Penna Is Back in the Saddle

During a career of almost 24 years, trainer Angel Penna Jr. has run only one horse at Hollywood Park.

Lockton, ridden by Angel Cordero Jr., finished second behind Stately Don in a division of the 1987 Hollywood Derby.

Penna, 50, is back in California this week and, 11 years later, he hopes to fare better with his second starter at Hollywood Park.

Eight weeks after winning the Flower Bowl Handicap at Belmont Park, Auntie Mame has arrived, seeking another Grade I victory in the $700,000 Matriarch on Sunday.

A win would give the 4-year-old daughter of Theatrical--the male turf champion of 1987--four victories in seven starts this year and a possible claim to the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top female turf runner.

Four times in the last six years, the Eclipse has gone to the Matriarch winner, including Wandesta in 1996 and Ryafan last year.

The Matriarch is the main event of Hollywood Park’s eighth Turf Festival, which features six turf stakes over a three-day period, beginning today, with purses totaling $2.15 million.

Auntie Mame’s task became easier on Tuesday when Fiji, the clear leader in the division, was declared out of the race by trainer Neil Drysdale after she came down with a cough.

A loser only once in seven starts in 1998, Fiji would have been favored to win her third Grade I in less than six months for owner Prince Fahd Salman.

The Eclipse appears to be Fiji’s now, but things could change if Auntie Mame wins decisively Sunday.

She is based in the East, where most Eclipse votes are cast, and could be rewarded because she will have raced at five different tracks and won at three. Fiji never left California.

After hearing Fiji won’t be running in the Matriarch, Penna said he still thinks his filly has a chance to win the Eclipse Award.

“I won’t argue that Fiji has the credentials, but if [Auntie Mame] is fortunate enough to win, I think we could make a legitimate argument,” he said.

Owned by Martha Gerry’s Lazy F Ranch and to be ridden by John Velasquez, who won the 1996 Hollywood Derby with Marlin, Auntie Mame began her year with defeats in two Grade II events--the Black Helen Handicap at Hialeah and the Diane at Pimlico.

Auntie Mame finished fifth in the race at Pimlico, the only time she has been worse than third in a 16-race career that includes 10 victories and earnings of $947,480.

However, that effort did nothing to diminish her in the eyes of Penna, who has trained two other Eclipse winners. Christmas Past was the top 3-year-old filly in 1982 and Laugh And Be Merry was the female grass champion in 1990.

“She was running against the boys, lost two shoes in the race and got bumped leaving the gate,” said Penna. “It was 96 degrees that day and I didn’t think she ran a bad race at all. She only got beat four lengths and the horse that won [Yagli] was second [behind Buck’s Boy] in the Breeders’ Cup [Turf].”

Since then, Auntie Mame, second to Ryafan in last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, a race Penna--the son of the late Hall of Fame trainer Angel Penna Sr.--won with Perfect Arc in 1995, has won three of four, once at Saratoga and twice at Belmont Park.

Auntie Mame has won at several different distances, but 1 1/4 miles--the Matriarch distance--might be her best. She has won both of her races at 10 furlongs. “The longer the better for this filly,” said Penna, who expects Auntie Mame to race as a 5-year-old. “She’s very flexible. She can come from far back, lay just off the pace and you could even go to the front with her if you wanted too.”

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A field of nine is expected when entries for the Matriarch are taken this morning. Besides Auntie Mame, the other probables are Diamond On The Run, Green Jewel, See You Soon, Sonja’s Faith, Sophie My Love, Witchful Thinking, Squeak and Real Connection. . . . Perfect Sting, who would have been the 2-1 morning-line favorite for today’s Miesque Stakes, has been scratched because of a fever. Either Sweet Luby or Nausicaa--European shippers making their first starts in the U.S.--will go off favored. . . . Expelled, who hasn’t won a stake since the 1997 Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar, is the 3-1 favorite in today’s Hollywood Turf Express. . . . Corey Nakatani wanted to ride Military in Saturday’s $300,000 Citation Handicap, but the Hollywood Park stewards agreed with trainer Julio Canani, who said he had a commitment from the jockey to ride his Astarabad. Garrett Gomez will ride Military. The high weight in the nine-horse field is Hawksley Hill, who missed by a head of winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The 5- year-old gelding will carry 123 pounds, two more than Astarabad.

Silver Charm, second both times this year at Churchill Downs, will probably make his last appearance at the track today in the $400,000 Clark Handicap. The 1997 Kentucky Derby winner will carry 124 pounds, seven more than Wild Rush, who dead-heated for the win with Silver Charm at Turfway Park in September. Silver Charm will spot the other six horses in the field between eight and 18 pounds. . . . Incurable Optimist, who has won three consecutive grass starts in New York and New Jersey, ships in from Belmont Park to run in Saturday’s $250,000 Generous Stakes.

Native Desert, who has run some of his best races at Hollywood Park, was a three-quarter-length winner over Alert To Go in Thursday’s $81,000 Political Ambition Handicap. Favored Prize Giving, winless in seven starts since winning the San Marcos Handicap in January, couldn’t overcome a bad start and finished third. . . . In other stakes Thursday, trainer Billy Turner’s Punch Line, an 8-year-old gelding, carried high weight of 136 pounds to victory in the $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct; and Tomisue’s Delight, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, won the $250,000 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Staff writer Bill Christine contributed to this story.