Denim N Diamonds Futurity at Hollywood Park : Elliptical Narrowly Beats Daring Dasher

Back in May and June, Elliptical could have been claimed out of races for modest sums of $16,000 and $20,000. After Friday night, you couldn’t buy the 2-year-old gelding for $231,420, which is what he earned at Hollywood Park for winning the $524,958 Denim N Diamonds Futurity by a head over Daring Dasher, a 15-1 longshot.

Elliptical, ridden by Steve Treasure, who had twice been second in forerunners of the Denim N Diamonds, had his task made easier because of injuries to First Down Dash and Freedom Flyer.

First Down Dash, who had won the first two legs of the California series for juveniles--the Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos and the Dash for Cash Futurity at Hollywood--couldn’t even make the Denim N Diamonds Trials last week because of a bone chip in his leg.

And Freedom Flyer, who registered the next-fastest time to Elliptical in the trials, was scratched Friday night because of a hairline fracture in a lower leg that will probably sideline him until next summer.

Elliptical, who is owned by Thurman Womack and Jimmy Coffman of Bridgeport, Tex., was sent off the favorite by a crowd of 3,495 and paid $3.20, $3.20 and $3.20, running 440 yards in 22.16 seconds.

Daring Dasher, ridden by Scott White, paid $22.60 and $10.80. Our Easy Effort, ridden by Danny Cardoza and finishing three-quarters of a length behind Daring Dasher, returned $6 for running third. There was a $53.80 exacta on Elliptical and Daring Dasher.

Elliptical, who was sired by the thoroughbred stallion, Northern Prospect, out of the mare Sunshine N Flowers, notched his fifth win in eight starts. He was the only supplementary starter in the nine-horse field, justifying the extra $24,000 that his owners had to pay in order to make him eligible to run.

The finish was closer than it seemed, because Elliptical was on the inside, and Daring Dasher closed from the far outside.

“I thought I had won it,” White said. “It was very close.”

Bob Gilbert, scoring the biggest victory of his training career, said he had recommended that the owners supplement Elliptical a few days after he won the Dash for Cash Futurity Consolation Aug. 23.

“We ran him for claiming prices at the beginning because we were running him where we thought he belonged,” Gilbert said. “Then he got good, and it was just a question of getting him to break right so that he could use his speed. It’s something he’s done on his own--if horses are eventually going to learn how to break, they pretty much do it on their own.”

Treasure said Elliptical broke well Friday night and at the halfway mark he trailed slightly behind The Rebel Band, with Our Easy Effort running third on the inside of Elliptical.

“I thought we won, but I wasn’t sure,” Treasure said. “We were there all the way, and my horse was still going on at the end of it.”