HORSE RACING NOTEBOOK: HEADLEY PULLS OFF ANOTHER SWAPS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Staff Writer INGLEWOOD -- The Swaps Stakes The Swaps Stakes is a race for Thoroughbred horses run at Hollywood Park Racetrack each year. The race is open to horses, age three. willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. A Grade II event, it carries a purse of $400,000. has turned into an annual coming-out party for trainer Bruce Headley's best 3-year-olds. Last season it was Surf Cat winning the ``B'' feature on Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. day, and Saturday it was Arson Squad and jockey Alex Solis Alex O. Solis (born March 25, 1964 in Panama City, Panama) is a jockey based in the United States. He currently lives in Glendora, California and rides predominantly in Southern California. He first gained national prominence when he won the 1986 Preakness Stakes with Snow Chief. running down the dueling Point Determined and A.P. Warrior A.P. Warrior is a thoroughbred race horse. As a foal of 2003, he was a possible contender for the Triple Crown in 2006. Connections A.P. Warrior is owned by Stan Fulton and trained by John Shirreffs. He was previously trained by Eoin Harty. to win by a length at nearly 5-2 odds in the $350,000 race for 3-year-olds. Headley's success in the race named after the California-bred 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. winner is fitting, because when he was an 18-year-old gallop boy in 1954, he exercised the horse who handed Swaps his first defeat. That horse was Back Hoe, and Headley remembers barely getting into the winner's-circle photo at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
``I'm (visible) between his legs holding a blanket,'' Headley said. That Headley 3-year-olds had breakthrough wins in back-to-back Swaps Stakes also makes sense because the trainer practices such patience with young horses, the kind his rivals might push into the winter's Triple Crown prep races. Siegel-family-owned Arson Squad, gelded geld 1 tr.v. geld·ed or gelt , geld·ing, gelds 1. To castrate (a horse, for example). 2. To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken. before his first race, didn't debut until mid-January at Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
Strong-closing thirds in a pair of races at Hollywood Park, the latter behind Point Determined and A.P. Warrior in the Affirmed Handicap, told Headley he had another late- bloomer. ``I always bring a horse along slowly. Maybe I brought him along a little too slowly,'' Headley said wryly. Saturday, Arson Squad (a Pennsylvania-bred by Brahms, out of Majestic Fire) beat two of this season's top California 3-year-olds, both picking up the pieces after disappointments in the Kentucky Derby. Point Determined finished second while A.P. Warrior faded eight lengths back in third and long shot Potential ran last. In a four-horse field going 11/8 miles, Solis and Arson Squad waited behind the battling front-runners and took the lead on the outside in the stretch. ``I was afraid of that horse,'' Bob Baffert, trainer of even-money Point Determined, said of Arson Squad. ``When I saw 46 (seconds) for the half(-mile), I knew I was in trouble.'' Triple: Singalong Noun 1. singalong - informal group singing of popular songs singsong singing, vocalizing - the act of singing vocal music ($12.40) and jockey Corey Nakatani saved ground on the turf and won the Redondo Beach Stakes to give trainer Paddy Gallagher his third victory of the day. Elsewhere: Trainer Todd Pletcher had two big wins as English Channel and John Velazquez took the $750,000 United Nations on the Monmouth Park turf, and Circular Quay and Rafael Bejarano made a huge rally in the $150,000 Bashford Manor for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs. It's an honor: Between races, trainers Mel and Warren Stute were presented with Hollywood Park's Laffit Pincay Award for service to the sport. ``I truly believe I followed the greatest trainer in the world, my brother,'' Mel, 78, said of Warren, 84. |
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