Beverly Hills Separates Haves From Have-Nots

When entries were taken Thursday morning for the 38th running of the $200,000 Beverly Hills Handicap, only six fillies and mares were signed up for the Grade II at 1 1/4 miles on the Hollywood Park turf.

Only three of them really matter. Tates Creek, the winner of last month’s Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap, will be the one to beat if she runs, but the 5-year-old Rahy mare is considered an unlikely participant.

Damaschino and Se Vera are overmatched. If Tates Creek scratches and leaves a field of five, those two 5-year-olds will be battling for fourth and fifth money.

Dublino, Megahertz and Voodoo Dancer are the legitimate contenders and all three have been remarkably consistent.

Trained by high-percentage winner Christophe Clement for the Green Hills Farm, Voodoo Dancer has won half of her 18 starts and has been worse than third only three times.

The 5-year-old Kingmambo mare also hasn’t had to carry her turf course around with her. She has won in New York, Kentucky and California, finishing first in last year’s Palomar Handicap at Del Mar.

Third in her first start this year in Aqueduct’s Beaugay Handicap on May 3, Voodoo Dancer should improve the second time out. Corey Nakatani, who was her rider when she last visited California -- she lost by a neck to Tates Creek in the Las Palmas Handicap last Nov. 3 at Santa Anita -- will be aboard.

Dublino and Megahertz, who will vie for favoritism if Tates Creek doesn’t run, are certainly familiar with each other. The 4-year-olds will be getting together for the fourth time in the Beverly Hills and have been right together in their three earlier meetings.

Owned by a partnership and trained by Laura De Seroux, Dublino has finished ahead of her rival all three times, but the score stands at a win apiece.

In last year’s inaugural American Oaks, Dublino crossed the wire first but was disqualified and placed second for interfering with runner-up Megahertz in the stretch.

The daughter of Lear Fan, who will be ridden for the first time today by Victor Espinoza, edged Megahertz by a nose in the Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 24, then was second while Megahertz was third in the Gamely.

Megahertz, who is owned by Michael Bello, has won two of three over the Hollywood Park grass and is 2-0 at 1 1/4 miles. Trainer Bobby Frankel won his only Beverly Hills with Happyanunoit in 2000.

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Six 3-year-old fillies are scheduled to run in today’s $300,000 Mother Goose, the first leg of New York’s Triple Tiara, at Belmont Park.

A Grade I at 1 1/8 miles, the Mother Goose will be followed by next month’s Coaching Club American Oaks and conclude with the Alabama at Saratoga in August.

Roar Emotion, who went wire to wire in winning the Black Eyed Susan over a sloppy track at Pimlico in her last start on May 16, will be making her first start in a Grade I. Trained by Carlos Martin for Joseph Allen, the Roar filly will be ridden for the first time by Jose Santos.

John Velasquez, who was aboard Roar Emotion in Maryland, will stick with Yell, who was last seen finishing third behind Bird Town and Santa Catarina in the Kentucky Oaks on May 2.

The Mother Goose is the biggest of three stakes on the Belmont program. Eight 2-year-old colts are scheduled to run 5 1/2 furlongs in the $100,000 Tremont Stakes and eight 3-year-olds, all bred in New York, will get together in the $100,000 Mike Lee at seven furlongs.

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Ipi Tombe, the brilliant mare from Africa, will be favored to run her winning streak to eight against five opponents in the $150,000 Locust Grove Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Bred in Zimbabwe and owned by Team Valor, WinStar Farm and Sunmark Partners, the 5-year-old has beaten males in her last four starts and is using today’s race, a Grade III at 1 1/8 miles on the turf, as a prep for more important events later in the summer.

She could return in the $500,000 Diana on July 26 at Saratoga before heading to Arlington Park for either the $700,000 Beverly D. or another date with the boys in the Arlington Million on Aug. 16.

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Dave Payton, Autotote’s Western sales manager, told the CHRB on Thursday that bettors likely will be able to make alternate selections in the pick six when the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita begins on Sept. 28.

The ability to choose an alternate in the event of a scratch was eliminated after the Breeders’ Cup pick six scandal last fall, which led to guilty pleas from three men, and a redistribution of some $3 million that was at first believed to have been won by a single ticket. The ticket, however, had been manipulated by former Autotote employee Chris Harn after four of the six races in the Breeders’ Cup pick six had been run. Harn and the two others are in prison.

Payton said his company has submitted plans for bringing back the alternate selection system to the totalizator committee of the Assn. of Racing Commissioners International.

If the plans are approved by the committee, Autotote will upgrade its systems to incorporate that option and all pick six wagers would be scanned on a race-by-race basis. Any changes to the tickets, Payton said, would be detected.

Currently, pick six players are given the favorite if one of their selections happens to scratch.