Hollywood’s American Oaks, Triple Bend Draw Full Fields

Hollywood Park will have what has become a racing rarity Saturday.

The Inglewood track has two Grade I races -- the $750,000 American Oaks and the $300,000 Triple Bend Breeders’ Cup Invitational Handicap -- and both drew full fields. Fourteen were entered in each race Wednesday and seldom do stakes races have that many thoroughbred runners anywhere in the country.

In its third year of existence, the American Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles on the turf, has already earned Grade I status and it had 14 participants in 2002 and last year.

Dance In The Mood, a Japanese-bred daughter of Sunday Silence, is the 9-2 favorite on Russ Hudak’s morning line for the Oaks, an indication of how open the race is.

The public choice is batting .500 so far in the Oaks, although Megahertz needed the help of the stewards to win in the inaugural running. She finished second but was moved up after Dublino was cited for interference during the stretch run.

A year ago, Dimitrova, making her California debut for trainer Dermot Weld, won by two lengths at 9-2. She had run previously in Ireland, and more than a third of Saturday’s Oaks field will be newcomers to the U.S.

Besides Dance In The Mood, who has won four of five in her native land, Misty Heights, trained by Weld; Boulevardofdreams, French Lady, and Steel Princess have all shipped here from other countries.

Of the locals, Mambo Slew is the 5-1 second choice. Trained by Patrick Biancone for owner Frank Manganaro, the Kingmambo filly has run five of her seven races in California but scored her latest victory in the Sands Point, a Grade III at Belmont Park on June 13.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, who won with Megahertz in 2002, will have two horses in the Oaks, Eternal Melody, at 6-1, and Sagitta Ra, at 20-1.

Owned by Michael Bello, who also has Megahertz, and to be ridden by Alex Solis, Eternal Melody was third in the Mint Julep Handicap on May 29 at Churchill Downs in her first U.S. start after winning four of 13 in New Zealand.

Sagitta Ra, owned by Frankel, was third in the Honeymoon Breeders’ Cup Handicap on June 5 at Hollywood Park in her graded stakes debut. The first two finishers in that Grade II, Lovely Rafaela and Western Hemisphere, are also in the Oaks lineup.

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Thanks to the loss of Speightstown, the talented sprinter trained by Todd Pletcher who was declared out of the race on Sunday, the Triple Bend field swelled and the 116-pound high weight is Pohave. Victor Espinoza, who has won the Triple Bend two of the last four years, will ride Pohave.

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Funny Cide, the winner of last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness, is among the nominees for the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 10.

Owned by Sackatoga Stables and trained by Barclay Tagg, Funny Cide, a 4-year-old son of Distorted Humor, could become the sixth Kentucky Derby winner to take the Gold Cup, the track’s signature race, should his connections decide to make the trip west.

Real Quiet, Ferdinand, Affirmed, Swaps and Citation won the Gold Cup as older horses after having won the Derby.