Fairplex Finishes in Precarious Fashion

In an end to a meet unlike any of the others, the 61st edition of the Los Angeles County Fair closed Sunday at Fairplex Park with a minor spill and Native Desert’s convincing win in the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap.

When jockeys Octavio Vergara and Corey Black went down in the 10th race, it was the first spill of the 18-day meet since opening day, when J.C. Gonzalez became the first rider to be killed in a race at the track. Several of Gonzalez’ family members attended Sunday. They presented Martin Pedroza, the meet’s leading rider with 29 wins, a trophy that now will be awarded annually in memory of Gonzalez.

Black came back to ride in later races and Vergara, who suffered minor bruises, did not take his mount in the last race. “This meet had a tragic start,” said Neil O’Dwyer, vice president for racing at the fair. “Forty-eight hours later, we tried to rally and focus on the future. The jockey colony supported us, and that led to some very safe riding the rest of the way.”

Native Desert, ridden by Garrett Gomez and trained by Juan Garcia, paid $5.60 as the favorite in Sunday’s feature. The 6-year-old gelding, winning his 15th race in 42 starts, won for the first time since June and scored his third win in four career starts at Fairplex. Garcia said he would probably run Native Desert back on grass, in the California Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 30. Eight of Native Desert’s wins have come on grass and Sunday marked his first dirt start this year.

Bold Words finished second and Search Me was third, with two of the top contenders, Del Mar Gray and Kid Katabatic, being scratched. Kona Wind finished fifth in the six-horse field, preventing trainer Mel Stute from winning the stake for the third straight year. Stute, the winningest trainer in Fair history, still tied Paul Aguirre for the meet title, with nine wins apiece. This was the fifth time Stute has been a champion at Pomona, his first title coming in 1971.

Horse Racing Notes

Pat Valenzuela, who hasn’t ridden since he was suspended by the stewards about two years ago, has four mounts on the Wednesday card that launches the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Valenzuela, recently issued a conditional one-year license by the California Horse Racing Board, will ride Holy Hope in Wednesday’s feature, the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap, formerly known as the Autumn Days. . . . Daylami will run Sunday in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, then his owner, Sheik Mohammed of Godolphin Stables, will decide whether to wheel him back in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 6. British bookmakers have made Daylami the second choice in the Arc, behind Montjeu, the French and Irish Derby winner who’s owned by Michael Tabor. . . . Sheik Mohammed’s Dubai Millennium won Sunday’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot by six lengths. Dubai Millennium, who was ridden by Frankie Dettori, is through racing for the year and will be pointed for next year’s $6-million Dubai World Cup.

Funeral services for Dave Hale will be Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Hope Lutheran Church in Glendora. Hale, whose Eclipse Photography Inc. took the photo-finish pictures at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar, was killed in a motorcycle accident last Tuesday. . . . Gritty Sandie, ridden by Mike Smith, made his stakes debut in his 10th start and won the $150,000 Lawrence Realization Handicap at Belmont Park. The winner paid $29, winning for the second time. . . . Surviving a foul claim, Fahris won the $300,000 Kentucky Cup Turf Handicap at Kentucky Downs. In another stake there, Treat Me Doc, winless this year, was the 31-1 winner of the $200,000 Kentucky Cup Mile Handicap. . . . At Bay Meadows, General Royal, ridden by Roberto Gonzalez, won the $100,000 William P. Kyne Handicap, beating Crows by three lengths. Favored Flying With Eagles finished third.