T.H. Approval Gets Stamp of Approval

Long before the end of Santa Anita’s winter-spring meet last month, jockeys Jose Valdivia Jr. and Rene Douglas had a prediction about the star of trainer Eduardo Inda’s barn.

“They both told me this horse was going to win the San Juan Capistrano,” said Inda, who has been on his own since 1995 after a long stint as assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally.

The riders were right about T.H. Approval. A 4-year-old son of With Approval, T.H. Approval, with Douglas aboard, won the San Juan, beating Exterior and six others April 16.

Both Valdivia, who rode the colt when he was third in the San Marcos on Jan. 22 at Santa Anita, and Douglas, who has ridden him six times since last fall, believed the distance of the San Juan, 1 3/4 miles, would work in T.H. Approval’s favor. Never far off the pace set by a sharp All The Boys, T.H. Approval took over in the stretch and went on to win by 1 1/2 lengths at 5-1.

This was the fourth and biggest win for the long-winded gray and he will be among those shooting for an even more lucrative prize in the $350,000 Jim Murray Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

A Grade III at 1 1/2 miles on grass, the Murray is named in honor of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Times. The race is a graded stakes for the first time in 2005.

A loser of his first six starts before he broke his maiden last July 18, T.H. Approval is returning to his favorite course. He has three of his victories at Hollywood Park.

“He’s doing very, very well,” Inda said. “I still think he has some more improvement in him and he’s always run well at Hollywood Park.”

Inda says Exterior, one of three horses running for trainer Bobby Frankel, is the one to beat. Frankel also is scheduled to start Continuously, a two-time winner on Hollywood Park’s turf course, and Vangelis, away since finishing third in the Clement L. Hirsch Oct. 3 at Santa Anita.

Two races before the Murray, Hombre Rapido will try for his second victory in the $150,000 Los Angeles Times Handicap in three years. He went off at 6-1 odds when he won in 2003.

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Dean Kerkhoff, the van driver who misidentified Sweet Catomine when she was shipped from Santa Anita to a clinic 140 miles away five days before the Santa Anita Derby, has been fined $500 in a settlement with the California Horse Racing Board.

Kerkhoff told Santa Anita security that he was transporting a stable pony, not Sweet Catomine. The filly was returned about 48 hours later and ran fifth April 9, which was the last race of her career.

Times staff writer Bill Christine contributed to this report.