Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park : Sibille and La Koumia Survive Inquiry to Win

Whereas in basketball it’s not over until the fat lady sings, in horse racing it’s not over until the videotapes are reviewed. So it was that jockey Ray Sibille had to retire to the jockeys’ room and wait some five minutes to learn that his mount, La Koumia, had won the Gamely Handicap Sunday.

The Hollywood Park feature, while conducted in a track record of 1:45 4/5 over 1 1/8 miles of turf, nevertheless took longer than usual to decide because jockey Bill Shoemaker asked for an inquiry.

Shoemaker, aboard last year’s winner, Estrapade, claimed La Koumia had bumped him on the last turn. “Either I bumped him or he bumped me,” Shoemaker said. “Either way, I was in a bad spot.”

He was in second place, then and forever, as it turned out.

Here’s what happened: Shoemaker was trying to find his way around Tax Dodge and Eloquack in the last turn but was blocked on the outside by La Koumia. So, frustrated, he turned his horse inside to find a spot while La Koumia, in a brilliant move by Sibille, just sailed by on the outside.

Sibille, jubilant after the inquiry found his horse the winner, still protested his innocence. “I was just trying to do to him what he was trying to do to me,” he said.

Estrapade, often considered the best mare on turf, has nevertheless had a tough time this season, without a win. La Koumia, meanwhile, has come a ways since Estrapade beat her last November in the Yellow Ribbon Invitational. La Koumia beat her in the Wilshire Handicap several weeks ago and has now, evidently, won the rubber match.

If there was any doubt that La Koumia is running better than Estrapade, consider that La Koumia’s new course record of 1:45 4/5 is four-fifths of a second better than the record Estrapade established in last year’s running.

As for the record, La Koumia trainer John Gosden was relatively unimpressed. “It’s nice to have a course record but when you saw $50,000 claimers going 1:40 4/5 earlier on, you had to think the course was fast,” he said.

Of course, there’s no record or even a victory in the $100,000 race if Sibille doesn’t think to wheel La Koumia around Shoemaker. “On the backstretch, she was moving real easy,” Sibille said. “When Shoe moved up, I moved up because I didn’t want to let him out. I had him (Shoemaker) and I had enough horse to do it. I wasn’t going to let him go because she was the one to beat.”

Nevertheless, he continues to be impressed with his horse. “We haven’t seen the best of her yet. I’m getting more and more confident in her. A couple more of these, I’ll feel real confident.”

As for Gosden, he is merely feeling relieved. “Last night they took Go Dance down (after an inquiry), another gray,” he said. “I began to think I might have scored a double.”

La Koumia paid $7.60, $2.80 and $2.40, while Estrapade paid $2.60 and $2.10. Tax Dodge, ridden by Chris McCarron, back at Hollywood Park after winning the Belmont aboard Danzig Connection Saturday, finished third and paid $3.00 to show.