Pomona Win for Speed On Holme, Stute

Speed On Holme held on by a nose to defeat an unlucky 6-5 favorite Balisian Beauty in the $105,300 Barretts Debutante at Fairplex Park on Sunday.

“We were very lucky,” said Mel Stute, 70, the all-time leading trainer at the Los Angeles County Fair track with 37 stakes victories and 140 winners overall.

Speed On Holme, a $50,000 purchase at the Barretts sale, gave jockey Matt Garcia his third victory of the day and 12th of the meet.

Speed on Holme, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Olympio, covered 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:18 2/5 under 115 pounds. She earned $53,790 for her second win in eight starts.

Balisian Beauty, ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr., lugged out into the first turn and then was forced to check. She dropped 12 lengths behind the leaders entering the backstretch before unleashing a furious rally on the final turn, only to fall a nose short.

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Influent, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Howie Tesher and ridden by Jerry Bailey, Sunday won the $400,000 Grade I Man o’War at Belmont Park.

Influent covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:11 3/5. He was three lengths ahead with a furlong remaining and stretch runners Val’s Prince, ridden by Mike Smith, and Awad, with Pat Day aboard, simply ran out of ground.

It was the fifth win in seven starts, all stakes, this year for Influent, who earned $240,000 to boost his career earnings to $956,601 with his 13th victory.

The Wayne Lukas-trained entry of Grand Slam and K.O. Punch ran 1-2 in the $150,000 Grade I Futurity for 2-year-olds. Bailey rode five winners Sunday, including a second stakes victory aboard Beautiful Princess in the $150,000 Matron, a Grade I event for 2-year-old fillies.