Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : Judge Angelucci Heads Field in Mervyn LeRoy

There are horses that racing fans like to see running, and then there are those that, for the animals’ own sakes, the fans would rather see scratched by post time.

One of each variety is entered in Sunday’s $200,000-added Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Hollywood Park.

The first is Good Taste, who came within a neck of scoring the upset of the season at Santa Anita when he finished a mere foot or two behind Kentucky Derby winners Alysheba and Ferdinand in the San Bernardino Handicap.

As the Thoroughbred of California magazine put it, Good Taste ran “the race of his life that no one will ever remember.”

Then there is Cutlass Reality, who, sadly, falls into the second category. Both Good Taste and Cutlass Reality are chestnut 6-year-olds, but there the similarity ends:

--Whereas Good Taste will be running in only his 20th race Sunday, Cutlass Reality will be going into the gate for the 57th time.

--Whereas Good Taste has won 6 of 19 starts, Cutlass Reality has won 7 of 56.

--Whereas Good Taste’s last race was the San Bernardino April 17, Cutlass Reality’s last race was last Sunday.

--Whereas Good Taste has had five weeks’ rest, Cutlass Reality has had six days’.

Just why he would be entered in a race so soon after his last start is difficult to figure, but regardless of the time factor, Cutlass Reality proved last Sunday that he does not belong in the Mervyn LeRoy. He finished sixth in the John Henry Handicap, more than 11 lengths behind the winner.

Whether Cutlass Reality runs or not--and chances are trainer Jim Benedict will scratch the horse--the Mervyn LeRoy has drawn an interesting field, headed, not surprisingly, by Judge Angelucci.

Trained by Charlie Whittingham, who elected to keep him out of the John Henry last Sunday in favor of this race, Judge Angelucci will be seeking his first victory since Feb. 14, when he won the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita.

Since then, he has finished fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap and second in the Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Golden Gate. In the latter race, he finished 10 lengths behind winner Simply Majestic, who set a world record by covering the 1 1/8 miles in 1:45 flat. Simply Majestic also is entered Sunday.

Top-weighted at 123 pounds under jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, Judge Angelucci will be carrying 5 more pounds than Russell Baze on the Bobby Frankel-trained Simply Majestic and 9 more than Good Taste.

Despite his excellent effort in the San Bernardino, Good Taste has had only a pound added and will carry 114. Trainer Gary Jones believes the alloted weight is fair, however.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t run him,” Jones said earlier this week. “He was bound to pick up a little.”

Whittingham, publicly, at least, has no quarrel with the weights.

“(Good Taste) didn’t have a lot of weight on him (in the San Bernardino), but he didn’t win, either,” Whittingham said. “But there’s nothing you can do. If you don’t like the weights, you just don’t run.”

Another threat in the Grade I Mervyn LeRoy could be Mark Chip, winner of a pair of allowance races in April and now moving up into stakes company for the first time in the United States. Chris McCarron has the ride on the John Sadler-trained bay, who won the Carta Blanca Handicap at Caliente.

The complete field for the Mervyn LeRoy in post-position order and including jockey and weight:

Cutlass Reality, Ray Sibille, 111; Masterful Advocate, Aaron Gryder, 114; Good Taste, Gary Stevens, 114; Simply Majestic, Russell Baze, 118; He’s A Saros, Alex Solis, 112; Rafael’s Dancer, Frank Olivares, 110; Red Attack, Laffit Pincay, 112; Judge Angelucci, Eddie Delahoussaye, 123, and Mark Chip, Chris McCarron, 117.

Two ungraded stakes, each to be run on the turf and each with a purse of $75,000-added, headline today’s program at the Inglewood track. They are the Senorita Stakes, which will be run as the fifth race, and the Caballero Handicap, the eighth race on the card.

The Senorita, a mile test for 3-year-old fillies, has attracted a field of six, including the top two finishers in the April 30 Railbird Stakes: Sheesham and Affordable Price. Laffit Pincay will be aboard Sheesham, whose victory in the Railbird was preceded by a win in the La Habra Stakes at Santa Anita.

Affordable Price, who finished 2 3/4 lengths behind Sheesham in the Railbird, will be ridden by Alex Solis and has been low-weighted at 114, five less than Chris McCarron’s mount, Pattern Step, the high-weight at 119. Sheesham carries 117.

A dozen 3-year-olds and up are entered in the day’s second feature, the 1 1/2-mile Caballero. Topping the list is World Court, with McCarron in the saddle.