No Gold Cup Victory, but McAnally’s Happy

Although Bill Mott walked away with the big prize, another of the country’s top trainers didn’t have too bad a day Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Shortly after Tossofthecoin finished third at 23-1 in the Gold Cup, Ron McAnally scored back-to-back graded stakes victories, one expected, the other a surprise.

Mr Purple, the 3-5 favorite in the $133,300 Affirmed Handicap, did what he was supposed to do, beating 5-2 second choice Pumpkin House by three lengths under Corey Nakatani.

Then, Alpride made a successful U.S. debut, scoring a 9-1 upset in the $320,000 Beverly Hills Handicap, beating 7-10 choice Possibly Perfect by nearly two lengths.

Winless in his four previous tries around two turns, Mr Purple took the lead outside stablemate On Target entering the stretch, then came away without feeling Nakatani’s whip through the stretch. He ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 1/5.

“He’s doing everything now that [McAnally] is asking him to do,” Nakatani said. “I rode him with a lot of confidence and just hoped that he had enough gas left in the tank to get the job done. I think it’s mostly a matter of him maturing. He used to be real green . . . he’d hesitate and not want to go by a horse. He’s doing everything right now.”

Alpride, a Christmas gift from Sid Craig to his wife Jenny, had won nine of 13 in Italy before coming to California, but while she had trained well, McAnally wasn’t sure she was up to beating the Bobby Frankel duo of Possibly Perfect, who had won five in a row, or Wandesta, who had won two Grade I races at Santa Anita.

But given a good trip by Chris McCarron, Alpride took the lead from Lady Affirmed entering the stretch and drew clear. Possibly Perfect, whose status for the Beverly Hills had been somewhat in doubt, surprisingly didn’t go to the early lead under Kent Desormeaux, then wound up a length in front of Wandesta, the 3-1 second choice.

“I didn’t go for the lead because the others were going too fast,” said Desormeaux, although the fractions set by the overmatched Fondly Remembered and Lady Affirmed (23 3/5 and 47 1/5 for the half-mile) said otherwise. “She ran great. The other mare just outran her today. She ran too fast and I couldn’t catch her.”