Beverly Hills Handicap : Johnica Beats Favored Estrapade by Nose

Three years ago, on a September day in Kentucky, there was no stampeding of the sales pavilion door when Johnica was brought into the auction ring. The chestnut filly was rather large for her age and her ankles gave several potential buyers problems. It’s no way to talk about a lady, but her ankles were knobby.

John Mabee of San Diego bought the daughter of Stage Door Johnny, anyway, for $20,000. That was the lowest price Mabee paid for six or seven horses at that sale, but it was a worthwhile trip to Kentucky, because the auction also produced Personable Lady.

“She wasn’t the kind of filly that a trainer would have picked out, but I liked her,” Mabee said Sunday just outside the Hollywood Park winner’s circle, where Johnica had her picture taken after outgaming heavily favored Estrapade in the stretch to win the $111,400 Beverly Hills Handicap by a nose before 40,375 fans.

Estrapade, winner of the Santa Ana Handicap at Santa Anita and the Gamely Handicap at Hollywood and second to the colt Prince True in the San Juan Capistrano in her last three starts, was a 2-to-5 favorite. But she was carrying 125 pounds, conceding 7 to 14 pounds to her rivals, who were only four after the trainers of Adored and Envie de Rire scratched their horses.

The difference in the weights between Johnica and Estrapade was 10 pounds, and although Chris McCarron, riding Estrapade, wouldn’t use that as an excuse, trainer Charlie Whittingham did.

“Ten pounds is 10 pounds,” Whittingham said. “That could have been the difference, because it was just a nod at the wire.”

McCarron preferred to think that Sunday was just Johnica’s day. He knows both horses well, having ridden Johnica to stakes wins at both Santa Anita and Hollywood Park this year.

“We just got outrun,” McCarron said. “I got by the filly (Johnica), but then she came back and beat me. I felt my mare accelerate, but the other one was better this time.”

A week ago, Gary Stevens was in a riding slump, but he broke out of it with a win on Party Leader in the Quack Stakes, and Sunday he was aboard another stakes winner besides Johnica. Stevens won the Desert Wine stakes, run 90 minutes before the Beverly Hills, on Hilco Scamper, one of the fastest 2-year-olds in the country.

Riding Johnica for the first time, Stevens broke her on top even though Estrapade came over leaving the gate, bumping Bams Golden Eagle alongside and forcing that mare into Johnica.

Estrapade stalked Johnica all the way around the 1 1/8-mile distance, just as she had in scoring a half-length victory over Mabee’s filly in the Gamely.

Close to home, Estrapade got about a head in front. “I had hit my horse right-handed, and she responded favorably,” Stevens said. “Then when the other horse got in front of us, I hit her left-handed and she came on again.”

The win, which came in a time of 1:48 1/5, was worth $61,900, which boosted Johnica’s career earnings over the $200,000 mark.

Johnica, second choice in the betting, paid $6.40, $2.40 and $2.10. Estrapade’s mutuels were $2.20 and $2.10, and L’Attrayante, who looked briefly in the stretch as if she had the finishing power to pass both of the leaders, paid $2.10 in finishing third, a half-length behind Estrapade.

Johnica, with five wins in 11 lifetime starts, has won on both the grass and dirt. “She was on the inside this time instead of the outside in the Gamely,” said her trainer, Bruce Headley. “I think she can run on anything, anywhere. I’ll consider the Vanity Handicap (July 14 on the dirt) for her next start.”

In the paddock before the race, Howard Senzell, an official for the Summa Stable, which owns Estrapade, looked at the tote board and formed a wrinkle on his brow.

“I hate these races where you’re such a heavy favorite,” he said. “They make you nervous.”

Besides the weight, Whittingham felt that the harder turf course at Hollywood might not be to Estrapade’s liking.

“She doesn’t stride out as well at this track as she does at Santa Anita,” the trainer said. “She didn’t seem to be really reaching today.”

Stevens said there was heavy contact between Johnica and Bams Golden Eagle at the start. “We got hit good,” the jockey said. “But after one step, my filly recovered. Fortunately, there was no horse inside me to bump into.”

Fortunately for Johnica, she hasn’t grown much bigger since Mabee got her for a bargain price in Kentucky. And nobody mentions her knobby ankles at all anymore.

Horse Racing Notes Before Hilco Scamper ran in Sunday’s Desert Wine Stakes, the three Yakima, Wash., men who own him reportedly turned down a $350,000 offer for the 2-year-old gelding. Hilco Scamper’s value can only go up, because the Washington-bred won the Desert Wine, the fifth race on the program, by 4 1/2 lengths, extending his unbeaten streak to three races. Hilco Scamper, timed in 1:02 4/5 for the 5 1/2 furlongs, won his debut at Longacres near Seattle by 15 lengths and took the Tanforan Kindergarten Stakes at Golden Gate Fields by six. . . . Trainer Wayne Lukas accounted for his third stakes win in three days Sunday when Twilight Ridge won the Astoria at Belmont Park by a half-length over I’m Splendid. In Twilight Ridge’s only previous race, the 2-year-old daughter of Cox’s Ridge won by 10 lengths. . . . Fernando Toro, who suffered a bruised liver and kidney in a spill on June 1, is expected to resume riding in about two weeks. . . . Ben Felton, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, talking about the board’s approval of a quarter-horse race on a thoroughbred day at Hollywood Park: “I didn’t think it was a bad idea. This is only to be a one-time experiment. The board had good intentions and didn’t intend to abrogate Hollywood Park’s contract with the thoroughbred horsemen. I think that the quarter-horse fans who turn out that day would also bet considerably on the thoroughbred races, and everybody would benefit.” Hollywood Park hasn’t announced the date for the quarter-horse race, which is being opposed by the thoroughbred horsemen, who say the running of the race would be a violation of their contract.