Still No Freebie for Free House in Swaps Stakes

Silver Charm is probably out for the year and Touch Gold is continuing his road show, but that doesn’t mean Free House will be fed a bunch of pushovers in Sunday’s $500,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Deputy Commander, Wild Rush and Hello are also in the six-horse field for the Swaps. They lack the Triple Crown credentials of Silver Charm and Touch Gold, but Deputy Commander has a victory over the track, Wild Rush is a stakes winner at the same 1 1/8-mile distance as the Swaps and Hello was beaten by only two lengths against Free House in the Santa Anita Derby.

“There’s going to be plenty of pace in this race,” said Wally Dollase, who trains Deputy Commander. “My horse has speed, and Free House has shown that he wants to go too, so those two horses might be going head and head. My horse doesn’t have the seasoning, he’s still figuring out how to do a lot of this. It will be interesting to see how good he is.”

Deputy Commander, unraced as a 2-year-old, was pushed into the Arkansas Derby off a maiden win at Santa Anita, and he finished a far-back fifth in April at Oaklawn Park. Deputy Commander, staying on the sidelines while Silver Charm won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and while Touch Gold won the Belmont, scored his first stakes win at Hollywood Park a month ago, taking the Affirmed Handicap by two lengths.

Hello, second in the Affirmed, ran eighth in the Kentucky Derby and finished within two lengths of Free House and Silver Charm as they ran 1-2 in the Santa Anita Derby.

After winning three times at Santa Anita, Wild Rush won the 1 1/8-mile Illinois Derby at Sportsman’s Park, but then the Belmont distance of 1 1/2 miles was too much for him and he finished a badly beaten sixth.

Third in the Kentucky Derby, second by a head bob in the Preakness and third in the Belmont, Free House came home from the Triple Crown with more than $300,000 in purses. He has won only four of 12 starts, but he has earned $1.1 million and could become only the second California-bred to win the Swaps, joining Best Pal, who won the race in 1991.

After the Swaps, Free House is expected to run in the $750,000 Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 23. Touch Gold, headed for the $1-million Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3, could also wind up at Saratoga. Silver Charm, who has a blood infection, will be turned out at a farm in Bradbury Estates and may not run again until this winter at Santa Anita.

After the Belmont, David Hofmans, who trains Touch Gold, pointed out to Kent Desormeaux, Free House’s jockey, how tired Touch Gold and Silver Charm were from the rigors of the Triple Crown.

“I wish my horse had been lying down in his stall too,” Desormeaux said the other day. “But he hasn’t put his life on the line yet. I’m not sure he’s emptied himself out. But he’s really matured since I first rode him [as a 2-year-old], and we’re where we need to be.”

Free House, drawing the outside, is 4-5 on the morning line. From the rail, the rest of the Swaps lineup looks like this: Hello, Chris McCarron riding, 5-1; Activist, Alex Solis, 15-1; Deputy Commander, Corey Nakatani, 7-2; Wild Rush, Gary Stevens, 4-1; and Precocity, David Flores, 15-1.

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Dollase could have a big day Sunday. Deputy Commander is second choice in the Swaps and his Jewel Princess, at 7-5, is second on the morning line to Twice The Vice at 6-5 in the $400,000 Vanity Handicap.

Both mares were beaten in their last starts, Twice The Vice running second and Jewel Princess finishing third behind Hidden Lake in the Hempstead Handicap at Belmont Park on June 28.

“Jewel Princess is back on the track she likes,” Dollase said. “The way she broke in New York, she gave everybody a head start.”

Jewel Princess beat Serena’s Song in last year’s Vanity, while Twice The Vice ran fourth.

Noting that Jewel Princess will be carrying 123 pounds, two more than Twice The Vice, over 1 1/8 miles, Dollase jibed Hollywood Park’s racing secretary when he said:

“If Twice The Vice beats us, I’m going to check her foal papers to see if Martin Panza owns part of the horse.”

The others entered in the five-horse Vanity are Listening, who has won four of five starts at Hollywood, Real Connection and Biltmore Breeze.

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In another $400,000 race Sunday at Hollywood, Marlin is the 8-5 favorite in the Sunset Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on grass. The 1996 Hollywood Derby winner will be challenged by Star Performance, Seaborg, Flyway, Percutant and Rainbow Dancer, who is 5-2 after winning this year’s Hollywood Turf Handicap at 19-1. Marlin finished third in that race.

Horse Racing Notes

Sunday’s $100,000 Hollywood Juvenile drew 10 2-year-olds, headed by K.O. Punch, who is 9-5 after winning his first starts by wide margins. This is the post-position lineup for the six-furlong Juvenile: Billy Black, Majorbigtimesheet, Swiss Echo, Shingen Speed, Old Topper, K.O. Punch, Elio Monti, Kabob, Oly Ogy and Score Early. . . . Post time for the first race is noon and the scheduled post for the Swaps, the fourth race, is 1:40 p.m.

The eight-month blackout of Southern California races at Nevada racebooks has ended in time for the books to carry Del Mar’s races. The Del Mar season opens Wednesday. The racebooks have approved a proposal from the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC). The blackout began Nov. 6, and by one estimate cost Hollywood Park and Santa Anita and the horsemen’s purse fund about $3.5 million. John Van de Kamp, president of the TOC, disputes that estimate. “I would call it a dramatic oversimplification,” he said. “Nobody really knows what it cost us, but we do know that some of the money came back in on-track betting. There was no reduction of purses during the blackout.” Van de Kamp said that Nevada averages more than $550,000 a day in betting on Southern California races.