McCarron Caps Weekend Sweep

Victories in the Hawthorne Handicap have become routine for jockey Chris McCarron.

A day after he won the Mervyn LeRoy at Hollywood Park with second choice Futural, McCarron won the Hawthorne for a fifth consecutive year Sunday with Printemps, the 3-2 second choice in the field of four fillies and mares.

In a race weakened by the scratch of morning-line favorite Gourmet Girl, Printemps, a Chilean-bred owned by Amerman Racing Stables and trained by Ron McAnally, sat several lengths off the moderate pace set by Feverish, the 1-2 favorite, made a bold move around the turn to join the leader, then kicked away in the stretch to win by a bit more than a length in 1:43 1/5 for the 1 1/16 miles.

This was the seventh victory in nine starts for Printemps, who raced on Lasix for the first time, and provided McAnally with a record sixth victory in the Grade II race, which is the first prep for the $300,000 Vanity Handicap on June 30.

“This weekend turned out to be fun for me,” McCarron said. “I certainly missed being in Kentucky on Saturday, but winning these two stakes was a nice consolation.”

The winner of the Apple Blossom a month ago at Oaklawn Park, Gourmet Girl was scratched by trainer Pico Perdomo because she was in season.

“She came into heat at the wrong time,” Perdomo said.

Perdomo indicated the California-bred mare will return in the $250,000 Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap on June 3.

After a brief stay in Kentucky, jockey Corey Nakatani has decided to return to Southern California, saying that he misses his three children.

Third in the standings at Keeneland and originally scheduled to spend the coming months riding at Belmont Park, Nakatani is named on Touch ‘n’ Fly in Wednesday’s seventh race at Hollywood Park.

On the same day, Mike Smith, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, will join the local jockey colony and is scheduled to ride Strollin in the fifth and Wild Romance in the eighth.

Five winners shy of 4,000, Smith, 35, has hired Brian Beach as his agent. Beach formerly worked for, among others, Kent Desormeaux.

Peeping Tom, who was claimed for $40,000 out of a maiden race, became a Grade I winner when he rallied to a victory in the $300,000 Carter Handicap on the final day of the Aqueduct meet.

A race earlier, Gaviola provided jockey Jerry Bailey with his 5,000th victory by winning the $100,000 Beaugay Handicap.

Jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. had four winners Sunday. . . . The on-track handle of $5.2 million at Hollywood Park on Saturday was up 9% from last year and was the highest at the spring-summer meet since Kentucky Derby day in 1995. . . . Jockey Matt Garcia will begin a five-day suspension Thursday after being disqualified aboard Brite Reality in Saturday’s first race. Brite Reality, who finished second, was placed fourth for interfering with Venus Genus.