DEL MAR : Sensational Star Gets Longshots Back on Board in Winning Crosby

Just when some semblance of handicapping order was being restored at Del Mar, just when some of the favorites began to run the way the confused public was betting them, Sensational Star, the biggest price in the five-horse field, up and won the $105,150 Bing Crosby Handicap Sunday, sending home many of the 24,218 fans to rethink their wagering methods.

Favorites had won only five races during the first four days of the season, but form returned during the early part of Sunday’s card. With a Pick Six pool that had grown to a record $3.4 million, thanks to a $1.1- million carryover and almost $2.3 million that was bet Sunday, favorites won four of the six races. There were 40 tickets with all six winners, each resulting in a payoff of $55,384.

The race after the Pick Six was the Crosby, and Sensational Star came flying through the center of the stretch to score a two-length victory and pay $31.20. Sensational Star made his move while Sunny Blossom and Frost Free battled for the lead on the inside

Frost Free, who went off at 9-2, finished second, a half-length in front of Timeless Answer, who was 5-2. Timeless Answer ran a half-length ahead of Sunny Blossom, the 6-5 favorite.

Sam Who, in what could develop be a rite of summer here, stumbled leaving the gate for the second consecutive year in the Crosby and finished last at 3-1. Julio Garcia, riding Sam Who, claimed foul against Sunny Blossom and jockey Gary Stevens for interference, but the stewards ruled that the contact did not affect the order of finish.

Sensational Star, trained by Bill Spawr and ridden by Rafael Meza, came into the Crosby off a victory at a mile while running for an $80,000 claiming price at Hollywood Park on July 14.

Before that, however, the 6-year-old California-bred gelding was no better than seventh in three starts. Before the Hollywood race, Sensational Star hadn’t won in 14 months.

Spawr claimed Sensational Star two years ago at Del Mar for $32,000, and now, with Sunday’s $60,150 purse, the horse has won 11 of 33 starts and has total earnings of more than $300,000.

Sensational Star, carrying 113 pounds, lightest impost in the field and eight pounds under the top-weighted Sunny Blossom, ran the six furlongs in 1:08, which was two-fifths of a second slower than the track record.

A second-place finish by Sensational Star in the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise in March of 1989 indicated to Spawr that he had made a wise claim.

“We should have won the Gold Cup,” Spawr said Sunday. “He lost two shoes at the start and still finished second and beat Sunny Blossom (who ran third). The horse had some sort of lung disease at the end of last year and we turned him out and treated him for it.”

Horses breaking from outside posts were winning all day, but Sensational Star broke from the inside.

“I had a good break and everything went nice,” Meza said. “I loved seeing those (fast) fractions (:21 2/5 and :43 3/5) in front of me. When I came around the three-eighths pole, he was running real nice and I felt I had a chance to win.”

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Bill Spawr gave Farrell Jones, the former trainer and father of Gary Jones, part of the credit with bringing Sensational Star around after his lung ailment. . . . The Crosby was Spawr’s first stakes victory at Del Mar. . . . Sensational Star’s next start is expected to be the $100,000 Pat O’Brien Breeders’ Cup Handicap, at seven furlongs, Aug. 29.

Companion, an Argentine-bred, completed the Pick Six by winning the $60,000 Wickerr Handicap for his first victory in the United States. . . . At Santa Anita Sunday, $2.6 million was bet on the Del Mar races by a crowd of 10,570. The numbers at Hollywood Park were 10,717 and $2.4 million. . . . Total attendance, including off-track sites, was 54,240, highest since satellite betting on Del Mar races began three years ago.

Bill Shoemaker will try to win his first stake as a trainer when Profit System runs Wednesday in the $75,000 Junior Miss for 2-year-old fillies.