Latin Dancer Keeps Stepping in Style for Siegels

The Timonium Fair in suburban Baltimore ran its first race in 1887. A bullring with a 700-foot stretch, Timonium is better known for its horse auctions than its 10-day fall race meet.

It was at Timonium where Mace and Jan Siegel bought their first horse in 1964. Najecam was her name--the Siegels’ first names spelled backward--and she didn’t win a race until she was a 5-year-old.

The Siegels--daughter Samantha is part of the racing family now--keep going back to Timonium in search of good horses, and in 1995 they were smitten by a yearling colt.

“The more I looked at that horse, the more he reminded me of Urbane,” said Samantha Siegel, comparing him to her family’s highly successful stakes runner. The Siegels paid $210,000 for Latin Dancer, the most they’ve ever spent on a horse at auction and a record for a Timonium yearling.

Latin Dancer looked like he was worth at least that much from the start, and Monday, as Hollywood Park closed out its 66-day season, the Maryland-bred won the $107,900 Robert K. Kerlan Memorial Handicap, earning $64,740 and increasing his purse total to more than $315,000.

“He’s a good horse,” said trainer Randy Bradshaw after Latin Dancer’s sixth victory in 16 starts. “His races on the turf have been pretty good, but that race on dirt [the San Pedro at Santa Anita in April] was probably his best. The main thing is to keep him sprinting.”

The Kerlan, named after the late, noted Los Angeles sports physician, was 5 1/2 furlongs on grass, the same distance and surface that matched Latin Dancer’s skills when he won a small stake June 7. In March, he won the Baldwin at Santa Anita, another turf sprint. Latin Dancer completed a successful 24 hours or so for the Siegels and Bradshaw; on Sunday, their Greed Is Good won the $100,000 Canterbury Park Derby in Minnesota.

Hollywood Park won’t run another race until Nov. 5, and Nov. 8 the Inglewood track will play host to the $11-million Breeders’ Cup day, but Latin Dancer, like many prominent horses this year, isn’t eligible for those races. It would cost the Siegels $120,000 to supplement him into the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Corey Black rode Latin Dancer to a two-length win. Timed in 1:01 3/5, he paid $9 as the second choice. Sandtrap, the 3-5 favorite who went into Monday’s race with five wins from nine starts on grass, finished fourth after a hectic trip, and jockey Alex Solis told trainer Ben Cecil that the colt took a bad step and bobbled in the stretch.

Continuing his dominance of the Southern California jockey circuit, Solis won 66 races at the meet, beating out his closest rival, Corey Nakatani, by 23 victories. Solis has won the last six titles at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar, which hadn’t been done since Chris McCarron’s six in a row in 1982-83.

Mike Mitchell beat out Jenine Sahadi, 22-20, for the training title.

Hollywood Park’s business showed slight declines in betting and attendance. Counting off-track figures, handle was down 2.8% and attendance was off 4.1%. Nationally, many tracks have shown sharp drops, and Hollywood’s chairman, R.D. Hubbard, was pleased with the meet.

“We didn’t send our signal to Nevada [in a contract dispute],” Hubbard said, “but a lot of the dollars from the racebooks there came back to California, and at home we get a bigger percentage of the handle. As a result, our purse money was up 5% over last year and we underpaid purses by about $700,000. We had very good racing, our number of starters per race was up, and we’re excited about hosting the Breeders’ Cup.”

Horse Racing Notes

Lou Eilken, whose career as a racing secretary included stops at all of the major tracks in California, died Sunday at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora. Eilken, 82, had been hospitalized following complications from a stroke. He was the racing secretary and handicapper at Santa Anita for 12 seasons, retiring in 1985. He also worked at Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields and other tracks.’ A memorial service is planned for Eilken a week from today, at a site to be announced. . . . Chris McCarron, who sprained his left shoulder in a spill in the Swaps, is expected to resume riding Friday or Saturday at Del Mar, which opens its 43-day meet Wednesday.