HOLLYWOOD PARK : Dahlia Victory Gives Frankel Title

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s stranglehold on grass racing at Hollywood Park was so unrelenting that he won the final turf stake of the season, and in the process clinched his first meet training title in 13 years.

Frankel’s horses won 12 of 28 starts on grass, No. 12 being Didina’s last-gasp win over Dirca in Sunday’s $113,300 Dahlia Handicap. One of Frankel’s three wins on dirt also came Sunday, with Forest Gazelle in a race that was transferred from grass, and the 15 total wins enabled him to edge out Bill Spawr by one to win the meet title.

Back in the days when claiming horses were the staple of the Frankel stable, he would routinely win titles. In the 1970s, he won six summer titles in a row at Hollywood Park, but his latest championship was his first in Inglewood since 1982 and his first locally since the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita in 1982.

“Titles are always nice,” Frankel said, “but to be honest, keeping the horses in good shape is more important. Because of the rain, I scratched three horses the last two days of the meet.”

The Dahlia has been run since 1982, but by accident this was the first time the stake was contested at less than 1 1/16 miles. The starting gate was installed in the wrong place, resulting in a race that was an estimated 60 feet short of its advertised distance. Had Didina not won by a nose with her stretch rally, Frankel might have had a legitimate protest.

As it was, Frankel still didn’t think that Didina and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye had enough time in late stretch. Delahoussaye was a replacement for Gary Stevens, who underwent knee surgery Monday after winning with Didina last month, and Frankel was concerned about how much overweight the 3-year-old filly would carry with her new jockey. Delahoussaye made 115 pounds, one more pound than what Didina was assigned.

“If you had been 116, we might have got beat,” Frankel said to Delahoussaye after the race.

Dirca, ridden by Corey Nakatani, carried 114 pounds and took the lead by coming between horses at the top of the stretch. She finished 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Rapunzel Runz, the early leader. Yearly Tour, the 3-1 favorite, was in contention early before finishing ninth in the 10-horse field.

“I gave Corey the room to get through,” Delahoussaye said. “But he had to use his horse to do that. I had a lot of horse left.”

Because of the starting-gate mix-up, the race was hand-timed, with no fractions available, and Didina reached the wire in 1:45 1/5 on a soft course, paying $9.20 and earning $68,300 for Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Judmonte Farms.

The British-bred Didina won three of three of six starts in England before she was sent to Frankel this fall. Her first start here was an allowance win at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 19.

“She might be a pretty good filly,” Frankel said. “Judmonte told me when they sent her that she was probably the best of a group of 16 horses.”

Hollywood Park switched two early grass races, including the Dayjur Stakes that Forest Gazelle won, to the dirt.

“The course was getting chopped up,” Frankel said. “If they hadn’t taken the sixth race off the grass, I wouldn’t have run Didina.”

About 75% of Frankel’s horses are grass runners, but he attributed his success at Hollywood Park to the fact that his horses were well-rested after the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Few grass races were run at Santa Anita because of problems with a new turf course.

“As a result, I had of fresh horses to run at Hollywood,” Frankel said.

Santa Anita’s winter meet opens Tuesday.

“I still don’t have any confidence in their turf course,” Frankel said. “All of my horses are going to be stabled at Hollywood. I’m ready to take a break.”

Horse Racing Notes

Interim, winner of the Waya Handicap at Hollywood Park for Bobby Frankel, won Saturday’s $175,000 La Prevoyante Handicap at Calder. . . . Alex Solis won Sunday’s first race, his 31st victory of the season, and beat out Gary Stevens for the meet riding title. Stevens, who had 30 wins, missed the last five days of the meet and is scheduled to return to action at Santa Anita in a couple of weeks. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye won three races Sunday and finished third in the standings with 27 wins. . . . Stevens was the meet’s stakes leader with seven wins. . . . Favorites won 28% of the races at the meet. . . . Hollywood Park’s on-track daily attendance average of 9,287 was 3% less than last year, and the handle of $2 million was down 4.6%. Off-track play resulted in a daily betting average of $9.9 million, an 11% increase.