INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Evening Jewel, the winner of two Grade 1 stakes for 3-year-old fillies last year, will not start in Saturday’s $100,000 Wilshire Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Trainer Jim Cassidy said on Wednesday that he would prefer to give Evening Jewel more time between starts, following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland on April 14.
Cassidy said two Hollywood Park races – the $150,000 Milady Handicap over 1 1/16 miles on the main track on May 21 or the $250000 Gamely Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf on May 30 – are new targets for Evening Jewel, who has won 7 of 18 starts and $1,217,943 for the Braly family.
“I changed my mind and won’t go,” he said. “I wanted to give her a little more time.
“I beat myself up with it and I thought, What if the traveling took a little out of her? She’s not really showing it but maybe I shouldn’t be too greedy. I’ll wait. Leg-wise, she’s fine.”
The absence of Evening Jewel makes the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes over a mile on turf a more open race. There is one other Group 1 winner in the projected field of 11 in Vamo a Galupiar, a Chilean import now trained by Neil Drysdale.
Last June, Vamo a Galupiar won the Group 1 Clasico Arturo Lyon Pena, over about a mile on turf in Chile, and was second in the Group 1 Chilean 1000 Guineas in September, her final start in that country.
A 4-year-old on the Northern Hemisphere calendar, Vamo a Galupiar was foaled in September 2007, which makes her about six months younger than her counterparts in the Wilshire.
“She’s a 3-year-old running against 4-year-olds,” Drysdale said.
By Proud Citizen, Vamo a Galupiar has worked steadily for Drysdale since mid-February, on the synthetic main track at Hollywood Park and turf courses at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.
“She’s very straightforward to train,” he said.
Drysdale had an excellent April with Liberian Freighter, who won the Grade 2 Arcadia Mile at Santa Anita on April 9 and the Grade 3 Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park last Sunday.
Liberian Freighter returned to racetrack training on Wednesday, exercising on the Hollywood Park backstretch training track. His next likely start is the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf on July 2.
“I think we’ll give him a breather,” Drysdale said. “He ran hard in both races. He came out of it well.”
Earlier this year, the Drysdale-trained Bourbon Bay won the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes and was second in the San Luis Obispo Stakes, both at Santa Anita. He was a disappointing 11th in the $5 million Sheema Classic in Dubai on March 26, and could resume his American career in the $250,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on turf on June 11.
Miss Match, who pulled a 45-1 upset in the Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita on March 12, is a candidate for the $250,000 Vanity Handicap on June 18, though a start in the Milady Handicap is a possibility, Drysdale said.
Stakes winners staying home
The Santa Anita stakes winners Fluke and Mildly Offensive will miss starts in stakes at Churchill Downs next week, their trainers said on Wednesday.
Fluke, who won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 5, did not work to the satisfaction of trainer Humberto Ascanio on April 16 and will miss the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on May 7.
Ascanio said a new goal for Fluke will be the Shoemaker Mile. “He runs well fresh,” Ascanio said.
Ascanio made the decision after Fluke worked six furlongs in 1:14.60. “In the last work, he wasn’t himself,” Ascanio said. “I think the last race was hard on him.”
Owned by Patricia Bozano, Fluke, 6, has won 7 of 16 starts and $637,948.
Mildly Offensive, who won the Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita on March 20, will miss the $100,000 Eight Belles Stakes on May 6 because of a recent illness, trainer Carla Gaines said. Mildly Offensive has since recovered and was expected to resume racetrack training on Thursday.
“She got a high temperature,” Gaines said. “We’re off the Churchill Downs trail. She missed about a week of training.”
Owned by Warren Williamson, Mildly Offensive is unbeaten in two starts and has earned $92,400.
Baze books Turf Paradise mounts
Jockey Tyler Baze, who resumed a comeback after a nine-month absence earlier this week, will ride at Turf Paradise on Saturday, according to his new agent, Craig O’Bryan.
Baze suffered facial injuries in a pre-race accident at Del Mar last summer when his mount reared back and struck him in the face. Baze rode at Turf Paradise on Monday and was booked to resume riding at Hollywood Park on Thursday.
In the last month, Baze has worked horses for trainer friends at Turf Paradise, and will have two mounts there on Saturday.
