Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Horse Racing Results: Court Vision Wins The Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park November 30
Posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Second-choice Court Vision, last in the field of 9 at the quarter pole under jockey Ramon Dominguez, rallied in the middle of the course to win the $500,000 Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park November 20, Sunday.
The son of Gulch, Court Vision, looked beaten heading into the far turn of the Hollywood Derby, but hit stride on the turn and caught pacesetter Muny, Dixie Chatter and Midships inside the sixteenth pole, leaving little doubt from there.
Court Vision edged away in the final yards while covering the Hollywood Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.43 on the Lakeside Turf Course to finish 3/4 of a length in front of Cowboy Cal. Midships was another 3/4 of a length back in third, followed by Dixie Chatter, Muny, Albahri, favorite Gio Ponti, Madeo and Sailor’s Cap.
“I was concentrating on getting my horse to relax,” jockey Ramon Dominguez said. “I really didn’t want to be that far back. Ideally I would have been laying a little closer, but at the same time he was carrying himself well. Looking back, if I knew they were going that slow I would have been very worried. He finished very, very strong the last part. When they all bunched up, I knew I had a lot of horse. Once I got him going at the quarter-pole I thought I had just as good a chance as anybody.”
Court Vision, trained by Bill Mott and owned by IEAH Stables and WinStar Farm, earned $300,000 in the Hollywood Derby to boost his bankroll to $1,006,400. Cour Vision has won five of 12 starts and paid $9.60, $4.60 and $3, while Cowboy Cal returned $6.60 and $5.20. The show payoff on Midships was $7.60.
Eastern-based jockey Ramon Dominguez, who won with his first 2 Hollywood Park mounts in the 2004 Turf Festival, also guided favorite Cocoa Beach to a come-from-behind victory two races earlier in the $500,000 Matriarch Stakes.
Cocoa Beach, who had not run on turf since winning her career debut in Chile in January of 2007, rallied in the stretch to win the Matriarch by 3/4 of a length over defending champion and pacesetter Precious Kitten.
The Matriarch Stakes victory was the ninth in 12 starts for the 4-year-old Chilean-bred Cocoa Beach who came out second best while facing unbeaten Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic last October at Santa Anita Park.
“My main focus at first was to not lose too much ground,” jockey Ramon Dominguez said. “But then I knew I had so much horse under me that I wasn’t even worried about saving ground and just wanted to be able to get out when I wanted to. She seems to be getting better every time I’ve ridden her. She’s run well on every surface. They weren’t going that fast up front, but my filly has quite a turn of foot.”
Owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Cocoa Beach won 4 races in Chile in 2007 and 2 of 4 early this year in Dubai before coming to the U.S. She won a minor stake a Saratoga in August and the Beldame Stakes (G1) on a sloppy track at Belmont Park prior to her second in the Breeders’ Cup.
“I know there was a question mark about her distance early,” race horse trainer Saeed bin Suroor said. “I think nine furlongs is the best distance for her. This filly always has a good turn of foot and plenty of speed. When I saw her coming from the corner, the last furlong and one-half, I thought she was going to win. The jockey had a brilliant ride and I’m happy with the way he rode her. He kept her nice and relaxed behind and took her towards the middle. When he asked her, she flew.”
Precious Kitten, who was making her final career start, was exiting a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Hall of Fame race horse trainer Bobby Frankel, aiming for his fifth consecutive Matriarch victory and ninth overall, saddled Precious kitten and Visit in the Grade I event. The former failed to hold, while the latter pursued Cocoa Beach from the 3/8 pole home, but fell a little short.
“It was not her best race to have her on the lead,” race horse trainer Bobby Frankel said of second-choice Precious Kitten.
Cocoa Beach, who banked $300,000 to raise her earnings to $1,651,141, was the 9-5 betting choice and paid $5.80, $3.20 and $2.20. Precious Kitten returned $3.20 and $2.40, while the show payoff on Visit was $2.60.
Horse racing news edited from www.hollywoodpark.com.
Tags: Cocoa Beach, Court Vision, Cowboy Cal, Midships, Precious Kitten, Visit
"Horse Racing Results: Court Vision Wins The Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park November 30" was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Hollywood Park, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Results & Payouts, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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