Victory Beat Goes On for Trainer Dollase

Trainer Wally Dollase won’t be happy to see Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meeting end a week from today.

When favored Helmsman won the $69,400 Fastness Handicap, it gave Dollase his 14th win of the 60-day-old season and seven of those victories have come in stakes races.

Following Crafty Friend’s triumph in the Bel Air Handicap the day before, Helmsman won for the first time since the 1996 Strub Stakes--more than 17 months ago--in the Fastness, beating Smooth Runner by a length in 1:34 3/5 for the mile on turf.

In a race reduced to four starters after the scratch of Copy Editor (who never intended on running, but was entered to make the race go), Helmsman, the 4-5 favorite, tracked the slow pace set by Khoraz, then got the lead with about a sixteenth of a mile to go under Chris McCarron.

It was the sixth victory in 19 starts for the 5-year-old son of El Gran Senor, who is owned by a large partnership that includes Horizon Stable, Michael Jarvis and Frank Stronach.

Smooth Runner, who broke slowly, rallied to get second, a neck in front of Khoraz, who was making his first start since Oct. 6. Gold And Steel was a distant last.

“I’m glad the wire came up when it did because [Smooth Runner] was flying,” McCarron said after victory No. 6,498. “This is a nice little horse. He’s just got a ton of class and he handled them [Sunday].

“When Copy Editor scratched, I didn’t like that because that meant Khoraz would have the lead all to himself. But when you can run the last quarter-mile in 23 flat, that will catch a lot of horses.”

In fact, the Fastness field finished fast. After running the first half-mile in 48 2/5 seconds, the last four furlongs were run in 46 1/5.

The likely next stop for Helmsman is the Eddie Read Handicap on Aug. 3 at Del Mar. Among his opponents that day will be Smooth Runner, who ran second to Fastness in that race a year ago.

“The start didn’t really hamper us,” said Eddie Delahoussaye, Smooth Runner’s partner. “[Trainer] Rick [Mettee] wanted to make sure he didn’t break running because when he does, Rick said he doesn’t run well.

“He settled well and I knew they were walking. I knew it would be like a sprint the last part. I ran up to [Helmsman], but Chris had a lot of horse left. He just outran us.”

*

Silver Charm and Touch Gold won’t be in the $500,000 Swaps Stakes on Sunday, but Free House, who has beaten them both, will run, trainer Paco Gonzalez said.

“The plan is to run here and then the Travers [Aug. 23 at Saratoga],” said Gonzalez, who trains the Smokester colt for owners Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan. “The other race is too close. The horse is here, he’s training well over this track and it makes more sense to stay. We couldn’t ask for him to be doing any better. He loves the distance [the Swaps is 1 1/8 miles] and I think he’ll run well.”

At this point, four other 3-year-olds are possible for the Swaps, including Affirmed winner Deputy Commander, Wild Rush, Precocity and Hello. Possible starters are Batoile, Leestown and Activist.

Besides the Swaps, the Sunday card will also include the $400,000 Vanity Handicap, featuring a showdown between Jewel Princess and Twice The Vice; the $400,000 Sunset Handicap, which will feature a rematch between Marlin and Rainbow Dancer, upset winner of the Hollywood Turf Handicap on May 26; and the $100,000 Hollywood Juvenile for 2-year-olds.

Horse Racing Notes

Longshot Power Play won the $351,200 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park, beating 3-1 second choice Gold N Delicious by three-quarters of a length. Favored Chile Chatte, ridden by Corey Nakatani for trainer Richard Mandella, was fourth.