DECLAN'S MOON STILL IN RUNNING FOR ECLIPSE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing 

INGLEWOOD - Declan's Moon galloped down the Hollywood Park homestretch a little after 9 on Thursday morning as Ron Ellis stood on a platform overlooking the backstretch. Even from a quarter-mile away, the graceful locomotion of a potential champion caught the trainer's unaided eye.

``He always looks like he's moving forward,'' Ellis said of his stable's young star. ``He hits the ground real light. He always seems like he's into the next step.''

For Declan's Moon, the huge next step to fame is Saturday's Hollywood Futurity, in which the dark-bay gelding will face Wilko, Proud Accolade and five other colts.

A victory would make Declan's Moon the 2-year-old champion, stamp him as a contender for the 2005 Kentucky Derby and prove that Ellis was correct when he made an unorthodox decision this summer.

After Declan's Moon won September's Del Mar Futurity in an all-out effort in his second start, Ellis and the horse's owners chose to skip the following month's rich Breeders' Cup Juvenile, believing another hard contest so soon might be too much.

``I equate it to asking a 12-year-old to throw curveballs,'' said Ellis, 44, a Glendale native who played football at Monroe High of North Hills. ``Their arms aren't developed, and they won't have the arm strength when they get older.''

Ellis assumed that in passing up the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he was surrendering all hope of Declan's Moon winning the Eclipse Award as the season's outstanding 2-year-old.

But as he watched the Breeders' Cup race on TV at home in Arcadia on Oct. 30, Ellis saw Wilko get to the wire first at Lone Star Park near Dallas and knew the victory by the 28-1 shot from England had thrown the championship wide open.

``We'll settle it on the track,'' Ellis said as he watched Declan's Moon complete his exercise gallop Thursday.

It appears to be down to the three favorites in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile Hollywood Futurity, which offers a purse projected at $449,500.

--Declan's Moon (Victor Espinoza riding) is unbeaten in three starts, having ended a 10-week vacation with an easy victory in the Nov. 20 Hollywood Prevue, but the son of Malibu Moon and Vee Vee Star will be tackling a race longer than 7 furlongs for the first time.

--Wilko (Corey Nakatani), transferred from England's Jeremy Noseda to Hollywood Park-based trainer Craig Dollase after the Breeders' Cup, makes his 12th start of 2004 as he tries to be the first to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the Hollywood Futurity.

--Proud Accolade (John Velazquez) won Belmont Park's Champagne Stakes before finishing sixth at 5-2 odds at the Breeders' Cup. He will be fitted with the blinkers that Michael ``Whitey'' McCarthy, trainer Todd Pletcher's assistant here, said has made the colt more manageable in recent workouts.

Also entered Thursday were Prevue runner-up Bushwacker, Lucky Bid, Southern Africa, Giacomo and General Jumbo.

The winners can begin plotting their Triple Crown campaign.

Of course, like his horse, Ellis already seems like he's into the next step.

On Thursday, he wore a blue baseball cap bearing the logo of the '05 Kentucky Derby.

--Safety concerns: A spate of fatal injuries to horses at Hollywood Park has drawn complaints from trainers who believe the main-track running surface is to blame.

``The last few days, it's been better, but there's obviously something wrong with the track,'' Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel said Thursday. ``If they can't handle (maintenance of) the track when it rains a little bit, then we're in trouble. I don't want to hear that excuse.''

Frankel hasn't run a horse at Hollywood Park since Dec. 5 after starting 32 in the meet's first 25 days and winning five races.

``They want you to keep your mouth shut, but unless it hits the paper, nothing gets done,'' said Frankel, who had two horses suffer injuries that led to euthanasia.

Hollywood Park executives acknowledged the complaints. They reported 10 fatal breakdowns on the main track in races during the season that ends Monday. They said there were five deadly injuries in races during the corresponding season in 2003.

Also, they said, four horses have sustained deadly injuries in training.

The sandy-loam running surface, installed in 1998, features fiber binding material that makes it unique among California tracks. Executives said the surface's composition and maintenance have not been altered.

Ellis said: ``I've been lucky (to avoid injuries). But anytime you get horses breaking down in numbers, it's distressing.''

--Championship chase: Rene Douglas, going for his first title at a Southern California track, is being chased by Tyler Baze in the Hollywood Park jockey standings. With four days left in the meet, Douglas has ridden 36 winners, Baze 31 and Espinoza 28.

Doug O'Neill leads the trainer standings with 14 victories to Bob Baffert's 11.

The 36-day Hollywood Park meet ends Monday. Santa Anita opens Dec. 26.

--Witness to history: Marion Kahn, a press-box fixture when her husband Alex Kahn covered the races for United Press International, died Sunday in Los Angeles at age 97. Alex Kahn died in January.

A few years ago, Marion recalled rooting for Citation in 1950 when the horse was on his way to becoming the first equine millionaire.

``(Newspaperman Paul) Lowry wrote, 'A little girl at the rail held her breath all the way around, till she was blue in the face,' '' she said, remembering one race. ``I was not blue.''

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- Kevin Modesti and Associated Press