Surf Cat Remains Calm Amid a Storm and Wins

Minutes before Saturday’s $361,000 Swaps Stakes, some catering carts rattled past the paddock at Hollywood Park. Surf Cat, the second choice in the 1 1/8 -mile race, twisted away from the racket, and pulled the shoe off his left front foot.

Victor Tovar, the house blacksmith, refitted the shoe, and after a short delay Surf Cat went to the track for a five-length victory that was worth $192,600.

“First time in 50 years that that’s ever happened to me,” said Bruce Headley, Surf Cat’s 71-year-old trainer. “[The blacksmith] did a good job. Perfect. The horse was very calm, he didn’t even know what was happening. It’s a concern to the trainer more than the horse. I could have had a heart attack.”

Surf Cat, who races for Headley’s wife, Aase, and Marsha Naify, is what’s known as an honest colt. He has run six races, all this year, and has won three and finished second the other times. In the Swaps, he beat five horses, one of whom was Don’t Get Mad, who finished fifth as the 13-10 favorite. Surf Cat paid $5.40, reaching the wire in 1:48. Dover Dere, who set the pace, ran second, one length better than Indian Ocean.

“He was flat,” trainer Ron Ellis said of Don’t Get Mad. “He ran back quick, and there was the shipping [from Kentucky to California]. He shipped good, but he didn’t have any strength when it was time to kick it in.”

Don’t Get Mad, who was ridden by Gary Stevens, winner of the $150,000 A Gleam Handicap aboard Alphabet Kisses earlier on the card, entered the Swaps off a victory in the Kentucky Derby Trial, a fourth place in the Derby and a victory in the Northern Dancer Stakes. This was his first start at Hollywood Park, a track where he has trained much of his career.

Alex Solis, who rode Surf Cat when Indian Ocean beat them by a neck in the Affirmed Handicap on June 18, was determined to do better this time.

“I was very critical of myself for not being more aggressive on him last time,” Solis said. “I guess I rode him right this time. I never really even hit him. I just showed him the whip the last 50 yards.”

Dover Dere, who has hit the board in 11 of his 13 starts while winning only twice, is owned by the same group that later won the Hollywood Gold Cup with Lava Man (Jason Wood and Dave, Tracey and Steve Kenley).

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Trainer Todd Pletcher, who trains Limehouse, the fifth-place finisher in the Gold Cup, remained in the East, where he won the $300,000 Molly Pitcher with Capeside Lady at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. At Belmont Park, Pletcher finished second and fourth with Maddalena and the favored Talented in the $250,000 Prioress. The 13-1 winner of the Prioress was Acey Ducey, trained by John Morrison and ridden by Diane Nelson, neither of whom had won a race at the meet.

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Effectual won the $100,000 Debutante at Churchill Downs.... Calder’s “Summit of Speed,” eight sprint stakes worth $1.9 million, was postponed until today because of power and phone outages caused by Hurricane Dennis-related storms at the Miami track.