Tates Creek Edges Voodoo Dancer Again

Compared to the last time Tates Creek and Voodoo Dancer had met, the $200,000 Las Palmas Handicap on Sunday at Santa Anita was a laugher.

A nose better than Voodoo Dancer in a memorable Diana Handicap on July 27 at Saratoga, Tates Creek, the 9-5 second choice, prevailed by a neck over his rival this time around as the Oak Tree meet concluded.

Owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Bobby Frankel, Tates Creek, a 4-year-old Rahy filly, rallied inside under jockey Jerry Bailey to win the Grade II after the runner-up and 11-10 favorite had moved prematurely to the lead, opening a two-length advantage with an eighth of a mile to go.

This was the eighth win in 12 starts for Tates Creek, who completed the 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1: 47 3/5.

She has won in three of four collaborations with Bailey, in his customary spot atop the national jockey standings with almost $22 million in purse earnings.

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The longest shot in the field at 68-1 in the $111,700 Morvich Handicap, Master Belt made a successful U.S. debut on Sunday.

A New Zealand-bred son of Masterclass, the 4-year-old gelding rallied strongly in the final eighth of a mile to beat 9-2 third choice I Love Silver by a neck in 1:12 1/5 for the about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf.

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The Breeders’ Cup pick six scandal has accomplished something rare -- getting racetrack managements to work together.

In a jointly-released statement, North America’s three largest horse racing organizations -- Magna Entertainment, which owns Santa Anita and Gulfstream, among others, Churchill Downs Inc., which runs Hollywood Park and various other tracks, and the New York Racing Assn. -- said they have instituted new measures to increase totalisator security.

The measures were brought about due to the ongoing investigation involving two men and a very suspicious winning pick six ticket in last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup at Arlington Park. The belief is Derrick Davis of Baltimore made a $12 pick six bet --at a total cost of $1,152 -- and that Chris Harn, who was fired by Autotote last Thursday, later altered the ticket after four races had been run. Records show that Davis and Harn both attended Drexel University and were reportedly, for a time, fraternity brothers.

Magna, Churchill Downs and NYRA said they are working with Autotote and other totalisator companies and regulatory agencies to guarantee internal controls are being maintained, ensure the physical security of all on-site tote facilities and perform background checks on all employees with access to those facilities.

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Jack Carava led all trainers at Oak Tree with 14 victories, five more than Bob Baffert while Laffit Pincay, Jr. topped the jockeys with 27 wins, one more than Patrick Valenzuela and two more than David Flores. It was the third consecutive year Pincay has led at Oak Tree and it was the 43rd riding title of his career.

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On-track daily attendance at the meet was down 3.76% from last year and Oak Tree director and executive vice-president Sherwood Chillingworth cited conflicts with the Angels during their playoff and World Series run along with USC and UCLA having home games on the same Saturday during the 26-day meet.

The California Cup also didn’t fare nearly as well as last year. The on-track attendance of 27,901 was down almost 10,000 from 2001. Of course, account wagering was not available last year.

“We were very disappointed,” said Chillingworth. “We expected 40,000.”