Weekend Racing at Hollywood Park : Little Love Will Be in Bloom During Honeymoon Handicap

As rivalries go, it hardly is on a par with the Lakers and Pistons, or Affirmed and Alydar.

But try telling that to the people behind Reluctant Guest and Formidable Lady, a couple of 3-year-old fillies who hook up Sunday at Hollywood Park in Round 3 of their personal feud. The setting is the $107,600 Honeymoon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

When they met for the first time in March, Formidable Lady won by a length at a mile on the main track. On May 13, in the Senorita Stakes at Hollywood, Reluctant Guest got the first jump and was 2 1/2 lengths clear at the end of a mile on the turf.

Pat Valenzuela rides Formidable Lady for trainer Dom Manzi, while Chris McCarron will be back aboard Reluctant Guest. The opposition includes Black Stockings, Beware of the Cat, Hot Option and G’Day for Flyin.

On Saturday, the Seabiscuit Claiming Stakes hangs price tags ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 on eight decent older horses who might or might not be worth that much.

Skip Out Front, winner of the American Handicap at Hollywood last year, heads the field and will have Laffit Pincay aboard. There was a time when the 6-year-old gelding would have been running in the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap on Monday against the best grass horses in the country. Instead, you can buy him for a half-million out of the Seabiscuit.