jockey Julien Leparoux on Saturday at Hollywood Park.
Pure Clan, trained by Bob Holthus for IEAH Stables, Lewis Lakin and Pegasus Holding Group Stable, covered 1¼ miles on the Lakeside Turf Course in 2:00.50 to register her first Grade I victory and her sixth win in nine starts.
Satan's Circus, one of four European shippers in the seventh running of the Oaks, was prominent throughout under Ioritz Mendizabal and finished a half-length in front of Canadian hope Clearly Foxy in third. Second choice Carribean Sunset from Ireland finished fourth in the field of 12, followed by Missit, Magical Fantasy, Backseat Rhythm, pacesetter Raw Silk, Bel Air Sizzle, Zaskar, Annie Skates and My Baby Baby.
The victory was the first in California for 74-year-old trainer Bob Holthus, one of the most highly regarded and respected horsemen in the Midwest. He has been based in Kentucky since 1993 and shipped Pure Clan here following her victory in the Regret Stakes on turf at Churchill Downs on June 14. She has won four graded stakes - two on dirt and two on turf.
"I tell you, it took me 56 years to find a race I could win," Holthus joked in the winner's circle after winning with the first horse he saddled at Hollywood Park. "A lot of my friends came here in the '50s and '60s."
Pure Clan, ridden with poise by Leparoux, looked to be in trouble turning into the stretch, but proved best when he guided her through an opening approaching the sixteenth pole.
"I was a little worried turning for home if she was going to be able to get through, but she made it," Holthus said "Julien did a great job. She always runs the last sixteenth of a mile as hard as she can. I felt pretty confident when I saw her head coming up through there. She's a very hard-running filly, she's very consistent and she never runs a bad one."
Pure Clan paid $7 while picking up the winner's check of $450,000 to increase her earnings to $1,002,416.
"I had the rail and stayed on it the whole way," Leparoux said. "Coming into the stretch, I didn't have much room to go. It was pretty tight. We just got lucky, it kind of opened up for us. I am so proud of her, she's such a nice filly. She proved she's good on the dirt but she might be better on turf. She just keeps improving every race."
Mendizabal was proud of the runner-up.
"It was a big trip coming over from the south of France," he said. "She had to van 15 hours to Amsterdam, and then another 11 hours from Amsterdam to L.A. I think the trip took a little out of her but she ran a very game race. She's got a huge heart."
In the co-featured $750,000 CashCall Mile, third choice Diamond Diva re-rallied in the final strides under David Flores to beat second choice Ventura by a nose. Favorite Lady of Venice - the defending champion - finished another 2¼ lengths back in third while Passified - a stablemate of Diamond Diva - finished fourth in the field of seven fillies and mares.
Diamond Diva covered one mile on the Lakeside Turf Course in 1:34.07 to give trainer Jim Cassidy the win in the Grade II CashCall Mile four years after registered his first Grade I win with Ticker Tape in the American Oaks.
"I haven't had time to talk to David so I don't know if she didn't see her (Ventura) coming on the outside or if she was concentrating more on the horses on the inside," Cassidy said. "I'm thinking when she realized that other horse was coming on the outside, she probably switched leads and shot forward.
"I won the American Oaks with Ticker Tape, so now I've won both of them," Cassidy added. "I really wasn't concerned about Lady of Venice (at the top of the stretch), I was really rooting for Passified because she was running a great race. I was seeing if she could hold on so we could run one-two."
Diamond Diva won for the third time in four North American starts since Cassidy bought her last December in Europe for Three Chimneys Racing. The winner's share of $425,000 boosted her bankroll to $721,603 - $586,750 for her current owners. She is six of 16 overall.
Diamond Diva, a Great Britain-bred daughter of Dansili, paid $6.60 in what was a painful setback for the connections of Ventura as she seemed a certain winner a few strides from the finish.
"I thought we had the race, but when Garrett asked her to go, she just wouldn't go," said Humberto Ascanio, assistant to trainer Bobby Frankel who watched the race from the East Coast. "She ran great, but just didn't have it at the end. I thought she was just going to take off. I have to give credit to the other filly, too, but I just thought she was going to take off, and didn't. In a way, it's tough to lose a race like that. I'm a little disappointed, but what can I say?"
Flores, who rode Street Boss to victory in the $300,000 Triple Bend Handicap later on the card, and Gomez were uncertain of the outcome.
"It was a very close call," Flores said. "I was just hoping coming back I'd see my number up. That other filly went by her in the stretch and my filly looked at her and said 'no way.' She came back real gamely."
Ventura had won three of four 2008 starts entering the CashCall Mile, including the Just A Game Handicap when she beat Lady of Venice in her previous start.
"I know she pulled herself up," Gomez said. "I squeezed her when I first uncovered her and I got her moving forward and I kind of lost her for a minute. I got her running back up around the eighth pole and I was worried what was coming from behind me. I opened up three-quarters of a length on that other filly and all of the sudden in the last few yards she went to shutting down on me.
"I only hit her once or twice and that was early on in the stretch," he added. "That last little bit I never touched her. Maybe I should have. She kind of did the same thing the other day. I knew she wasn't real high on the stick. When I rode her last time, when I got into her a couple of times she kind of pinned her ears. I don't know if it was just her being in front by herself for so long. I'm a little disappointed."
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