Silver Circus Emerges as a Winner : Stevens Rides Through Traffic to Win Hollywood Derby

It was more like a cavalry charge than a horse race, more like a stampede than a sporting event.

But, appearances aside, the best horse won Sunday’s 48th running of the Hollywood Derby in front of 21,754 at Hollywood Park.

At least that was what winning jockey Gary Stevens said.

Guiding Silver Circus through an equine traffic jam on the far turn, Stevens got to the wire a head in front of Pat Valenzuela on Raykour, with Ray Sibille aboard Dr. Death another head back.

The rest of the herd came thundering behind.

Not since since 1945, when Johnny Longden rode Busher to victory, had 14 runners gone to the post in the $200,000, Grade I event. The size of the field definitely had an impact on the 1 1/8-mile run on the turf.

“It was congested out there,” Stevens said. “We got lucky.

“To tell you the truth, going into the turn I didn’t like my chances because I had a wall of horses in front of me. They were scattered clear across the track, and I felt that the only way for me to win was to get through somewhere.

“There were horses steadying all over the place. Luckily, we got to save a little ground until about midway round the turn. Then, two horses checked in front of me when I was about 2 lengths behind them. I had to shift to the outside and he (Silver Circus) never had to break his momentum.

“Once he got to the outside, he really accelerated. He seemed to hit another gear about 10 jumps before the wire. At that point, I thought I was going to run in the money, I didn’t think he was going to win. Fifty yards from the wire he just dug in again. He ran a great race.”

Stevens said that before the race neither he nor trainer Julio Canani, celebrating his 50th birthday, had plotted a course of action.

“It’s kind of silly to try to handicap a race with that many horses,” Stevens said. “All I know is my horse likes to settle and make one run, so I really didn’t try to plan any strategy or try to figure out where anybody was going to be early on in the race.

“I figured there’d be a realistic pace with that many horses, but by the same token, you have to get lucky and get a good trip. I thought I was on the best horse going into the race.”

It was Alex Solis on Perceive Arrogance, Russell Baze on Gran Judgement and Angel Cordero on Triteamtri who set the early pace, leading the way down the backstretch.

By the time they reached the turn, though, the field had bunched and the early leaders were swallowed.

Silver Circus, a Kentucky-bred gray gelding owned by Joseph M. Scardino of West Covina, covered the 1 1/8 miles on a firm course in 1:48 2/5 and paid $11.00, $6.00 and $4.80. The Irish-bred Raykour paid $7.80 and $5.80 to place, and Dr. Death paid $11.80 to show.

The winner’s biggest victory before Sunday had come in the Grade II Del Mar Derby on Aug. 21, when he also won by a head. Sunday’s $110,000 share of the purse increased his career earnings to $362,250, with five victories in a dozen starts.

Silver Circus is only the fourth gelding every to win the Derby, joining Specify in 1938, Staretor in 1941 and Strong Bay in 1958.

Canani, in his usual perch in the press box when the race was run, let out a yell that could have been heard in the barns when they crossed under the wire. Stevens was asked what the Peruvian-born trainer had said when he dismounted.

“He said, ‘Did you win? Did you win?’ ” Stevens said, “and I said, ‘Yeah, I think we got up.’ He said, ‘God, I hope so.’ ”

When the results of the photo were released, Silver Circus, indeed, had won. The stampede had been worth it.

Horse Racing Notes

Hollywood Park, which lately has taken to switching track announcers with each new meeting, Sunday made another change. Milo Perrins, who had taken over from Bine Masters last April, was replaced in the booth by Don Alexander. Masters had lasted only 4 days after replacing Jim Byers. Alexander, 43, came to Hollywood Park as a patrol judge in 1987 after serving as a timer at the Orange County Fair meeting and as a clerk of scales at Los Alamitos.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, whose King Glorious set a stakes record in winning the Grade III Hollywood Prevue Saturday, said the unbeaten colt will be taken back to Northern California, but will return to run in the $1-million Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18. . . . Jockey Rick Dominguez rode 102-to-1 shot His Highness to a head victory over Ray Sibille on J.R. Johnson, a 15-to-1 choice, in Sunday’s ninth race, resulting in a Hollywood Park-record payoff of $3,854.20 for the $2 exacta wager.