Lake William Captures Dayjur to End Dry Spell

Lake William is becoming something of a specialist.

Without a victory since winning the San Simeon Handicap on April 16, the last day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meet, the 5-year-old Salt Lake horse ended Hollywood Park’s fall season Monday with a victory in the $72,450 Dayjur Handicap.

Trained by Richard Mandella for Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss, the 3-1 second choice sat well off the pace while 11-10 favorite Texas Glitter and Islander dueled through fast fractions (213/5 and 441/5 for the half-mile), then took over late and won by a length in 1:022/5 for the 51/2 furlongs on turf.

Texas Glitter, the defending Dayjur champion, finished 11/2 lengths ahead of Shadow Caster, the longest shot in the field at 66-1. Then came Alea Iacta Est, Islander and Astonished. Martel had been scratched.

“When I saw those two hook up in front of me, I thought, ‘Hey, this is going to be easy,”’ winning rider Victor Espinoza said. “Richard just told me to wait until the last minute and it worked out great. I love this horse. He tries very hard.”

This was the fifth victory in 14 starts for Lake William and his second in six races on grass.

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Siphonic, who was the easy winner of Saturday’s Hollywood Futurity, was chosen horse of the meet in voting by those who regularly cover the track.

Owned by John and Jerry Amerman and trained by Dave Hofmans, the son of Siphon also was selected the top 2-year-old and top 2-year-old male.

Other winners: Momentum, handicap horse; Super Quercus, grass horse; Starine, older filly/mare; Swept Overboard, sprinter; Misanello, claiming horse; Denon. 3-year-old and 3-year-old male; Starrer, 3-year-old filly; Habibti, 2-year-old filly; Alex Solis, jockey; Elvis Trujillo, apprentice jockey, and Bob Baffert, trainer.

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Solis led all riders with 30 victories, five more than Kent Desormeaux, and Baffert set a record for the Hollywood Park fall season with 22 victories, bettering the 19 winners Bob Hess Jr. had in 1992. Bobby Frankel equaled the late Charlie Whittingham’s meet record with six stakes victories.

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Hollywood Park showed gains in attendance and overall handle in its 31-day meet.

The average daily attendance was 7,214, up 4.8% over last year, and the total overall daily average handle was $9,383.251.06, up 2.8% over 2000.

Including satellite locations, the average daily attendance was 16,915, up 1.5% over the preceding year.

“Perhaps this meet is an indicator of the future,” said Rick Baedeker, Hollywood Park’s president. “We hope Santa Anita [which opens Dec. 26] has a good, strong meet and we can continue the momentum right into the spring.

“Given the rain on our biggest weekend [last month’s Turf Festival], the numbers were very encouraging. We finished particularly strong with the break before Santa Anita.”

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Tailor Fit turned back the clock late Sunday at Los Alamitos, winning the $500,000 Champion of Champions for the second time.

Trained by Janet VanBebber for owner Betty Jane Burlin, the 1999 world champion quarter horse broke well under jockey Alvin Brossette and went on to beat longshot Hawkinson by half a length. The time for the 440 yards was 21.47 seconds.

A Ransom, the 1-2 favorite, was a no-excuse third as he failed in his attempt to become the fourth horse to win the Champion of Champions two consecutive years.

The start of the Grade I was delayed when Corona Kool acted up in the starting gate.

The entire field was unloaded and the mare, who had upset A Ransom in the Los Alamitos Championship in September, was scratched after being examined by the track veterinarian, who found a shin injury on her left foreleg.

Tailor Fit, a 6-year-old, California-bred son of Strawfly Special, won for the 20th time in 32 starts and the $250,000 payday pushed his earnings to $1,226,065, 13th on the all-time list. He paid $12.60.

The Champion of Champions helped conclude the meet at Los Alamitos. The track will take a break before resuming on Dec. 28.