HOLLYWOOD PARK : Star Recruit Scores a $57.40 Upset Over The Wicked North in Barrera

Jack Carava, Jerry Fanning’s assistant trainer, had some good news for his vacationing boss when he phoned him in Hawaii on Saturday night.

Star Recruit, the second longest shot in the $108,500 Lazaro S. Barrera Handicap at nearly 28-1, beat 6-5 favorite The Wicked North by a neck in 1:41 for the 1 1/16 miles.

It was only the second victory in nine starts for the 3-year-old Al Nasr colt, but the news probably wasn’t much of a surprise to Fanning.

He told Carava Saturday morning that Star Recruit would win against a field which, besides The Wicked North, also included Kentucky Derby runner-up Casual Lies and unbeaten Mineral Wells.

“I said, ‘Jerry, do you know how tough this race is?’ ” Carava said. “He said, ‘He’ll win today, believe me.’ He will be surprised he paid $50 (actually $57.40).”

On a main track that has been favoring front-runners, Star Recruit was second, never far behind The Wicked North, through the stretch and pulled ahead in the final strides under Laffit Pincay.

Lottery Winner, a 15-1 shot, was third, a half-length behind The Wicked North and a nose in front of Casual Lies. Mineral Wells, losing for the first time in five starts, finished sixth in the field of seven, beating only 96-1 shot Solid Truth.

“I knew the only way I could win was to stay close to (The Wicked North),” Pincay said. “I wanted him to have to run a little. When I asked my horse to run, fortunately, I had enough horse.”

Before Saturday, the well-traveled Star Recruit’s only victory had come in the Longacres Derby Aug. 9. Longacres is one of six tracks he has competed at this year.

“Jerry’s always had a lot of faith in this horse,” Carava said. “All the travel may have gotten to him. He’s not that big or robust a horse. The Derby was great, then he came back and ran bad (11th) in the (Longacres) Mile and we got him back at Del Mar and he didn’t look good at all. He had lost a bunch of weight.

“Jerry’s been putting the weight back on him slowly and he’s been training great. He’s one of those horses that sometimes trains well and sometimes doesn’t. He’s just happens to be in one of those good periods right now. I can’t say enough about Laffit’s ride. It was a great ride.”

The Wicked North lost for the first time in four starts this year, but neither trainer David Bernstein or jockey Kent Desormeaux were discouraged.

“I think he’ll improve off this experience,” Bernstein said. “He’d never gone beyond a mile before, so we’re looking forward to the Strub Series (at Santa Anita).

“I would have liked to have been outside (Star Recruit), of course, but being down on the inside, Kent did all he could, getting him to relax. He relaxed, he just got outrun a little bit.”

The Wicked North’s loss prevented Desormeaux from a sweep of the final four races on the program in his first day back after a five-day suspension. He won the sixth on favored How’s Bayou Bubbie, the seventh on Shafouri and the ninth on Rita Eighteen.

“He ran well,” Desormeaux said of The Wicked North. “He just couldn’t go with (Star Recruit). He ran the same as always. When I called on him turning for home, he was push-button and took off. The other one was just a better horse today.”

Paradise Creek, part of the mutuel field when second to Lure in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, won’t be 30-1 in the $400,000 Hollywood Derby this afternoon.

In fact, the Irish River colt is the 7-2 morning line favorite for the Grade I Derby, which attracted 11 other 3-year-olds and will be run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

Pat Day, who rode Paradise Creek for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup, will have the mount again today. Trained by Bill Mott and owned and bred by Bert Firestone, Paradise Creek has four victories and three seconds in seven starts on grass.

Blacksburg, who led all the way in winning the Volante Handicap last month at Santa Anita, is next on the morning line at 9-2. Alex Solis will ride the Seattle Slew colt, who has four victories in six turf races.

The rest of the Derby field: Siberian Summer (Laffit Pincay, 6-1), Bien Bien (Chris McCarron, 6-1), Bidding Proud (Nick Santagata, 20-1), Silver Kite (Eddie Delahoussaye, 12-1), Modernise (Corey Nakatani, 12-1), River Majesty (Corey Black, 30-1), Vying Victor (Pat Valenzuela, 20-1), Kitwood (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1), Major Impact (Gary Stevens, 8-1) and Shanghai (Freddy Head, 12-1).

All Derby starters will carry 122 pounds. Paradise Creek, Silver Kite and River Majesty will race on Lasix for the first time.

Irish Swap won the $400,000 Budweiser-Hawthorne Gold Cup Saturday at Hawthorne near Chicago.

Third while Twilight Agenda and 3-5 favorite Sea Cadet set the pace, the 5-year-old son of Irish Tower took over early in the stretch and went on to a four-length victory. In winning for the sixth time in nine starts this year, Irish Swap completed the 1 1/4 miles in 2:01 4/5 over a track labeled good.

Twilight Agenda, in the final race of his career, faded to fifth. Irish Swap paid $10 at Hawthorne and $9.60 at Hollywood Park, where the race was simulcast.

Horse Racing Notes

Besides the Hollywood Derby, there are two other stakes on today’s card, the $60,000 Somethingroyal at six furlongs and the $60,000 Hillsdale Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. The Hillsdale will mark the first start since April 25 for Mr. Integrity. . . . She’s Tops is the 2-1 favorite for the Somethingroyal. . . . There is a Pick Six carryover of $95,487.62 for today.