In Summarizing Meet, It’s Tough Group to Beat

Approaching the wire of Hollywood Park’s 62nd spring-summer season, here are one man’s opinions on the bests of the meet:

HORSE OF THE MEET--Astra. The daughter of Strawberry Road ran only once in Inglewood, but what a performance it was. Unleashed by trainer Simon Bray in the $200,000 Beverly Hills Handicap on June 24, the 5-year-old mare dominated multiple stakes-winner Happyanunoit and others with a devastating turn of foot. If she avoids injury, she will be nearly impossible to beat in the Beverly D. next month at Arlington Park and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in late October at Belmont Park.

HANDICAP HORSE--Futural. He won the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, was second in the Californian, then crossed the wire first in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup in front of Aptitude, Skimming and Captain Steve. While the disqualification in the ‘Cup was the right call, Futural was still the best horse that afternoon. The son of Future Storm has come a long way in 2001 for trainer Craig Dollase.

OLDER FILLY/MARE--Gourmet Girl. The veteran mare ran only once at the meet, but she was clearly best in the Vanity Handicap against Lazy Slusan, who had won two stakes earlier in the season, including the Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap. That she was able to dictate things up front when Feverish wasn’t allowed to use her speed certainly helped Gourmet Girl, but the daughter of Cee’s Tizzy has been rejuvenated in recent months for Pico Perdomo. She also handled Lazy Slusan in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in April.

GRASS HORSE--Bienamado. The kingpin of last year’s autumn meet ran only once this season but showed his class again with a victory in the Charlie Whittingham Memorial Handicap on June 10. His next stop is supposed to be the Arlington Million.

3-YEAR-OLD, 3-YEAR-OLD MALE--Swaps winner. Scheduled to make his first start since the Preakness, Congaree should handle his field in Sunday’s $500,000 Swaps Stakes.

3-YEAR-OLD FILLY--Golden Ballet. A tendon injury hastened her retirement, but the talented California-bred demonstrated she was the best of her division again with a victory in the Railbird Stakes on May 19. Among those behind her that day was Starrer, who returned to win the Princess Stakes on June 16 but will skip today’s Hollywood Oaks, which came up very weak, in favor of the Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park a week from today.

2-YEAR-OLD, 2-YEAR-OLD MALE--Expected Program or Came Home. Expected Program is the front-runner, having won the Willard Proctor and the Haggin, but he will not run in Sunday’s $100,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship because of some minor problems. If Come Home, a Gone West colt who was very impressive in his debut on June 3 for trainer Paco Gonzalez and owners Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan, wins the Juvenile, he gets the call. If Come Home is beaten Sunday, the vote is for Expected Program.

2-YEAR-OLD FILLY--Georgia’s Storm. How far she will eventually run is subject to debate, but the California-bred daughter of Illinois Storm won the Cinderella and Landaluce Stakes in her final two starts of the meet for trainer Eduardo Inda. Owned by Reinaldo Martinez and named after his wife, Georgia’s Storm wins her races at the break.

SPRINTER--Go Go. Caller One is a better sprinter than this California-bred daughter of Falstaff, but he ran only once at the meet, skipping the Los Angeles Handicap when assigned 126 pounds. It is a good thing he did, because the way that race was run, Caller One could very well have been beaten.

Owned by Thomas and Thomas Racing and trained by Warren Stute, Go Go won the Desert Stormer and A Gleam handicaps and is a nose away from having an eight-race win streak.

CLAIMING HORSE--Churchland. A 7-year-old who won a division of the 1997 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar, this English-bred won all three of his Hollywood Park starts in his first three races on dirt. He was claimed away from trainer Jeff Mullins after his most recent victory Wednesday, so it will be extremely interesting to see where Churchland shows up next.

TRAINER--Jack Carava. He may or may not hold off Bob Baffert in the standings, but Carava has won at a higher percentage than America’s leading money winning trainer and seven of his horses have won twice.

JOCKEY--Chris McCarron. At the beginning of Friday’s twilight program, McCarron ranked only fourth in the standings with 37 victories, but the Hall of Famer is the runaway leader in stakes victories with 14. He could add to his total in the final three days of the meet. With 11, McCarron was also tops in stakes wins last year at this meet.

Tiznow, the 2000 horse of the year, worked three furlongs in 36 2/5 Friday morning for trainer Jay Robbins. Regular rider McCarron was aboard.

Idle since winning the Santa Anita Handicap on March 3, the 4-year-old son of Cee’s Tizzy hadn’t had a serious workout since he injured his lower back while preparing for the Pimlico Special in late April.

“He worked quite well and, more importantly, felt perfect to Chris,” Robbins said. “We’ve been using muscle relaxants the last month and the last few days he has looked good galloping. When Chris galloped him [on July 6], he said he felt rough behind.

“Even when he jogged off today, he looked perfect initially. He galloped out well and Chris had trouble pulling him up. He looked like his old self and cooled out fine.”