Inesperado’s Victory Lifts Spirits of Grieving Owner

When Charles Kenis married Audrey Skirball in 1987, his racing know-how was nil.

“I have to go to Del Mar,” Skirball said one day.

“What for?” Kenis asked her.

Kenis trailed along, and now, with the further help of trainer Bobby Frankel, he stands in winner’s circles, accepting trophies and congratulations.

Such an occasion was Sunday at Hollywood Park, where the 3 + U Stable soldiered on, less than two weeks after the death of Skirball, the 87-year-old philanthropist, on June 19. Inesperado, a recent arrival from France, where Kenis has done business as a cognac and wine importer, won the $182,600 Cinema Handicap with a gutty ride from Kent Desormeaux, and later Super Quercus, a multiple Grade I stakes winner, dropped into allowance company for his third straight win.

“I stopped by the cemetery this morning,” said Kenis, referring to his visit to Hillside Memorial Park. “I told Audrey they were running, and she gave me the jockey instructions. She loved her horses right to the end. She came to the track the Saturday before she died. I would never be at the races except for her.”

Kenis has no plans to cut back on the stable. He’s riding the same crest as Frankel, who used Inesperado for his 20th graded stakes win this year, after winning 36 last year.

Kenis said that Frankel was responsible for the purchase of Inesperado as well as Dripping In Diamonds, who’ll run next Saturday in the $200,000 Prioress Stakes at Belmont Park.

Just when it looked like Regiment had to worry only about his entrymate Johar in the stretch run of the Cinema, Desormeaux found room on the fence with Inesperado to beat Regiment by a nose. Regiment, who had won four straight, was the 1-2 favorite along with Johar, who finished third, another half-length back.

Running 1 1/8 miles on Hollywood’s turf course in 1:47 3/5, Inesperado earned $97,560--more than he banked for four wins in nine starts in France--and paid $7.40 as the second betting choice.

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Trainers who were unwilling to enter horses Saturday for next Wednesday’s card changed their minds Sunday. There were 68 horses entered for the eight races Wednesday and 101 entries for the 10 races on Independence Day. The trainers have been pressured by significant premium increases for workers’ compensation insurance. “Hollywood Park has clarified their position,” said Ed Halpern, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers. Halpern said that the track has orally committed about $650,000 from vanning, stabling and marketing funds to defray insurance costs.

On Wednesday, Hollywood Park stewards will interview jockeys Garrett Gomez and Felipe Martinez, who had a brief exchange after the first race. In what was reportedly a one-punch fight before they were separated, Martinez struck Gomez in the face, splitting his lip. In the first race, won by Wicked Susan with Gomez aboard, Apollo’s Missile appeared to clip heels, went down and unseated Martinez.

High Chaparral won the $1-million Irish Derby at the Curragh, becoming the second horse in as many years to win that race as well as the Epsom Derby.... According to the Daily Racing Form, Jason Lumpkins, the second-leading rider behind Russell Baze in Northern California, will remain on the fair circuit and skip Del Mar.