HOLLYWOOD PARK : Survive Gives Hubbard a Win in Feature Race

A successful opening week got even better for new Hollywood Park president R.D. Hubbard Saturday.

Three days after his regime began with the biggest opening day crowd in Inglewood since 1967, Hubbard watched Survive, a mare he owns in partnership with Ed Allred, win the $107,400 A Gleam Handicap.

After trailing for the first half-mile, the 7-year-old Pass The Glass mare rallied on the outside and caught favored Stormy But Valid in the final strides to win by a neck in 1:22 for the seven furlongs.

It was the second consecutive victory for the 3-1 third choice, who has won 10 times and been third or better in 31 of 42 starts while earning $643,860.

“That was nice,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “This mare went a year without winning even though she never ran a bad race. So, it’s very pleasing that she’s won two in a row now for that year that she missed.”

Helped by the fast early fractions (21 3/5 and 44 1/5 for the half-mile), jockey Russell Baze liked his position on the winner with slightly less than two furlongs to run.

“Right here, I felt pretty good about my chances,” he said while watching the replay. “I was sure there was going to be a good pace in the race. It went about like I thought it would.

“We got to save a little bit of ground going into the turn, and then halfway around it, when I really had her boiling, I eased her outside.

“Once she gets rolling and has a clear path, she’s hard to deny.”

The 11-10 favorite, Stormy But Valid put away Brought To Mind and Linda Card into the stretch, but couldn’t quite hold off Survive. She finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Brought To Mind.

“I had a great trip,” Gary Stevens said. “She had no excuses, she just got outrun. She never gave up and she tried hard, just like she always does.”

Linda Card was fourth, then came Cascading Gold and Mahaska.

A Rosary will be said tonight at 7 p.m. at Holy Angels Church in Arcadia for Laz Barrera, who died Thursday morning at 66. There will be also visitation from 4 to 8 p.m. at Zook Mortuary in Monrovia.

The funeral Mass for the Hall of Fame trainer will be said Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Angels, which is located at 370 Campus Drive. Services will follow at Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia.

Forty Niner Days scored his second consecutive victory over the Golden Gate Fields turf course when he won the $100,000 All American Handicap.

Slightly more than a month after upsetting Exbourne, Blaze O’Brien and Itsallgreektome in the San Francisco Mile, the 4-year-old Conquistador Cielo gelding led wire to wire Saturday, beating favored Neptuno by a length.

Trained by Roger Stein and ridden by Tim Doocy, Forty Niner Days paid $14.20 and has now won two of his three starts since being gelded. Owner Sidney Field’s gray ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 3/5.

Horse Racing Notes

Secret’s Halo, a 3-year-old Halo filly, won by 13 lengths in her first start, in Saturday’s sixth race. Owned by Lonimar Stables and trained by Christian Doumen, she covered six furlongs under Corey Nakatani in 1:09 2/5. A $200,000 purchase last year, Secret’s Halo paid $14. The Lonimar-Doumen-Nakatani connection scored again in the next race, when Magic Prospect posted a 7-1 upset, going two-fifths faster than Secret’s Halo. . . . R.D. Hubbard also owns half of Ambassador Of Luck, the dam of Alydavid, the winner of Saturday’s Derby Trial. . . . There’s a Pick Six carryover for today of $109,521.57.