Odds Are Nakatani in Store for Big Day

Hollywood Park will offer two stakes races today, and both look like foregone conclusions.

Fastness, arguably the best turf horse in the country up to 1 1/8 miles, is the 4-5 favorite in the $700,000 Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Handicap; and Pike Place Dancer, the reigning 3-year-old filly in America, is the 3-5 choice in the $100,000 Princess Stakes.

Corey Nakatani will be aboard both, having replaced injured Gary Stevens on Fastness for the 6-year-old’s previous race, the Inglewood Handicap, and having picked up the mount on Pike Place Dancer two races ago.

A loser only once in five starts on the Hollywood Park turf course, Fastness will have only five opponents and he will be meeting them at equal weights. All starters in the Shoemaker will carry 124 pounds.

Romarin, who was discovered to have a throat problem after he finished sixth as the 17-10 favorite in the Arcadia Handicap on March 3 at Santa Anita, is the 7-2 second choice. Trainer Richard Mandella, who will also saddle 10-1 shot Atticus, said the 6-year-old has trained well for his return, and Romarin has won three of six starts at the Shoemaker distance of one mile.

The rest of the field includes Joker, the longest shot in the field at 30-1 who beat lesser competition in the Red Bank Handicap at Monmouth Park last month; Unusual Heat, claimed six days ago for $80,000 by trainer Barry Abrams; Tychonic, third to Fastness in the Inglewood Handicap, ending his five-race win streak; and Debutant Trick.

Pike Place Dancer, who became a national name with her 9-1 upset of My Flag, Escena and Antespend in the Kentucky Oaks on May 3, will be seeking her seventh win in eight tries in the Princess.

There had been discussion of sending her to New York for her next start, but trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who also owns the filly with George Todaro, decided to go in the 1 1/16-mile Princess. Nakatani was aboard for her win in the California Derby as well as for the Kentucky Oaks.

Najecam, 3-1 second choice Listening, Karakorum and Heptathlon round out the field.

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Jockey Rene Douglas’ day got better as it went along.

Dumped by the 2-year-old maiden filly Sunshine Gal in the paddock before Saturday’s third race after he won the second with outsider Francisco Road, Douglas landed on his face and suffered a cut under his left eye.

But he came back and won three more races, including the $107,100 Estrapade Stakes on favored Magic Feeling.

Douglas’ two other wins came on Defleet in the sixth race and Miniffirm in the tenth.

In the Estrapade, he replaced Nakatani on Magic Feeling, the 2-1 choice. Nakatani took off sick after riding the first two races. Douglas and Magic Feeling rallied to beat Nimble Mind by half a length in 2:28 1/5 for the 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Trained by Jeremey Noseda for owner Jim Ryan, Magic Feeling is perfect in two American starts and she has won 12 of 33 lifetime.

“I got dropped in the paddock and I got cut under the eye,” Douglas said. “It’s a strange business. Then I pick up a mount like this after [Nakatani] got sick.

“I had to wait a little while for a hole to open. So, I tucked in behind horses all the way around. Fortunately, I was behind [third-place finisher] Real Connection, who I used to ride all the time. And I know she likes to drift out. I was waiting for her to do that and it worked out well.”

Nimble Mind finished half a length in front of Real Connection, who was a neck ahead of 2-1 second choice Fanjica, Gift To The World and Dynatar, who had to be vanned off the track afterward, apparently having suffered an injury to her left foreleg.

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Wekiva Springs did exactly what he was supposed to in the $300,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday. One of three handicap stars in trainer Bill Mott’s stable--along with Cigar and Geri--the 5-year-old Runaway Groom horse cruised home by nearly three lengths as the 1-2 favorite.