Honeymoon Handicap : Rose Cream Loses Again, This Time to a Horse

The last time Rose Cream ventured out on a race track it was at Golden Gate Fields, where she was sabotaged by a sharp descent.

Sunday afternoon at Hollywood Park, in the 34th running of the Honeymoon Handicap, Rose Cream, the 7-5 favorite, was edged again. Only this time, the villain was a filly called Sharp Ascent.

To appreciate the significance of the change of direction, a brief history is in order. On May 4, Rose Cream had just roared to the front in the California Oaks, when suddenly at the 3/16 pole, a bird of undetermined species swooped down and made a beeline for the daughter of Rich Cream, glancing off her head.

Rose Cream, understandably disconcerted, ducked in and bothered another horse. The sudden bolt caused rider Russell Baze to lose both stirrups. Baze, however, managed to stay aboard and guided Rose Cream across the wire, a winner by five lengths. Unfortunately, the stretch-run interference forced the stewards to take her number down. Bettors, who sent her off as a 4-5 favorite, no doubt thought the decision was for the birds.

When trainer Gary Jones called owner John Mabee to relay the bad news, Mabee was slightly incredulous.

“I have to admit I hadn’t heard that particular excuse before,” Mabee said before Sunday’s race. “Gary gave me a tape of the race, today. I haven’t had a chance to look at it, yet, but I’ve got it in my pocket.”

Jones, overhearing the conversation, was quick to add: “I’m glad I had that tape. I mean it was a one-in-a-million shot. I’m glad there were witnesses. If I hadn’t seen it, I don’t know if I’d believe it, either.”

Sunday a Hollywood crowd of 38,609 could bear witness to Rose Cream’s fate, only on this occasion the 1 1/16-mile turf race had a more conventional scenario. Indeed, Sharp Ascent, with Eddie Delahoussaye up, laid in comfortably behind Shywing in the early going, moved inside to challenge in the stretch, got the lead and moved out to a convincing 1 1/2-length victory.

Rose Cream, with Chris McCarron aboard, rallied in the stretch, but had to settle for second, a length and a half ahead of third-place finisher Akamini.

“There was no excuse, today,” McCarron said. “She just got outrun by a better filly.”

Sharp Ascent, trained by John Gosden, returned $11.40, $4.80 and $3.20, while Rose Cream paid $3.20 and $2.60. Akamini returned $2.40.

Although the classy filly Fran’s Valentine did not join the field of nine for the Honeymoon, preferring to wait for the Hollywood Oaks July 7, Delahoussaye was nonetheless convinced that Sharp Ascent is on the way up.

“I told John after the race that she was one of the best fillies around,” said Delahoussaye, who has won six stakes at the current meeting. “She’s small, but she can run.”

Gosden has no immediate plans for the English-bred daughter of Sharpen Up, but is looking down the road to the Del Mar Oaks later this summer.

Sharp Ascent is owned by Robert Sangster, which triggered a bird vignette from Gosden.

“A few years ago in Phoenix, I had a Sangster horse running, a good horse, too,” Gosden recalled. “And they had put this pond in. So my horse is out there on the lead when suddenly a goose comes out on the track. My horse stepped on it, wrenched an ankle and never raced again. You know they put all these ponds in, you have to watch out for the wildlife.”

Racing Notes Rose Cream’s misfortune at Golden Gate brought out several bizarre tales. Steward Hubert Jones remembered a Hollywood Park incident in which a cat worked its way through a field of horses, appearing to be stepped on by every animal. The horses went on their merry way and the cat retreated largely unscathed, although minus a significant amount of fur. Trainer Bob Wingfield told writer Mike Marten about a race in Florida during which a horse “jumped over one of the alligators that crawled out of an infield lake.” Trainer Mel Stute remembered one of his horses reacting violently when a snake slithered out on the track. . . . Today’s $300,000 Hollywood Invitational was reduced to a field of five after Kings Island was scratched after a workout Sunday morning. The winner of the Westwood Handicap fell when pulling up from light exercise on the main track. X-rays revealed no sign of a fracture, but Kings Island, an Irish-bred 4-year-old, had a cut on his right front fetlock. . . . Jockey Bill Shoemaker has won the Honeymoon Handicap four times, the last coming aboard Cascapedia in 1976.