HOLLYWOOD PARK : Tossofthecoin Shows His Track Bias

Content to run mostly second or third at Santa Anita and Del Mar, Tossofthecoin certainlyknows how to win at Hollywood Park.

Successful in only two of 26 starts away from Inglewood, the 5-year-old Magesterial gelding made it four victories in five starts at Hollywood Park by beating Ferrara by 1 1/4 lengths in the $109,600 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap on Sunday.

Purchased by owners Sid and Jenny Craig for a reported $1 million in 1993 to run in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished last after bleeding, Tossofthecoin has earned a nice living without winning much in the past two years.

He ended a long dry spell when he dead-heated with stablemate Cleante in his last start at Santa Anita on April 23, then came right back as the even-money choice in the LeRoy.

The beneficiary of a dream trip stalking the pacesetter Ferrara, Tossofthecoin got the lead with about a sixteenth of a mile to go under Corey Nakatani and won in 1:40 3/5 for the 1 1/16 miles.

Helped by the scratch of I’ma Game Master, Ferrara had everything his own way on the lead and finished 6 1/2 lengths clear of 26-1 shot Polar Route. Powis Castle, the 4-1 second choice, was seventh in the field of eight.

“This horse is doing everything right now,” Nakatani said. “They went real easy in the beginning today. The main thing that I wanted to do was to get my horse to relax on the backside. At the five-eighths pole, he was just in a nice gallop, which was perfect.

“I just rode him with a lot of confidence, which is easy to do for trainers like Ron McAnally.”

Ferrara rebounded from a last-place finish in the opening-night Los Angeles Handicap when he had excuses. “I was very pleased with his race,” jockey Chris Antley said. “At least we showed that he can go long and they ran well. They ran a fast time. He just got outsprinted home.”

Horse Racing Notes

Sandpit, the beaten favorite in the San Juan Capistrano last month at Santa Anita, was given top weight of 122 pounds for next week’s $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap. The 1 1/4-mile, Grade I race has nine probable entries so far. In addition to Sandpit, others scheduled to run are Best Pal and Celtic Arms (120 pounds), Vaudeville (119), Del Mar Dennis (118), Saltgrass and the filly Wandesta (114), Talloires and Cocooning (113). . . . Jockey Jimi Okamura was given a five-day suspension beginning Wednesday for an incident in last Friday night’s seventh race. Riding Sincerffic, Okamura was disqualified from first and placed fifth for interference approaching the wire.

Hollywood Park set a record for total handle on the Preakness on Saturday with $2,173,714 bet on the second leg of the Triple Crown at the track and its satellite locations. The previous record for a Preakness was $1,854,040, set last year. The total handle of $15,266,019 was a Preakness Day record for Hollywood Park and the third-highest handle in track history.