Despite Ban, He’s a Triple Threat

Jockey Chris McCarron began a three-day suspension Friday, stemming from the disqualification of Futural from first to third in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on Sunday.

Cited by stewards Pete Pedersen, George Slender and Tom Ward for “failure to make the proper effort to maintain a straight course,” McCarron won’t let the ban keep him from riding today.

Because the $100,000 Landaluce Stakes, the $100,000 Bel Air Stakes and $100,000 Royal Heroine Stakes are all designated races, McCarron has mounts in each.

In the Landaluce, Hollywood Park’s biggest race for 2-year-old fillies, he will ride 9-5 morning line favorite Georgia’s Storm. He has 5-1 outsider Penamacor in the Bel Air and 4-1 shot Kalatiara in the Royal Heroine.

Georgia’s Storm, a California-bred daughter of Illinois Storm owned by Reinaldo Martinez and trained by Eduardo Inda, will be looking for her third win in four starts. After breaking her maiden going two furlongs at Santa Anita, she was second in the Nursery behind the unbeaten Fertile, then won the Cinderella last month.

Freedom Crest, who has been idle since finishing last in the San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 4, and Out Of Mind, who suffered a tendon injury last year and has been away since the 2000 Hollywood Gold Cup, head the field in the Bel Air.

The Grade II race was also supposed to have marked the return of General Challenge, but a leg injury has sent him to the sidelines again for trainer Bob Baffert.

The prime contenders in the Royal Heroine, which will be run at one mile on the turf, are Janet and Dianehill. Both are coming off disappointing efforts on the road, but they had legitimate excuses.

Janet was a badly beaten third in the Sheepshead Bay Handicap at Belmont Park on June 2 when bad weather forced the race to be moved from the grass to the dirt. Dianehill, meanwhile, was uncomfortable racing on a soggy turf course at Lone Star Park in a $200,000 stakes on May 28.

Trainer Jay Robbins didn’t hear exactly what he wanted from McCarron Friday morning after the jockey galloped Tiznow, the 2000 horse of the year who has been bothered by back problems since late April.

“Watching him, he looked good galloping, but Chris said he’s not traveling as well as you would like behind,” Robbins said of Tiznow, who has not raced since winning the Santa Anita Handicap on March 3. “He’s not in any pain. Baffert saw him out this morning and said he looked good, but Tiznow’s still not quite right.

“He is vastly improved from where he was. We’ll continue on this path for a while longer. We would have liked to have breezed him three-eighths of a mile in the next few days, but we’re not going to do that until he feels fine.”

The race dates committee of the California Horse Racing Board met Friday in Sacramento for more discussion about next year’s racing calendar.

Committee members Robert Tourtelot, the CHRB chairman, and John Harris last month proposed a cut of 19 days, welcome news to those who believe there is too much racing in California.

In the proposal, six-day weeks would be eliminated, except for Del Mar’s meeting and some of the county fair meets during the summer; most meets would end on Sunday rather than Monday; there would be fewer overlapped race days between Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields and the fairs; and Del Mar would close on a Monday, rather than a Wednesday, allowing for a two-day break between the end of that meet and the beginning of the Fairplex season in Pomona.

More discussion will be heard at the CHRB’s regular monthly meeting July 20 at Del Mar.