Runaway Dancer Gets It Right This Time

It didn’t matter to trainer Dan Hendricks that Runaway Dancer, his 6-year-old gray gelding, had finished last in the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap at Hollywood Park a year ago.

It didn’t matter that Runaway Dancer, in his first race in almost nine months, had beaten only one horse in the Arcadia Handicap at Santa Anita five weeks ago.

“He got a lot out of the Arcadia race,” said Hendricks, whose horse closed well and lost by only three lengths. “I came away from that race saying to myself, ‘A [training] job well done.’ ”

In Saturday’s 16th running of the Murray, bettors virtually ignored Runaway Dancer, who burst ahead in the stretch Saturday for a 1 1/2 -length win in the $350,000 race named after the late Los Angeles Times columnist.

The second-longest price on the tote board, Runaway Dancer paid $37.20 for $2. Two Bobby Frankel-trained horses, Vangelis and Exterior, finished second and third. Frankel has won the Murray six times.

Runaway Dancer’s $210,000 share of the purse was the biggest pot Hendricks’ barn has won since his career was interrupted by a motorcycle accident in July. The 46-year-old trainer is paralyzed from the waist down.

“It kind of makes sense that I would win this race,” Hendricks said. “My mother was a writer briefly, for a newspaper in Encinitas. She won an award for one of the stories she wrote.”

In the winner’s circle, Hendricks’ cellphone rang. On the other end was Richard Mandella, a Hall of Fame trainer who employed Hendricks as an assistant for nine years.

“I’m a little busy, you know,” Hendricks said, kidding Mandella. “Seriously, isn’t it fun when it all works out?”

Runaway Dancer, ridden by Garrett Gomez, had lost eight straight races and was winless since October 2003.

“I didn’t even hit him,” Gomez said. “Dan just told me to take my time, just drop him on the fence and let him do his thing. I’d never been on him and didn’t know much about him. He really accelerated, turning for home. He was running by some horses that were moving pretty good.”

Runaway Dancer was last in a field of eight until Gomez swung him to the outside for the stretch drive. But he still had 5 1/2 lengths to make up in the final eighth of a mile.

“He came back to his old form, and did it the right way,” Gomez said.

The time for 1 1/2 miles on grass was 2:26 3/5 .

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In other stakes at Hollywood, Forest Grove beat the favorite, Areyoutalkintome, by three-quarters of a length to win the $150,000 Los Angeles Times Handicap; and Ace Blue, a Brazilian import running in his first U.S. stake, won a three-horse fight to the wire in the $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap.

“In the paddock, you could tell our horse was ready,” said Marie Jones, who is co-breeder and co-owner of Forest Grove with her husband Aaron. “He has guts, doesn’t he?”

Eoin Harty, who has been training Forest Grove since the horse was transferred from one of the Jones’ New York trainers, Todd Pletcher, said that the Breeders’ Cup Sprint was the long-term objective for the 4-year-old colt. The Joneses have another top sprinter in Forest Danger, winner of the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.

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The only winning pick-six ticket, which cost $192, was worth $1,131,905.60, second-highest in Hollywood Park history. The bet was made in Lincoln, R.I. There was a two-day carry-over of $368,178.54 going into Saturday. Only two of the six winning horses were favored.... Lost In The Fog, another leading sprinter, remained undefeated with a 10-length win against only two rivals in the $150,000 Golden Bear Stakes at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif. The time of 1:07 1/5 for six furlongs broke the track record. Lost In The Fog, ridden by Russell Baze, won for the sixth time. No horse has come within 4 1/4 lengths of the 3-year-old colt, who’s scheduled to run next in the Riva Ridge at Belmont Park on June 11, the same day as the Belmont Stakes.