Big Day Not in Cards for McCarron

What would have been a profitable day for jockey Chris McCarron became lucrative for two of his colleagues.

With McCarron reluctantly off his mounts because of a sprained left shoulder incurred when Hello suffered a fatal breakdown in the $500,000 Swaps Stakes, David Flores and Kent Desormeaux proved successful replacements in stakes races later in the day.

Tabbed by trainer Wayne Lukas to ride Marlin in the $400,000 Sunset Handicap, Flores responded with a flawless, gate-to-wire job on the even-money choice, winning by 1 1/2 lengths over 15-1 shot Flyway in 2:22 1/5 for the 1 1/2 miles on turf.

A race later, Desormeaux used the same tactics on Twice The Vice, directing the 8-5 shot to a head win over Real Connection in the $400,000 Vanity Handicap, completing the 1 1/8 miles over an extremely fast main track in 1:46 2/5.

This wasn’t the first time McCarron was injured during a card in which Marlin later ran and won. Three months earlier at Santa Anita, he suffered an injury to his right shoulder when Debutant Trick went down in the San Simeon Handicap and Eddie Delahoussaye picked up the mount on Marlin, who won the San Juan Capistrano. That injury kept McCarron from riding Hello in the Kentucky Derby.

Returning to the turf after finishing fourth in the Hollywood Gold Cup on June 29, Marlin won for the second time in four tries on the Hollywood course and hasn’t been worse than third over it. That bodes well for him later in the year because he figures to run in the 1 1/2-mile turf event in the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held at Hollywood Park Nov. 8.

“I was real happy when I heard that I had picked up the mount,” Flores said. “This is a horse I’ve always wanted to ride. I worked him once and he was so nice, such a pro. I was able to get the lead right away and that made it easy. After [six furlongs], I knew the others would really have to work hard to get me.”

In the Vanity, Twice The Vice made amends for her disappointing effort in the Grade I race a year ago and defeated favored Jewel Princess for the fourth time in five meetings.

Completing a stakes double for Desormeaux--who won the Swaps with Free House--Twice The Vice now has four victories in five tries on the Hollywood Park main track.

Her next Southern California start, trainer Ron Ellis hopes, will be in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Ellis said the 6-year-old Vice Regent mare--a winner in 12 of 22 starts for owners Marty and Pam Wygod--may run only once before then.

“I’ve kind of treated this race as if it were the Breeders’ Cup,” Ellis said. “I told Marty that I wished we were running for the Breeders’ Cup money today as good as she was doing.”

For Real Connection, a 15-1 shot, it was the third narrow loss of the Hollywood Park meeting, which ends today. She was beaten a nose at 5-1 odds in the Wilshire Handicap on May 11 and lost the Gamely Handicap by the same margin at 9-1 on June 1.

She finished four lengths clear of Jewel Princess, the defending Vanity champ who has lost three in a row.

Horse Racing Note

K.O. Punch, the 3-5 favorite, remained unbeaten in three starts with a two-length victory over 7-2 second choice Old Topper in the $110,200 Hollywood Juvenile Championship. He was ridden by Gary Stevens for trainer Wayne Lukas and Prince Ahmed Salman’s Thoroughbred Corporation and completed the six furlongs in 1:09 4/5.