Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park : After All the Talk, Pen Bal Lady Wins by a Nose

Trainer John Parisella was, if anything, overconfident, describing Chapel Of Dreams as “the best filly in the country.”

Trainer Hector Palma was cautiously optimistic, saying Pen Bal Lady was “a lot stronger” than she had been.

Trainer Bobby Frankel was silent, preferring to let the performance of the Irish-bred Galunpe speak for itself.

And trainer Charlie Whittingham was simply speechless, angry beyond words at the scratching of Fitzwilliam Place literally at the last minute.

Sunday’s Grade I Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park provided all sorts of reactions from all sorts of people. Even the track veterinarian got in on the act, but it was Palma who had the last word.

Pen Bal Lady, ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye and sent off as the 2-to-1 third choice in the field of three, went wire to wire in the $100,000-added feature, covering the 1 1/8 miles on a firm turf course in 1:47 to win by a nose.

Chapel Of Dreams, with Gary Stevens aboard, was second, 2 lengths ahead of Fernando Toro on Galunpe.

The winner’s time was well shy of Zoffany’s course record of 1:45 3/5 and of La Koumia’s stakes record of 1:45 4/5, both set in 1986. Nevertheless, it still was worth $72,800 to her owners, Pete DeCarlo, Robert La Torre and Harold Rubenstein, and pushed the filly’s earnings over the half-million dollar mark to $505,787.

It was the fifth stakes victory of the meeting for Delahoussaye, all of them achieved within the past three weeks.

“She dug in,” Delahoussaye said, explaining Pen Bal Lady’s response when challenged in the stretch by Stevens’ mount. “For a while I thought Chapel Of Dreams was going to get by. She got up within a neck of us, a head of us, and we stayed the last eighth of a mile like that. They’re both game fillies.”

With Pen Bal Lady on the rail and Chapel Of Dreams lugging in, Stevens was unable to hit her right-handed and could do little more than show the whip to his filly.

“I couldn’t even hit her left-handed because I didn’t have room and I was so close,” he said. “All I could do was hit her on the shoulder.”

It did not prove enough incentive, and Pen Bal Lady hung on for the victory in front of a crowd of 29,610.

The pre-race drama centered on the scratching of Fitzwilliam Place after the horses already had taken to the course and were less than a minute away from being loaded into the gate.

“She didn’t warm up satisfactorily,” was all Fitzwilliam Place’s jockey, Chris McCarron, would say afterward before turning away.

In explaining why he ordered the Whittingham-trained Fitzwilliam Place scratched just before they went to the post, track veterinarian Dr. Roy Dillon said the filly was “sore all over, like muscle sore. She never warmed up right.”

That was enough to warm Whittingham up plenty, and he stormed off the track after the race.

The Gamely, being run for the 22nd time, was a race in which a case could have been made beforehand in favor of any of the three starters. All three were stakes winners.

Chapel of Dreams had won three of her previous four races and was coming off a convincing victory in the May 8 Wilshire Handicap.

Galunpe, the only mare in the race and, at 5 years old, older by a year than the other two, also won last time out. Her victory came in the Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap on April 23.

Pen Bal Lady, bred in Great Britain, won the Grade I Santa Barbara Handicap on April 3, then was second in the Breeders’ Cup Handicap and fourth in the Wilshire. She was “tired” in the latter two races, Palma explained, pointing out that the filly had won the Grade I Santa Ana through the disqualification of Fitzwilliam Place just two weeks before the Santa Ana victory.

In retrospect, he said last week, he should have rested the filly after the Grade I races.

“I should have backed off but she looked so good that I wanted to run her again,” Palma said.

After the Wilshire, he eased up on her training, and it paid dividends on Sunday.

“She is just so much better with more time between races,” Palma said. “My goal is to have a Breeders’ Cup horse. This is the only one I’ve got, so I’d better be nice to her.”

Because of the small field, there was win wagering only. Pen Bal Lady paid $$6.00.

Horse Racing Notes

Bits and pieces from the jockeys’ room: Frank Olivares, hospitalized overnight Friday when he was thrown from his mount in the fifth race, will return Wednesday. . . . Ray Sibille has been suspended for five days, starting Wednesday, for causing interference in the stretch during last Thursday’s second race. Sibille’s horse, Rays A Rumble, finished first but was disqualified to fourth. . . . Aaron Gryder, whose 31 victories last fall enabled him to become the first apprentice to win a Hollywood Park riding title, turned 18 Sunday and celebrated by winning the fifth and sixth races. Gryder is third in the current standings with 27 wins. Gary Stevens leads with 46 victories, while Laffit Pincay is second with 35. . . . Gryder’s first-place finish aboard Recitation Spin in Sunday’s fifth race gave trainer Craig Lewis his 12th winner of the meeting, moving him into a tie atop the trainer standings with Julio Canani.