Here’s the Dirt on Andujar in Vanity Handicap

Taking nothing away from any of the 3-year-old fillies who will be competing Sunday in the $750,000 American Oaks, but the most talented female at Hollywood Park will be running much earlier in the afternoon.

Andujar, who is arguably the top older filly or mare in the country on dirt, will make her first appearance in a Grade I race when she takes on Hollywood Story, Splendid Blended and six others in the $300,000 Vanity Handicap. The 1 1/8 -mile Vanity is the third race on the program and the first of five stakes races worth a total of $1.85 million.

A six-loss maiden only four months ago, Andujar, a 4-year-old daughter of Quiet American, has blossomed since switching to the dirt. After winning for the first time on turf on April 7 at Santa Anita, she was given a shot on the main track three weeks later at Hollywood Park and responded with a freakish performance.

Facing only four opponents, Andujar won by 10 1/2 lengths and was subsequently purchased privately by owner J. Paul Reddam for a reported $750,000. Reddam, who founded the mortgage loan company Ditech.com before selling it to General Motors in 1999, later sold a small percentage of the filly to Mark Schlesinger.

Debuting for Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill in the Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap on June 4, Andujar was equally dominant against tougher competition. A 7-1 longshot in the field of seven, she won by seven lengths in what was easily the best performance any horse has turned in during the Hollywood Park spring-summer season.

Already a bargain, the Kentucky-bred can increase her value even more with a win in a Grade I race, and she will be favored in the Vanity. It’s unlikely bettors will ever again see anything close to 7-1 odds on Andujar.

“Knock on wood, but she’s doing equally as well now as she was going into the Milady,” O’Neill said. “Going into this race, I feel more comfortable with her because last time she had just been purchased on the strength of that allowance race and we weren’t really sure if we had misread that race or not.”

Obviously, the ultimate goal for Andujar is a date in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park. According to O’Neill, a trip to New York could be in her plans before the Breeders’ Cup. Possibilities could be the Go For Wand at Saratoga or the Ruffian at Belmont.

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O’Neill also has two entrants in another stakes race on the card, the $350,000 Triple Bend Handicap at seven furlongs.

Fourteen are scheduled to run in the Triple Bend and it is unquestionably the most competitive race on the program. How wide open is the Grade I? McCann’s Mojave is the morning line favorite at 4-1.

The leading trainer at Hollywood Park entering the final 12 days, O’Neill will send out Harvard Avenue, the winner of the Potrero Grande Breeders’ Cup Handicap on April 3 at Santa Anita, and Areyoutalkintome, a 4-year-old Smokester gelding who has won seven of 19.

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Funny Cide, who has lost 11 of 14 since winning the 2003 Preakness, will have a new rider today when he goes for his fifth victory at Belmont Park in the $500,000 Suburban Handicap.

Jerry Bailey takes over for Jose Santos, who was the gelding’s rider when he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, after Funny Cide was fifth in the Brooklyn Handicap on June 11.

Owned by Sackatoga Stable and trained by Barclay Tagg, Funny Cide will be looking for his fourth victory at the Suburban distance -- 1 1/4 miles -- against Record Buster, who has won all three starts for owner Frank Stronach and trainer Bobby Frankel, Runaway Russy, Pollard’s Vision, Offlee Wild, Evening Attire, Tap Day and Sir Shackleton.

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In other important races around the country, Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now will face a good field in the $750,000 United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., Katdogawn will try for her second win in a row for trainer Wally Dollase in the $150,000 Locust Grove Handicap at Churchill Downs and Belmont Stakes also-ran Southern Africa will switch to the turf in the $150,000 Arlington Classic at Arlington Park.