HOLLYWOOD PARK : Cuddles Gets Picture Ride From Stevens

After Sunday’s $500,000 Hollywood Starlet, Gary Stevens had some concern about his physical well-being, but it had nothing to do with the broken elbow he suffered 11 days earlier.

“I’m only 27, but my heart isn’t that good,” he said. “I can’t wait that long.”

Turns out the wait was well worth it for America’s top money-winning rider. Barely.

It took more than 10 minutes before the photo sign came down and Cuddles and Stevens were given the nod over Lite Light and Russell Baze in the country’s richest race for 2-year-old fillies outside the Breeders’ Cup.

Even then, there was still some doubt because more than a few people who saw the photo couldn’t separate the two. Officially, though, call it Cuddles by a half-inch.

Certainly, the camera was kind to trainer Wayne Lukas Sunday. In a similar situation hours earlier in Illinois, his Shotgun was the winner of the Hawthorne Juvenile.

Heading into the stretch, it didn’t look like a photo would be necessary to separate Cuddles and Lite Light. In her first start with Lasix, Lite Light, the 9-2 third choice, had drawn about three lengths clear of Cuddles and was running easy.

About an eighth of a mile later, however, the 3-1 favorite put a head in front and even Lukas thought Cuddles was on her way to about a neck victory.

A two-time stakes winner, Lite Light wasn’t quite finished, surging right on the wire and setting the stage for a lot of anxious moments right outside the winner’s circle.

“When they hit that wire the first time, I said we’ve got it by half-a-head,” said Lukas after his first win in the Starlet since Althea’s 1983 success. “Then, you watch the slo-mo replay, and I told my wife, ‘Wow. Don’t go running down there now because we probably didn’t win this thing.’

“Then, when they held us that long, I thought it was a dead heat, for sure.”

Impressive capturing Del Mar’s Junior Miss Stakes Aug. 1 after an easy maiden victory, Cuddles, a daughter of Mr. Prospector, was inactive until finishing second in the Moccasin Nov. 10.

She spent some time on the vet’s list because of a minor shin problem, but the trainer said the layoff was by design.

“I was originally pointing this filly for the Breeders’ Cup, but when Meadow Star got so good, I called (owner) Bill Young (the man behind Overbrook Farm) and said, ‘Bill, we can make the Breeders’ Cup, but I think we have maybe the second best filly in the country. Maybe, we’d be better off staying home, just sitting here and waiting for the Starlet.’ ”

Nobody can dispute the strategy and Stevens was just glad to be able to keep his engagement with the bay filly. Although he still sports some very nasty reminders of his Nov. 14 spill on his lower back, he stamped himself fit by winning four times in his first two days back.

“I thought I’d won, but I’ve learned to be pessimistic rather than optimistic about those things,” he said. “I knew it was a head bob, but I don’t like to commit myself one way or the other.

“The longer it took, I was convinced it was a dead heat. It was a hell of a horse race. I had to fight to get up head and head with the other filly all the way down the lane. I got a head in front of her, but I don’t think the other filly was going 100% when I got up to her. I think she might have been gawking a little.”

Fifth after a half-mile, Lite Light made a big move while wide to sail past pacesetter Theresa’s Pleasure and appeared ready to make amends for her 12th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup.

“My filly broke a little slower than normal,” said Baze. “But that was fine because we wanted to sit back off the pace anyway. We were going easy down the backside. When we got just inside the five-eighths pole, she wanted to start picking it up.

“I took as much hold of her as I thought I could without taking the race out of her and she still just kept inching and inching to the lead. Finally, she pulled me up to the lead.”

After the loss, Lite Light had to withstand a foul claim by Angel Cordero, the rider of third-place finisher Garden Gal. It was quickly dismissed by the stewards.

Garden Gal was three lengths behind Lite Light, then came Present Moment, Far Out Nurse, Miami Vacation, Dorky, On Final, Theresa’s Pleasure, who lost for the first time in five starts, and Scorpio Marjorie.

Horse Racing Notes

Cuddles’ final time for the mile was 1:36 1/5 and she returned $8.20 . . . the victory also increased Gary Stevens’ lead over Jose Santos in the money race. Stevens now has $13,026,963 or $855,963 more than Santos . . . Stevens’ other winners Sunday were heavily favored High Energy in the fourth and the much-improved Blaze O’Brien, who won his second straight in the ninth . . . David Flores had two wins Sunday . . . There’s a five-way tie atop the trainer standings after 16 days. Craig Lewis, Bill Spawr, Jack Van Berg, Richard Mandella and Gary Jones all have six victories.