SANTA ANITA : Glen Kate Has Smooth Trip in Win

Victimized by a troubled trip in the Hollywood Turf Express, Glen Kate had clear sailing on the lead and went on to win the $82,400 Monrovia Handicap on Wednesday at Santa Anita.

The 5-2 second choice, Glen Kate defeated Bel’s Starlet, the 3-5 favorite in a coupling with Heart Of Joy, by a length in 1:12 4/5 for the turf race at about 6 1/2 furlongs.

Ridden by Corey Black, Glen Kate, a 6-year-old Glenstal mare, won for the seventh time in 18 starts and avenged a neck loss to Bel’s Starlet in the Autumn Days Handicap last Oct. 7.

Owned by Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall, Glen Kate had broken slowly, then was forced to steady around the turn in the Turf Express and wound up seventh.

Bel’s Starlet defeated her entrymate by nearly three lengths in the Monrovia. Then came Remarkably Easy, Morriston Belle, Worldly Possession and D’Or Ruckus.

“She ran great,” trainer Bill Shoemaker said of the winner. “I wasn’t too sure she’d be real fit because we missed some training because of the rainy weather. But she ran a big race.

“I just told Corey to ride the race the way it came up. I don’t know where she’ll run next. There aren’t too many sprint races around.”

Horse Racing Notes

After a two-day carry-over in the Pick Six, there were 14 perfect tickets and each was worth $58,328.60. . . . There will be a mandatory payout in the Pick Nine today because the Pick Nine pool exceeded $300,000 on Wednesday. . . . Bertrando won’t have many opponents in Sunday’s $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes. Star Recruit, Daros, Major Impact and Al Sabin are the only likely rivals for Bertrando, the nine-length winner of the San Fernando Stakes.