Festivity Triumphs in Palomar : For McCarron, Riding Aberuschka Doesn’t Pay Off

For most of Sunday, Chris McCarron felt like a guy who went to the race track and picked up someone else’s winning ticket off the ground.

His agent, Scott McClellan, had pulled off a coup, arranging for him to ride favored Aberuschka in the $107,600 Palomar Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar. And McCarron was feeling good.

Aberuschka won the Palomar last year, and on Sunday, she was trying to become the first horse at Del Mar to win the same handicap two years in a row since Queen To Conquer won the Ramona Handicap in 1980 and 1981.

“My agent got me the mount, and I was feeling pretty confident,” McCarron said. “I definitely thought I had the best horse coming in.”

But then the one-mile race was run, and all of a sudden, McCarron wasn’t feeling so lucky.

Despite plenty of urging from McCarron on the turf course, Aberuschka was caught in the middle of the pack around the far turn and couldn’t get clear for a run down the stretch.

So while she and McCarron struggled, Festivity, a filly McCarron had ridden earlier this month, found clear sailing on the outside under Alex Solis and flew home to post a half-length upset victory over Adorable Micol.

Aberuschka never did get into gear and finished a well-beaten sixth.

Festivity, a Harbor View Farm-owned filly out of Spectacular Bid trained by Laz Barrera, was overlooked by much of the crowd of 26,115, and paid $31.00, $12.40 and $7.40. Adorable Micol, ridden by Fernando Toro, returned $5.20 and $3.40. Secuencia, a 19-1 long shot, finished third and paid $7.60.

Afterward, McCarron wasn’t feeling too festive.

“Hey, that’s the way it goes sometimes,” he said. “I thought I had a good horse coming in, but it just wasn’t her day. Things worked out well for Festivity, and she had a clear ride to the finish line.”

Actually, Festivity’s good day started just after the starting gate opened.

When McCarron rode her Aug. 5 in a $40,000 allowance race here, the filly had broken away from the gate cleanly and taken McCarron with her. However, Festivity has a history of not doing well when she runs on the lead.

“I didn’t want to be on the lead (that day), but I couldn’t contain her,” McCarron recalled. “She runs a lot better when she can be taken back at the beginning.”

Festivity was true to form on Aug. 5. She faded coming down the stretch, and Adorable Micol and Aberuschka passed her.

Sunday, Barrera gave Solis instructions to be patient with Festivity before letting her run free. And Solis was successful, with a little help.

“At the start, Festivity got boxed in a little bit and couldn’t get running right away,” McCarron said. “I think that helped Solis hold her back. Then she had plenty of running left for the stretch drive.”

After Short Sleeves had set the early pace, five horses--including Aberuschka and Festivity--were in a line heading for home. It had all the makings of a wild finish.

“As we turned for home, I felt my horse pulling me along,” Solis said. “Laz had told me to take it easy with her in the post parade and save as much of her energy as possible. Everything worked out well.”

Festivity slipped by Secuencia with one-eighth of a mile to go and had enough left to hold off Toro and Adorable Micol, who had pulled up on the outside of her.

The victory was good medicine for Barrera, who had been hurting this week because of a pinched nerve in his neck. He took off his neck brace just long enough to pose for the photograph in the winner’s circle.

Barrera said he was surprised that McCarron did not ride Festivity this time.

“He was surprised she ran to the front in her last race and he knew that she ran better from the middle of the pack. Sometimes things just work out that way.

“I knew she had an excellent chance to win (Sunday). The crowd obviously overlooked her. But who could blame them? McCarron overlooked her, too.”