Guaranteed Pool in the Pick Six Is Big Hit Once Again

The sequel to Hollywood Park’s Pick Six promotion was a bigger smash than the original.

On June 14, the track guaranteed a $1-million pool in the Pick Six and fans throughout the country showed their approval by putting more than $3.3 million into the exotic wager.

On Saturday, Hollywood Park management raised the guarantee to $1.5 million and the handle on the Pick Six also swelled. The total handle, helped by the inclusion of the New York Racing Assn., was $3,869,771.

After Flying Rey won the first of the Pick Six races at $13.20 and first-time starter Hollyhoney took the next at 21-1, form prevailed in the remaining Pick Six races. The highest mutuel the rest of the day was $7.40.

There were 28 tickets with all six winners and each was worth $77,221.20. Five winners were worth $336.20.

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Winning for the fourth time in six starts on the Hollywood Park turf course, Native Desert collared Agate in the final yards to win the $100,000 Khaled Stakes Saturday.

Ridden by Rene Douglas for owner Miguel Rubio and trainer Juan Garcia, the 5-year-old Desert Classic gelding completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40 4/5 in winning for the 10th time in 28 starts. The victory margin was half a length.

“I liked the horse and he really likes the turf,” Garcia said. “He loves this course, but he also likes Fairplex Park. He’s won two stakes races there. We’ll run him near the end of Del Mar and then Fairplex.”

Agate, who had a five-length lead after a 46 4/5 half-mile, finished two lengths clear of Windy’s Halo. Walk In Time, the lone female in the race and the 7-5 favorite, was fourth.

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Making her first start since being soundly defeated by Exotic Wood on Valentine’s Day, Tuzla remained unbeaten on the Hollywood Park turf course with a neck victory over favored Sonja’s Faith in the $71,650 Royal Heroine Stakes.

Owned by David Milch and trained by Julio Canani, the 4-year-old, French-bred filly is perfect in three tries on the Inglewood grass after winning in 1:34 1/5 as the 2-1 second choice.

Beaten 17 lengths by Exotic Wood in the Santa Maria Handicap on the Santa Anita main track, Tuzla benefited from a good ride by jockey Corey Nakatani and was able to win despite stumbling at the start.

“She was bothered by bleeding ulcers, so I just gave her a lot of time,” Canani said. “She’d put on some weight and she had been training well. We’ll look for a race for her at Del Mar.”

Nakatani was aboard Tuzla for the first time and was impressed.

“When you’ve got horse, it makes it easy,” he said. “She stumbled really bad out of the gate, so I just sat on her and let her gradually get back into the race.

“Turning for home, we were sitting pretty tight down on the inside and we skirted through on the rail. She’s a pretty steady filly and acts like she will run all day.”

Sonja’s Faith, the 4-5 choice, set the pace and wound up 2 1/2 lengths clear of Plus.

Horse Racing Notes

Although overall handle figures weren’t complete, the Pick Six helped generate a total handle in excess of $18.8 million, highest in Hollywood Park history with the exception of Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown events. . . . Favored Kelly Kip won the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Handicap Saturday at Laurel. Kelly Kip beat Affirmed Success and five others in 1:08 2/5 for the six furlongs.