HOLLYWOOD FUTURITY: PERFECT END FOR DECLAN'S MOON FUTURITY WIN PUTS GELDING ON DERBY PATH.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer INGLEWOOD - For Declan's Moon and his people, Sunday's Hollywood Futurity The Hollywood Futurity is an American Grade I race for thoroughbred two-year-olds race horses. Run in December at Hollywood Park Racetrack, it's the last major race for two-year-olds. marked a perfect ending to this year's quest and an auspicious beginning for next year's. The unofficial calendar flipped the instant Declan's Moon and jockey Victor Espinoza Victor Espinoza (born May 23, 1972 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding in his native Mexico and earned his first win there in 1992 before moving the following year to compete at racetracks in California. hit the Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
castrated male horse. the 2004 national championship for 2-year-old thoroughbreds and stamping him as an early contender for the 2005 Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. . ``I think he's got a lot left (to show),'' said winning trainer Ron Ellis, a Glendale native who attended Monroe High in North Hills. ``I think he could be one of the ones.'' The $449,500 Hollywood Futurity was the most anticipated event of the Hollywood Park fall season and a rare contest, a seven-horse race featuring a three-way showdown of 2-year-olds trying to impress voters for the divisional titles. Declan's Moon seized control about halfway through the 1 1/16-mile race, when Espinoza sent him between long shot Bushwacker and the rail, and never faltered while staying undefeated in four starts. After a few right-handed cracks of the whip near the top of the homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. , Declan's Moon opened a daylight lead. By the time he geared down to a silky gallop near the finish, neither of his championship rivals was a threat. In the end, it was Declan's Moon by a length over the improved Giacomo, who got second by a nose over Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. winner and title contender Wilko. Then it was two lengths back to Southern Africa and 10 back to Champagne Stakes winner and title hopeful Proud Accolade. ``He got to goofing around in the lane,'' Ellis said of Declan's Moon, who ran his first two-turn race. ``He was kind of flipping his ears back and forth. ... He's still learning.'' Declan's Moon paid $4.40 as a 6-5 favorite. He was clocked in 1:41.63, relatively fast for the Hollywood Futurity. Although Wilko jockey Corey Nakatani said Espinoza squeezed him into the rail on the far turn - Nakatani lodged no official foul claim - it really wasn't a day for excuses. Wilko, racing for the 12th time in England and the United States this year, was just outfinished. Trainer Craig Dollase did not blame a late-week problem with the colt's left forefoot forefoot /fore·foot/ (-foot) 1. one of the front feet of a quadruped. 2. the fore part of the foot. . Proud Accolade ran even worse than he did while finishing sixth behind Wilko at the Breeders' Cup. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of trainer Todd Pletcher and rider John Velazquez made the trip for nothing. Meanwhile, Ellis and dad-and-daughter owners Mace and Samantha Siegel were vindicated in their decision to hold Declan's Moon out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which was run Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park Lone Star Park is a horse racing track located in Grand Prairie, Texas. History Lone Star Park opened in 1997. The track offers separate meets for Thoroughbred racing and Quarter Horse racing. In October of 2002, Magna Entertainment Corp. in Texas, eight weeks after the Maryland-bred son of Malibu Moon won the Del Mar Futurity The Del Mar Futurity is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. Beginning in the racing season of 2007, this race has been upgraded by the American Graded Stakes Committee from a Grade II event to a Grade I. . ``We did the smart thing not to rush him into the Breeders' Cup,'' Mace Siegel said. ``He's a gelding, and he's going to be worth what he can earn (on the track). So we want to allow him to develop slowly. We're going to hope he's around for a long time and (becomes) one of the heroes the sport needs - who won't retire at age 3.'' Siegel's one complaint: ``I have to buy a new tuxedo for the Eclipse (Awards) dinner. The old one is too small.'' Ellis thinks the victory should ``eliminate all doubt'' about the 2-year-old title: ``He's running fast, he's doing it easily, and now he's beaten some pretty representative horses from around the country.'' The win may propel Declan's Moon to the top of an early-prospects list for the May 7 Kentucky Derby, one that includes Fusaichi Samurai, the $4 million son of 2000 Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, and Rockport Harbor, the Remsen Stakes winner for Smarty Jones trainer John Servis. Ellis already is planning. He said he envisions training Declan's Moon at Hollywood Park and racing him three times at the Santa Anita meet that opens Dec. 26. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 heymodesti(at)aol.com |
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