Azeri, Ladies Din Set for Holiday Weekend

The upcoming holiday weekend will feature the best racing of the first half of the Hollywood Park meet and will bring out two horses trying to defend their titles in two Grade I contests.

On Saturday, Azeri, the reigning horse of the year, will carry 125 pounds as she tries to win the $200,000-added Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap for the second time in a row.

Two days later, Ladies Din will attempt to repeat in the $350,000-added Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile. The 7-year-old beat Redattore, who’s also scheduled to run. Ladies Din, trained by Julio Canani last year, is now in Frank Monteleone’s barn.

There are three other graded stakes to be run Sunday and Monday. The $100,000 Will Rogers Stakes is the main event Sunday and the $350,000-added Gamely, a Grade I, and the $150,000 Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes share the card with the Shoemaker.

The Gamely, which is run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf, will mark the return to California of Dress To Thrill, the upset winner of the Matriarch last fall at Hollywood Park. Dress To Thrill, who won the Matriarch for trainer Dermot Weld, is now trained by Christophe Clement.

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Although there has yet to be an official announcement, it appears Hollywood Park will honor Laffit Pincay Jr., who was forced to retire last month, on July 13, Hollywood Gold Cup Day.

This would be a fitting occasion to pay tribute to Pincay since he won the Gold Cup a record nine times, including last year with Sky Jack.

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Alpenfest, the 8-5 favorite, beat 3-1 third choice Double Belvedere by a length to win the $96,975 Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Owned and bred in California by Heinz Steinmann and trained by Mike Harrington, the 2-year-old son of Hennessy completed the five furlongs in 57.97. Alpenfest gave jockey Victor Espinoza a sweep of the weekend stakes. The meet’s leading rider with 23 victories, Espinoza won the Senorita on Saturday with favored Makeup Artist.

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Thanks largely to Calster’s $78.60 win in Sunday’s ninth race, there will be a pick six carry-over of $194,499 when racing resumes Wednesday.