Frankel’s Megahertz Finds Right Wavelength

Tates Creek, winner of four consecutive races, was supposed to be trainer Bobby Frankel’s best shot to win Saturday’s $400,000 John C. Mabee Handicap. But it was Frankel’s Megahertz, coming from last place under Alex Solis, who surprised the rest of the five-horse field.

Megahertz, an 8-1 shot, won by a half-length, and just about all the other runners finished second. There was a triple dead heat -- with favored Tates Creek, Dublino and Golden Apples all putting their noses on the wire together -- for the runner-up spot. Voz de Colegiala, the early pacesetter, finished last in the field of five, beaten by 2 1/2 lengths.

The jam behind Megahertz was the first triple dead heat of any kind in California since three horses tied for the win at Hollywood Park on Dec. 7, 1997. That was the 20th triple dead heat for a win in the U.S. since 1940, and the first at Hollywood Park in 40 years.

While the three dead-heated horses were battling in tight quarters on the inside, Solis brought Megahertz sailing from the outside.

“My filly was right where I wanted her to be and she fired great,” Solis said.

Megahertz, who had won only one of her previous seven starts, ran the 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:49 and earned $240,000 to send her earnings over the $1-million mark.

“She’s a very sound filly, and it came up right for her today,” Frankel said from Saratoga, where he’s running the barn’s New York division. “She hadn’t been getting beat that far.”

The triple dead heat overloaded the tote board with mutuel prices, many of them identical. Megahertz paid $18.40, $2.10 and $2.10 across the board. The three horses behind her all paid $2.10 and $2.10 for place and show.

“They were all absolutely sprinting to the wire,” said Kent Desormeaux, who rode Dublino. “That’s how it should be. These are tremendous fillies and they’ll be back at each other soon.”

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Beau’s Town, winner of Saturday’s Bing Crosby Handicap in one of the fastest times for the six-furlong stake, will stay in California to run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

Trainer Cole Norman said that the 5-year-old Arkansas-bred gelding will remain at Del Mar for a month’s rest, then be sent to Santa Anita, where he will be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup without another race.

Beau’s Town, who was shipped to Del Mar from Norman’s barn at Louisiana Downs, won the 58th Crosby in 1:07 4/5. That was the fastest running of the stake since Bad ‘n Big’s 1:07 4/5 in 1978. Three other horses have won the Crosby in the same time -- Crazy Kid in 1962, Pretense in 1968 and Kissin’ George in 1969. King Of Cricket holds the Del Mar record for the distance with a 1:07 3/5 clocking in 1973.

Beau’s Town, ridden by Pat Valenzuela for the first time, beat favored Captain Squire by 1 1/2 lengths. Bluesthestandard finished third. Disturbingthepeace, winner of last year’s Crosby, was sixth, and Kona Gold, trying to win the Crosby for the third time, finished fifth in what might spell the end of the 9-year-old gelding’s 30-race career.

“He doesn’t have the speed anymore,” trainer Bruce Headley said of Kona Gold, who was champion sprinter in 2000.

Beau’s Town paid $12.20 to win.

“I didn’t bring him to California just because of the Breeders’ Cup,” Norman said. “The main reason was just to test him, to see if he belonged with these horses.”

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Del Mar-based jockeys left town to win stakes Saturday. At Saratoga, Corey Nakatani rode Voodoo Dancer, who beat Frankel’s Heat Haze by a neck in the $500,000 Diana Handicap, and at Arlington Park, David Flores was aboard Honor In War for his win by a neck over Better Talk Now in the $250,000 Arlington Handicap.... Also at Saratoga, Lady Tak beat Bird Town, the Kentucky Oaks-Acorn winner, by 4 1/2 lengths in the $250,000 Test Stakes.... Frankel’s win at Del Mar was his 14th in a Grade I race this year. The North American record, 22, was set by Wayne Lukas in 1987.... Sarava, running for the first time since his 70-1 win in the Belmont Stakes in June of 2002, finished sixth in an allowance race at Del Mar.

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Best of Del Mar

All-time winningest jockeys and trainers at Del Mar:

JOCKEYS

*--* Wins Sea 1. Laffit Pincay 1,011 27 2. Bill Shoemaker 889 26 3. Chris McCarron 849 24 4. Eddie Delahoussaye 700 24 5. Pat Valenzuela 612 19

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TRAINERS

*--* Wins Sea 1. Ron McAnally 401 44 2. Farrell Jones 374 22 3. Mike Mitchell 317 27 4. Bobby Frankel 311 31 5. Charlie Whittingham 281 41 Sea.-Seasons

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