Only 20,524 at Hollypark Opener : Shoemaker Returns From Kentucky and Wins on Jamoke

The racing may not have been too hot, but the weather certainly was.

And, in all likelihood, it was a combination of those two factors that led to only 20,524 fans showing up at Hollywood Park Wednesday as the Inglewood track opened its 48th spring-summer meeting.

On an afternoon when temperatures climbed into the 90s, the beach was a stronger attraction, leaving Hollywood Park with what is believed to be its lowest opening-day crowd ever. Last year, when opening-day admission was free, the crowd totaled 25,662.

The small turnout contributed to a handle that also was the smallest for an opening day in more than five years, adding up to just $4,094,918, compared to $4,384,757 the year before and $5,135,125 in 1985.

Still, those who did show up Wednesday were treated to a feature race--the $60,000-added Debonair Stakes--that at least had the advantage of being competitive.

The field was reduced to seven with the scratching of Tomocomo, but he had not been expected to be a factor, anyway. The horses who were given the best chance were Persevered, being prepared for the May 16 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, Exclusive Enough, who had beaten Persevered by a half-length in the Hollywood Prevue Stakes last Nov. 15, and Honky Tonk Dancer.

But it was Jamoke, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, who ran off with the meeting’s first stakes race, beating Gary Stevens aboard Persevered by one length, with Eddie Delahoussaye finishing a nose back on Honky Tonk Dancer.

“I didn’t know if he (Jamoke) could beat those horses or not,” said Shoemaker, who came to the track straight from the airport Wednesday afternoon after working his Kentucky Derby mount, Temperate Sil, in the morning at Churchill Downs.

But Jamoke proved worthy. After the field had broken evenly, Honky Tonk Dancer and Exclusive Enough, ridden by Chris McCarron, sprinted to the lead on the backstretch.

The field bunched a little on the turn for home, then Honky Tonk Dancer, on the inside, Jamoke, in the middle, and Persevered, on the outside, pulled clear in the stretch. The three battled to the wire, with Shoemaker prevailing in the end.

“He’ll be a good horse, he just needs to settle down,” trainer W.L. Proctor said of Jamoke, a bay 3-year-old son of Relaunch who won for the third time in seven career starts. “It never hurts to put Shoemaker on a horse. I think Charlie Whittingham’s shown us that.”

It was the seventh Debonair Stakes victory for Shoemaker, who first won the race aboard Bequeath in 1955 and most recently had ridden Grenoble to victory in 1983.

Jamoke, owned by Leonard Lavin of Glencoe, Ill., covered the seven furlongs on a fast track in 1:22 1/5, paying $9.40, $4.60 and $3.00. Persevered paid $4.80 and $2.80, while Honky Tonk Dancer’s show price was $2.60.

The rest of the field in order of finish was Red And Blue, Thunder Cat, Happy In Space and Exclusive Enough.

Earlier in the week, Laz Barrera, Persevered’s trainer, had said that he was not sure if Persevered was 100% ready to be raced but said he could wait no longer.

If Persevered is to run in the Preakness, Barrera said, the colt would need two races before then, Wednesday’s and probably a mile and a sixteenth test over the grass a little later.

Stevens said Wednesday’s race was a good tuneup for the son of Affirmed.

“He was getting a little tired at the quarter-pole,” Stevens said, “and I knew that for him to win, the horse on the lead (Jamoke) was really going to have to stop.

“He was getting tired. You could see it through the stretch; he was running a little erratic just from being tired. But he ran a hell of a race. We all knew he was fit.

“If he had had a race in him (Persevered had not run since winning a division of the Hoist the Flag Stakes at Hollywood Park Nov. 29), I probably would have been sending him a little harder and laying him two lengths off the lead instead of eight or nine lengths.

“But I wanted to make sure that he finished up strong and he did. He finished great. He ran a good race.”

Horse Racing Notes

Ross Fenstermaker, fired as Fred W. Hooper’s trainer earlier this month, sent the first of his public stable horses to the post in the meeting’s opening race, and Eghalanda, ridden by apprentice Aaron Gryder, held on to finish second. . . . Laffit Pincay, the Santa Anita season champion, won the opener aboard Buy More, recovering after mistakenly rising in his irons at the first--and incorrect--finish line. The error is sure to be made by other, equally experienced, riders during the meeting since Hollywood Park continues to believe that two finish lines are better than one. . . . The sixth race also showed the riders’ confusion over the finish lines. This time, Pincay knew that the first line was the correct one, but Darrel McHargue kept riding and hitting second-place Sir Tyson almost to the second--and incorrect--finish line.

John Russell, who replaced Fenstermaker, saddled his first two horses for Hooper, Barber’s Choice in the sixth race and Fleeting Jet in the seventh, both ridden by Pincay. Barber’s Choice won, while Fleeting Jet finished far out of the money. . . . Jockey Pat Valenzuela returned to action after a layoff of almost three weeks for personal reasons. Valenzuela, who last rode on Santa Anita Derby day, April 4, had three mounts Wednesday, earning one third-place finish. . . . Gary Stevens, who will ride Talinum in the May 2 Kentucky Derby, was shaken but unhurt when he was unseated by Beaucoup Jet before the start of the fifth race. Beaucoup Jet took off around the track, threatened to get into the parking lot, then leaped the outside rail on the backstretch and finally was collared in the barn area a few minutes later.

Tasso, trainer Neil Drysdale’s champion 2-year-old of 1985, worked a half-mile in 47 2/5 Wednesday morning in preparation for his first start of 1987. Tasso’s last race was the Yankee Valor Handicap last October during the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita. . . . After winning the Oaklawn Park Handicap last Friday, Snow Chief returned to Hollywood Park on Tuesday. He will be rested for the next six weeks and will not race again until June, according to trainer Mel Stute. . . . Trainer John Gosden’s Santa Anita meeting ended on a bad note when Dan Thatch had to be destroyed after breaking his right hind leg coming down the hill on the grass course during the San Jacinto Handicap Monday. Jockey Fernando Toro said the 5-year-old was bumped badly coming out of the gate and turned his ankle while trying to regain his balance. . . . Former jockey Robyn Smith is the hostess for “Racing From Hollywood Park,” KDOC-TV’s replay of each day’s races. The Channel 56 program airs weekdays at 7:30 p.m. and weekends at 8 p.m.