FAIRPLEX : He Wins on Advice of Expert

In the $43,160 Beau Brummel Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings at Fairplex Park Friday, trainer Bill Shoemaker’s instructions to jockey Corey Nakatani aboard Palmdale worked to perfection.

“He rode him the way I told him,” the all-time winningest jockey said of Nakatani’s come-from-behind tactics.

“I told him I didn’t know how fit he was. I hadn’t worked him too hard.”

Third down the backstretch, Nakatani swung Palmdale wide around the far turn and the Dance Bid colt blew past Frosty Paws to win by 3 1/4 lengths, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17 1/5. It was Palmdale’s second consecutive victory and first for Shoemaker, who recently took over the colt’s training from Jack Van Berg.

“I was trying to hold him back early,” Nakatani said. “I was just sitting on him and when we hit the lane, he just went.”

In the $36,890 Las Ninas Stakes Friday, jockey David Flores got his fourth winning ride of the day, on Mama Simba.

Despite being blocked along the rail around the far turn, Mama Simba shook loose approaching the stretch and scored a 2 1/2-length victory over Casey’s Romance in the 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.

Mama Simba’s winning time of 1:15 4/5 was only three-fifths of a second off Bundle Of Iron’s track record

“I tried to go all the way to the inside, but so did everybody else,’ Flores said. “So I just went outside and let her go.”

Flores, who set a riding record with 36 winners at the recent Orange County Fair at Los Alamitos, now has five winners in the first two days of the Los Angeles County Fair. Mama Simba returned $3.60 as the heavy choice.

Fairplex Notes

For the second day in a row, nobody had six winners in the Pick Six. Today’s carryover is $35,164. . . . While the $53,200 Phil D. Shepherd Stakes at 1 1/16 miles highlights the live racing today, fans can also wager on the $500,000 Woodward Stakes from Belmont Park. The Woodward features horse-of-the-year candidate Criminal Type and will be simulcast after the third Fairplex Park race.

With cooler temperatures Friday, on-track attendance of 7,680 was 180 higher than for the second Friday from 1989. The controversy over Fairplex Park’s $5 exacta policy was explained by General Manager Ralph Hinds. “We’re aware of the trend of $2 exactas,’ he said. “But the bottom line is if we were to implement $2 exactas . . . we would have to add additional mutuel clerks, which we couldn’t do on our large days.”