McCarron Tries to Stake His Claim

Chris McCarron leads the Hollywood Park jockey colony with seven stakes wins, two more than Garrett Gomez.

Back after spending the past couple of days in New York, McCarron has a chance to add to his total today.

In the $500,000 Californian, the Hall of Fame rider will be aboard Futural, who has won three in a row for trainer Craig Dollase and is the 5-2 second choice on Russ Hudak’s morning line. Later, he will ride 6-5 choice Bienamado in the $350,000 Charlie Whittingham Memorial Handicap.

Owned by Jess Miller and Jack Weitz, Futural, a 5-year-old gelded son of Future Storm, began his streak with a victory in Santa Anita’s Tokyo City Handicap, then won the San Bernardino there two weeks later and won the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 5.

The final major prep for the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 1, the Californian, which is run at 1 1/8 miles, also lured the Bobby Frankel-trained duo of Skimming and Aptitude, City West, Blade Prospector, Jekyll And Hyde and Irisheyesareflying.

In the Grade I Whittingham, which is run at 1 1/4 miles on turf, Bienamado, who will be making his first start since winning the San Juan Capistrano on April 14 at Santa Anita, will have eight opponents if the field remains intact.

The main challengers are White Heart, the defending champion who beat King Cugat and Brahms when winning the Woodford Reserve on May 5 at Churchill Downs; Timboroa, second to eventual Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Irish Prize in the Fastness; and Senure, who has won three of four in this country for Frankel.

Winston Chi, who had defeated $32,000 maiden claimers in his previous start, took command in the final sixteenth to score a 33-1 upset in the $100,000 California Sire Stakes Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Garrett Gomez for owner J. Paul Reddam and trainer Craig Dollase, the Cee’s Tizzy gelding completed the 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:41 3/5 in beating 2-5 favorite Jamaican Rum by two lengths. Cherokee Kim was third, Long Gone Con, who had run off to a 14-length lead after six furlongs in 1:09 3/5, faded to fourth and Cool Composure was last in the race restricted to California-breds.

Georgia’s Storm, the odds-on favorite, won the $97,125 Cinderella Stakes by three lengths.