Landaluce Is Nice for Starry Ice

Starry Ice did something her half-sister couldn’t do a year ago, and she didn’t even have to run particularly fast.

Twelve months after Distinguish Forum flopped at 3-5 in the Landaluce, Starry Ice did what she was supposed to at 1-2 odds in Hollywood Park’s main event for 2-year-old fillies Saturday.

In remaining unbeaten in four starts, the daughter of Ice Age beat 44-1 shot Trav N’Kris by 5 1/2 lengths, completing the six furlongs in 1:11. It was the slowest running of the stakes, which was formerly called the Hollywood Lassie, since it was renamed the Landaluce in 1983.

Owned by Harold Greene and trainer Jerry Dutton, who bred the filly, Starry Ice tracked the quick pace set by 5-2 second choice Cozy Angie, took over entering the stretch and drew clear, even though she ran the last quarter in a slow 26 seconds.

Still, a win’s a win and Starry Ice earned $62,160 more for her connections, pushing her earnings to nearly $152,000 in a career that began less than four months ago.

“I’m extremely happy, but what’s even more special is that I bred her,” Dutton said. “I’ll give the Del Mar Debutante [next month] a very good thought. I’ve always thought she was a nice filly, and I always had the idea that she might stretch out. I wasn’t sure, but she relaxes and relaxed well today for [jockey] Eddie [Delahoussaye].”

A maiden who had been second in her previous two starts, Trav N’Kris, the longest shot in the field of six, beat Montecito by a head for the place. Spirited Jaclyn was fourth. Then came Really Rising and Cozy Angie, who stopped badly after setting 21 2/5- and 45-second splits.

Jockey Alex Solis said Cozy Angie, who was a seven-length winner at Golden Gate Fields in her debut on June 16, had an excuse for her Landaluce fade.

“She’s very fast, but she acted like she bled,” he said. “She just completely stopped at the three-eighths pole. She put her head down and just stopped.”

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Looking for her fourth win in as many 1996 starts, Auriette is the 9-5 favorite against seven rivals in the $250,000 Beverly Hills Handicap today at Hollywood Park.

A winner of only one of seven last year, Auriette has been a different filly as a 4-year-old. The daughter of Caerleon began with a four-length win against allowance rivals at Santa Anita; then stepped up to graded company and won the Santa Barbara by 3 1/2 lengths; then, moving to Hollywood Park, won the Gamely by 2 1/2 lengths.

On the lead throughout in the Gamely, Auriette, who is owned by Rick Barnes and Prestonwood Farm and trained by Marty Jones, showed she can also win from off the pace. She will again be ridden by Kent Desormeaux.

Different, who won her U.S. debut by five lengths on the main track, is the 3-1 second choice in the 1 1/4-mile Beverly Hills. Owned by Sid Craig and Ron McAnally, the Argentine-bred filly won five of six in her native land before coming here and she won her only other start on turf.

Rounding out the field are the Jeremy Noseda-trained entry of Flagbird, second to Auriette in the Gamely, and Grafin, who has two wins against softer at the meeting; Didina, who is adding blinkers today; Bail Out Becky, who won the Miesque in 1994 and the Del Mar Oaks last year in two previous visits to California; Fanjica and Real Connection.

Two races before the Beverly Hills, Gastronomical is the 5-2 favorite against other 3-year-old fillies in the $65,000 Hidden Light at one mile on the turf.

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Racing against a less-than-stellar field, Victory Speech ended a five-race losing streak with a 5 1/2- length win in the $150,000 Dwyer on Saturday at Belmont Park.

A troubled second behind Skip Away in the Ohio Derby last month, the 3-year-old Deputy Minister colt completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 2/5 under jockey Jerry Bailey. Trained by Wayne Lukas for owner Michael Tabor, he paid $3.90 as the odds-on choice.

Horse Racing Notes

On Jockeys Across America Day VIII Saturday, which was designed for jockeys to help the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, Alex Solis told Chris McCarron, who helped form the MacBeth Fund, he would donate his purse earnings in two races. McCarron put six slips of paper--with the numbers of the races in which Solis had mounts--into a hat and told Solis to draw two. He drew races six and seven, both of which he won with 5-1 shots Bagshot and Dell Rapids, respectively. Solis’ donation thus totaled $4,500. . . . Trainer Jack Carava was fined $2,500 by the Hollywood Park stewards for two medication violations. Carava was cited for Dell Rapids, who finished second in the fifth race on May 23, and Spirit Warrior, who won the third race on June 8. . . . Jockey Corey Black’s wife, Anne Marie, gave birth to twin girls, Victoria and Alexis, last Tuesday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. . . . Pike Place Dancer, who bombed as the heavy favorite in the Princess Stakes last month, will make her next start in the Coaching Club American Oaks July 20 at Belmont Park.