Winner of Shoemaker Mile Could Have a Bigger Future

Anyone anticipating the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November at Gulfstream Park will get a preview Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Defending Breeders’ Cup champion Da Hoss isn’t in Inglewood, but a good many of the best turf milers in the country are and will run in the $350,000 Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile.

One of the races in Hollywood Park’s $1-million guaranteed Pick Six, the Shoemaker attracted a field of nine that has combined for 66 victories in 182 starts and $5,129,073 in earnings.

Ladies Din and Silic have contributed 12 of those wins and earned more than $875,000, and they will try to continue a hot streak for their trainer, Julio Canani.

A week after Tranquility Lake rolled to her third consecutive victory in the Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap, Canani, who has won with 10 of his first 20 starters at the Hollywood Park meet, will aim for another graded stakes victory.

Disappointing in his two starts at Santa Anita earlier this year, Ladies Din will be taking on older horses for the first time after rattling off six victories against 3-year-olds in 1998. Among the successes for the gelded son of Din’s Dancer was a rare sweep of Del Mar’s grass series for 3-year-olds. He won a division of the Oceanside Stakes on opening day last July 22, then won the La Jolla Handicap and Del Mar Derby.

Rested after finishing fourth in the Hollywood Derby on a yielding course he didn’t care for, Ladies Din, who is owned by Terry Lanni, Bernie Schiappa and Mike Sloan, was third in both the Arcadia and El Rincon handicaps at Santa Anita.

“He tied up on me a couple of times at Santa Anita,” said Canani, recalling that the 4-year-old’s white blood count was a little low. “He got very sour over there because--and I know it sounds stupid--the road going from my barn to the track was very hard and he didn’t like it. He would get very upset.

“At Hollywood Park, he’s acted like a different horse and he’s training super. There will be no excuses for him. He was a very good 3-year-old, but until they make the transition [running against older horses], you don’t know. A mile is his best distance.”

Although Ladies Din seems happier at Hollywood Park and has won four of six at the Shoemaker distance, he is winless in two starts on this turf course. He did cross the wire first in the 1997 Precisionist Stakes, but was disqualified for interfering with Lord Smith, one of his opponents in the Shoemaker, and placed fifth.

“[Lord Smith] definitely got bothered, but there’s no way he was going to beat [Ladies Din],” Canani said. “Ladies Din was going to gallop that day.”

Owned in part by Lanni and Schiappa, Silic will race coupled in the betting with Ladies Din. A 4-year-old bred in France, he will be making his third start in the United States.

The beaten favorite in a restricted stakes last Nov. 11 at Hollywood Park, Silic returned to action in the San Francisco Mile on April 25 at Golden Gate Fields. He finished fourth, a length behind Tuzla, a multiple-stakes-winning mare also trained by Canani, who, right now, has the deepest barn he has ever had.

“He’s a miler and he’s training very well,” Canani said. “He had to check a couple of times [at Golden Gate] and he finished right there. They’re going to need racing luck, but I believe both horses can win.”

A case can be made for most of the entrants in the Shoemaker, but the likely favorite is Brave Act.

Trained by Ron McAnally for owner Sid Craig, who leads the standings at Hollywood Park, the 5-year-old son of Persian Bold was impressive winning the Inglewood Handicap last month and now has three wins in four starts on the Hollywood Park turf course.

Completing the field are the Neil Drysdale pair of Indian Rocket and Hawksley Hill; Fabulous Guy; Chullo, a South American import who won five of six on turf in Argentina and is now trained by Richard Mandella; Lord Smith, who has won four of his last six for trainer Bruce Jackson, and Poteen. Each starter will carry 124 pounds.

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Making his first start since finishing sixth in the Dubai World Cup on March 28, Silver Charm will meet Victory Gallop and five others in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap today at Churchill Downs.

Never worse than second in four starts on the track, the 5-year-old Silver Buck horse will be ridden for the first time by Chris Antley in the Foster, which is run at 1 1/8 miles.

Third in the Dubai World Cup, Victory Gallop will break from the rail and will be coupled in the wagering with Connecting Terms. The other entrants are Littlebitlively, Nite Dreamer, Da Devil and Precocity.

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Cliff Goodrich, the longtime executive vice president and general manager at Santa Anita, is leaving his position at the end of this month. Goodrich has been at Santa Anita since 1980.