Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park : Feature Race Comes Up Short, but Not Zoffany

Eddie Delahoussaye, dismounting Saturday after riding Zoffany to victory in the $118,600 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park, was asked by trainer John Gosden if the 5-year-old horse might be able to handle 1 1/2 miles in his next start.

The question probably should have been: “Can Zoffany run 1 1/8 miles?”

Even though Zoffany won the Citation at a listed 1 1/8 miles, it was determined later that the stake was about 25 yards short of that distance because the starting gate had been placed in the wrong position. The Citation was only the second race Hollywood had run on its new, lengthened turf course.

If Zoffany had really run 1 1/8 miles, his time of 1:44 4/5 would have broken the world record by three-fifths of a second.

Even before the stewards ruled that the distance for the Citation be changed to “about 1 1/8 miles,” jockeys and trainers knew something was amiss.

“Hey, John,” trainer Eddie Gregson said to Gosden as he left the winner’s circle, “can you explain to me how your horse ran the last eighth of a mile in only 11 seconds?”

Peter and Diane Perkins, who own the second-place finisher, Lord at War, had wondered the same thing immediately after the race.

“Maybe we were running downhill at the end,” Gosden said.

The gate was in the right place for the 1 1/8-mile grass race following the Citation, and the winner, Caballo, was timed in 1:45 4/5, which was only two-fifths of a second off the world record.

Irrespective of the starting-gate mixup, Zoffany ran a fast race, which the New Jersey-bred frequently does. He broke a track record for 1 1/16 miles on grass at Del Mar last August and ran a speedy 1:35 3/5 turf mile in winning a division of the Shergar Stakes at Aqueduct in his last start two weeks ago.

Early last week, Gosden and Zoffany’s owners, Anthony and John Bodie and Anthony Speelman of England, were cursing circumstances that prevented their horse from running in the Japan Cup in Tokyo later this month.

A required blood test for the horse failed to clear a laboratory in Ames, Iowa, by the deadline established by international quarantine regulations.

“The Veterans Day holiday had something to do with the test getting there in time,” Gosden said. “I was annoyed, the owners were upset, but what could we do about it?. We were taking on the federal government.”

So instead of being flown from New York to Japan, Zoffany was put on a plane for California and arrived at Gosden’s barn Thursday morning.

“We were lucky to get a plane out of New York, because they haven’t been that easy to come by lately,” Gosden said. “But he had already done his (training) work in New York, so we were also lucky in that respect.”

Lord at War, top weight for the Citation and at 125 pounds carrying nine more than Zoffany, was sent off as the second choice behind Both Ends Burning in the crowd of 29,250.

Best of Both and Last Command were the early leaders, with Lord at War, who broke from the outside in the 10-horse field, being hustled into third place by Bill Shoemaker.

Best of Both and Last Command were finished turning for home, with Lord at War gaining the lead. But Delahoussaye had Zoffany flying halfway through the long stretch, and he caught and passed Lord at War with a sixteenth of a mile to go.

Zoffany, three-quarters of a length in front of Lord at War at the wire, paid $12.80, $5.80 and $4, winning $69,100 and increasing his career earnings to more than $400,000.

Lord at War paid $5.20 and $4.20 and Foscarini, who closed well to take third, 3 1/2 lengths behind Zoffany, had a show price of $4.60. Both Ends Burning finished fourth.

Getting back to Gosden’s post-race question of Delahoussaye:

“Can he get a mile and a half?”

Answer: “I don’t see why not.”

Gosden: “This is an improved horse. We’ll probably run him in the Hollywood Turf Cup.”

That’s on Dec. 8 for $500,000 at 1 1/2 miles, if the starting gate is in the right place.

Horse Racing Notes

John Gosden scratched his other two entries, Boom Town Charlie and Barberstown, from the Citation. “Everybody was telling me this race would split into two divisions,” the trainer said. “Then I enter three, pay the $500 for each one of them, and only eight others show up. Barberstown will probably run in the On Trust Handicap (on Nov. 28).”. . . Today’s Hollywood Derby is split, with 14 running in the first division and 13 going in the second. . . . After winning the Seabiscuit Claiming Stakes at Hollywood a year ago, Zoffany went lame and didn’t run for almost seven months because of a bruised foot. Saturday’s win was his 5th in 10 starts this year. . . “He really accelerated,” Eddie Delahoussaye said of Zoffany. “When I got in the clear, he was full of run.” . . . It was a promising but frustrating day for the syndicate that owns Yashgan and Forzando II. Yashgan ran second to Vanlandingham in the Washington D.C. International and Forzando was eighth in the Citation. “Assuming he’s all right, we’ll bring Yashgan back to run in the Hollywood Turf Cup,” said Sherwood Chillingworth, one of the partners. . . . Another Reef won the Vosburgh Stakes at Aqueduct, beating Pancho Villa by 2 3/4 lengths.