Hollywood Invitational : Both Ends Burning Wears Cloak of a Winner

If you fly all the way from Tulsa, Okla., to watch your horse run, it makes sense to bring along a good luck charm.

Since his own sports jacket was a little “threadbare”, James Nelson of Broken Arrow, Okla., decided to bring along the next best thing--his friend Ed Beshara.

Beshara is a clothing salesman with the rapid-fire delivery of Cal Worthington. Only his “dog, Spot,” is a blue silk blazer, which is covered with a miniature horse head design. Beshara wore his eye-catcher or sartorial eyesore back in October for the Oak Tree Invitational, the last time Nelson’s horse, Both Ends Burning, won a race.

Since that time, Both Ends Burning, which is also owned by Martin Burdett-Couts, had lost four straight. So, in hopes of ending the drought, Beshara donned the coat for Monday’s $300,000 Hollywood Invitational, a marathon 1 1/2 miles on the turf.

Had the crowd of 36,610 known about Beshara’s threads, they might have cloaked Both Ends Burning with the favorite’s mantel. Instead, they sent Prince True, with Chris McCarron aboard, out as an even-money choice.

But 2:25 3/5 later, it was Both Ends Burning, with Eddie Delahoussaye up, driving for the wire and a three-quarter length victory over Dahar, which rallied to overtake third-place Swoon.

Both Ends Burning, trained by Neil Drysdale, returned $9, $4.20 and $2.40 for outrunning the rest of the five-horse field. Dahar, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, a four-time winner of the Invitational, paid $3.80 and $2.80, while Swoon returned $3 to show.

“That’s why we brought him (Beshara),” Nelson said after picking up the winner’s share of $165,000. “I’ve got a jacket just like it at home, but it’s a little threadbare from over use.

“We own some horses together and we’ve been friends for a long time, but he doesn’t have an interest in this one.

“But it wasn’t only the coat. Neil did a great job of bring the horse up to the race, and Eddie gave it a super ride.”

Drysdale had run Both Ends Burning in a division of the Premiere Handicap April 24, where he took third. Two weeks later, he sent the son of Nalees Man out of Star Game out for the Century Handicap, where the brown gelding took second to Dahar. According to Drysdale, it was all part of the master plan.

“We had the three-race sequence planned for a long time, as far back as December,” he said. “It’s very satisfying when it works out. The horse is a lovely horse. It runs its own race. If the pace is steamy, it will lay back. If it’s slow, it will be on the front.”

Laffit Pincay had been on Both Ends Burning in its last two efforts, but Pincay was busy in New Jersey with Spend a Buck, so Delahoussaye stepped in.

“You couldn’t ask for a better ride,” Drysdale said. “He was just off Fatih and then made the move. It was perfect, really.”

Horse Racing Notes

John Henry, thoroughbred racing’s all-time money-winner, worked three furlongs Monday morning in 35 3/5 seconds. . . . Prince True, which finished fourth in the Hollywood Invitational, wasn’t the only royalty to fare poorly over the Memorial Day weekend. In separate races Saturday, Queen’s Ruling finished second and Galaxy Prince third. On Sunday, Sovereignty finished second, while Prince Florimund ran fourth. On Monday’s card, Terry’s King finished last in a 10-horse field and Peninsula Prince ran sixth.