Always First Delivers for Drysdale in the Sunset

For all of Neil Drysdale’s turf success during his hall of fame career, there was one significant local race the trainer had never won.

No more. Drysdale added to his impressive resume when Always First, one of his two participants in the $165,300 Sunset Breeders’ Cup Handicap, prevailed in the Grade II on Sunday, the final day of Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet.

Always First, a 4-year-old English-bred son of Barathea who was the 9-2 fifth choice, won for the second time in four U.S. starts for Maktoum al Maktoum, winning by three-quarters of a length over T.H. Approval and 2-1 favorite Runaway Dancer, who finished in a dead heat for second.

Next to last early while the badly overmatched R McLennen set the pace, Always First rallied inside under jockey Victor Espinoza for his first win in three tries at 1 1/2 miles. Giving Drysdale his 67th stakes win at Hollywood Park, Always First completed the distance in 2:27.

“He ran well,” said Drysdale, whose other entrant, One Off, finished fourth after having a one-length lead an eighth of a mile from the finish. “I just told Victor to relax on him and come with a nice run.

“We’ve been aiming for this. Sometimes getting those European horses are a little like Christmas. You aren’t quite sure what is in the package.”

Runaway Dancer, bidding for his second graded stakes win of the meet after having won the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap at 17-1 on May 14, rallied widest under Garrett Gomez and finished on even terms with T.H. Approval.

“I was really pleased with him today,” said Gomez, the meet’s leading rider with 62 victories. “What cost me is that the winner had a very good trip and I had to swing out and around. But that’s what you have to do when you have a horse that comes from five miles out of it.”

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Hollywood Park showed declines in both on-track attendance and mutuel handle for its 65-day season compared to 2004.

The average daily on-track attendance was down 6.6% from the previous year and handle was off 1%.

Thanks to successful days for both the American Oaks and the Hollywood Gold Cup, the track finished virtually even from a year ago in terms of the total daily handle. The combined average daily handle was $10,422,137.44, off 0.3% from 2004.

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Smokume, the 5-1 fifth choice in a field of six, won the $150,000 Tom Fool Handicap over a sloppy track at Belmont Park in New York.

Giving jockey Chantal Sutherland her first graded stakes win in the U.S., the 4-year-old Smoke Glacken gelding beat 3-1 second choice Willy o’the Valley by one length for his eighth win in 17 starts. He ran the seven furlongs in the Grade II in 1:21.92. Smokume is owned by Hobeau Farm and trained by Allen Jerkens.

Swingforthefences, the 2-1 favorite, had to settle for fourth.

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Ablo, who was nearly 9-1, gave trainer and part owner Roger Attfield a record fifth win in the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada.

Wild Desert, the favorite in the Prince of Wales, which is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, on the strength of his win in the Queen’s Plate, was third under jockey Patrick Valenzuela.

Fifth in the Queen’s Plate, Ablo beat Autumn Snow in 1:56.90 for the 1 3/16 miles. Gerry Olguin rode the 3-year-old Lite The Fuse colt, who has won three of 10. The Canadian Triple Crown concludes with the $500,000 Breeders’, a 1 1/2 mile turf race, on Aug. 7 at Woodbine in Toronto.

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When its purchase of Hollywood Park from Churchill Downs was announced earlier this month, the Bay Meadows Land Co. promised to renovate the track’s turf course.

Bay Meadows isn’t wasting any time. The renovation will begin Wednesday and will be completed before the 31-day fall meet begins Nov. 9.

The Hollywood Park turf course will have a new drainage system as well as a different kind of grass. “The new turf has more cushioning than we’ve experienced with the Bermuda because of its density,” said John Barrios, the turf course superintendent. “It is more cold tolerant, roots much faster and it grows a much cooler soil temperature than Bermuda.”

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In a brief ceremony after the fifth race Sunday, Hollywood Park paid tribute to longtime steward Pete Pedersen, who is retiring after a career of some 50 years.

Pedersen, 85, who worked at nearly every track on the West Coast during his time as a steward, was honored with an Eclipse award of merit in 2002.

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Island Sand ended an eight-race losing streak in her first collaboration with jockey Jerry Bailey as she won the $1 million Delaware Park Handicap at Delaware Park.

Trained by Larry Jones for B A Man Inc., the 4-year-old Tabasco Cat filly and 5-1 shot ran past pacesetter Two Trail Sioux in the final eighth of a mile to win in 2:02 4/5 for the 1 1/4 miles. It was the first win for Island Sand since she won the Acorn at Belmont Park on June 4, 2004. Personal Legend was third.