Stormy Jack Finally Beats Ceeband

Ceeband had won four races at Hollywood Park and Stormy Jack had never won a race there, but this was the longest of their three-race rivalry and Stormy Jack used the extra distance to score a mild upset in the $102,550 On Trust Handicap on Thursday at the Inglewood track.

The On Trust was run on dirt, an unlikely preliminary to Hollywood’s main event, the Turf Festival that begins with three grass stakes today.

The three-day festival includes three $500,000 races, the Citation Handicap on Saturday and Sunday’s Hollywood Derby and Matriarch Stakes.

With Victor Espinoza at Churchill Downs, where he rode Spain to a fifth-place finish in the Falls City Handicap, Eddie Delahoussaye took over on Stormy Jack and trainer Bob Baffert’s colt proved best in a three-horse battle that left Waingarth second at 17-1 and Ceeband, the 7-10 favorite, in third. A pair of heads separated all three.

The last time they met, on Nov. 3 in the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita, Ceeband beat Stormy Jack at six furlongs. Stormy Jack ran one of his worst races, finishing seventh as Ceeband won the seven-furlong Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood in July. But the On Trust was 71/2 furlongs, and Stormy Jack, who was fourth at the eighth pole, came between horses to end a three-race losing streak and win his first stake since August 2000. Carrying 119 pounds, four less than Ceeband, Stormy Jack hit the wire in 1:283/5, paying $8.20 as the second choice.

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Tout Charmant’s chances of repeating as the winner of the Matriarch hinge on trainer Ron McAnally’s mare drawing in off the also-eligible list for Sunday’s $500,000 race.

There’s nothing in the race conditions to ensure that defending champions get preference, and 14 other fillies and mares--the maximum number--have better records than Tout Charmant this year. The field for the 11/8-mile turf race includes Spook Express, who ran second to Banks Hill in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.

Since beating Tranquility Lake by a head in last year’s Matriarch, Tout Charmant has raced only twice, finishing fifth in the Palomar Handicap at Del Mar and running fourth in the WinStar Galaxy at Keeneland last month.

Spook Express, a 7-year-old mare trained by Tom Skiffington, won the WinStar in her last Breeders’ Cup prep and could become the oldest winner of the Matriarch. The only 6-year-olds to win the race have been Fact Finder in 1985 and Exchange in 1985.

This is the field, in post-position order: Crystal Music, Lethals Lady, Verruma, Golden Apples, Janet, Freefourracing, Spook Express, Baldwina, Tranquility Lake, Gino’s Spirits, Starrer, Starine, Boismorand and Al Desima.

In an earlier stake Sunday, the closing day of the Turf Festival, 14 horses will run in the $500,000 Hollywood Derby. Trainer Elliott Walden, who won the race with Brahms last year when the 58-1 shot Designed For Luck was disqualified for interference, will try to repeat with Indygo Shiner.

The 61st edition of the Hollywood Derby lines up this way: Homeland, Denon, Tiger Trap, Sea To See, Western Pride, Startac, Mizzen Mast, Blue Steller, Bowman Mill, Learing At Kathy, Aldebaran, Sligo Bay, Indygo Shiner and Strategic Partner.

The also-eligible list consists of Sigreto, Momentum and Reduit. Denon and Aldebaran, both trained by Bobby Frankel, will be coupled in the betting.

The Frankel barn is also running Mizzen Mast and Blue Steller. The trainer’s long-time assistant, Humberto Ascanio, has been in charge locally while Frankel’s been busy readying two of his horses for rich races in Tokyo. He’ll run Lido Palace in Saturday’s $2-million Japan Cup Dirt and will come back Sunday with Timboroa in the $4-million Japan Cup, which is a grass race.

Lido Palace could cap a memorable year for the stable of John and Jerry Ammerman, who, having raced seven horses that have won graded stakes, are candidates for the Eclipse award for outstanding owner. In Tokyo, their horse drew post No. 14 in a field of 16. The big Japanese hope is Kurofune, a 3-year-old that won by nine lengths in his last start.

Timboroa, who drew the 12-hole among 15 for the Japan Cup, is 11-1 according to one British bookmaker. The favorite will be T M Opera O, last year’s winner and the richest horse in the world. Prospering as the result of Japan’s inflated purse structure, the 5-year-old has won 14 of 24 starts and earned $15.2 million. A distant second on the money list is Cigar with almost $10 million.

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The big guns failed to fire Thursday as Forest Secrets, a 22-1 shot, beat Printemps by 11/4 lengths in the $273,500 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs. Unbridled Elaine, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and the 2-1 favorite, finished third, beaten by 21/4 lengths. Spain, second in the Breeders’ Cup, was fifth in the seven-horse field.... Yonaguska, favored at 19-10 and carrying the top impost of 131 pounds, beat Big E E by three-quarters of a length to win the $112,200 Fall Highweight Handicap at Belmont Park.

Val Royal, the Breeders’ Cup Mile winner, drew the No. 2 post in a 13-horse field for Saturday’s $500,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park. The field consists of Good Journey, Val Royal, Native Desert, Decarchy, Purely Cozzene, El Cielo, Quake, Fighting Falcon, Sarafan, I’ve Decided, Irish Prize, Lord Jim and Takarian.... Swept Overboard, who ran fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will move from dirt to grass and is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in today’s Hollywood Turf Express.... Earlier on the card, in the first graded race of the Turf Festival, the Team Valor entry of La Martina and Stylelistick is the 5-2 favorite in the Miesque Stakes.