O’Neill, Pedroza Still Reign

It was business as usual for the training and riding leaders at Fairplex Park in Pomona, where Doug O’Neill and Martin Pedroza retained their stranglehold on the meet titles.

The O’Neill barn didn’t register any wins on Monday, closing day for the 16-day mixed-breed season at the Los Angeles County Fair, but O’Neill’s 13 wins still ranked him first in the standings, which he has led since 2002. O’Neill, who tied with Wesley Ward for the lead in 2003, is the first trainer to be No. 1 at Pomona for four straight years. Ted H. West finished second with nine wins.

Pedroza, despite a three-day suspension late in the meet, won 26 races, which was seven more than the runner-up, Felipe Martinez. Pedroza has been the champion for seven straight years and has a record 457 wins at the fair.

Neither O’Neill nor Pedroza was able to win the last stake of the meet. O’Neill finished sixth with Summer Bay in the $59,700 Bangles and Beads, and Pedroza’s filly, Awesome Lady, ran second, a length behind Tialinga. The winner, trained by Gary Stute and ridden by Omar Figueroa, had finished fourth in all three Fairplex starts over the last two years. She paid $7.20. Stute also trains Awesome Lady.

Betting at Fairplex was a record $113.8 million, which was $4.6 million more than the previous high in 2003. Fairplex ran one less day this year and took Tuesdays off instead of running a non-stop meet.

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Kitten’s Joy, who probably would have given the U.S. its best chance to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 29, has been retired because of cartilage damage to his left knee.

Kitten’s Joy, who had been expected to run in a prep race, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, at Belmont on Saturday, will start stud duty next year. The 4-year-old colt won nine of 14 starts and earned $2 million. Kitten’s Joy, at 7-10, finished second to Better Talk Now in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf. Better Talk Now is headed for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont, where the Irish horse, Powerscourt, is likely to be favored off his win in the Arlington Million.

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Oak Tree facts

* Where: Santa Anita, Arcadia.

* Dates: 31 days, Wednesday through Nov. 6. No racing Mondays or Tuesdays, except Oct. 10.

* First post: Wednesdays and Thursdays, Nov. 4, 1 p.m.; Fridays, except Nov. 4 (2:30 p.m.); Saturdays, Sundays and Oct. 10, 12:30 p.m., except Oct. 29 (9:40 a.m.) and Nov. 6 (11:15 a.m.).

* Graded stakes: Saturday, $500,000 Yellow Ribbon, $500,000 Goodwood Handicap, $200,000 Oak Leaf; Sunday, $250,000 Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship, $250,000 Lady’s Secret Handicap, $200,000 Norfolk; Oct. 8, $250,000 Ancient Title, $250,000 Oak Tree Mile; Oct. 15, $150,000 Oak Tree Derby; Oct. 29, $100,000 Morvich Handicap; Oct. 30, $100,000 Carleton F. Burke Handicap; Nov. 5, $150,000 Las Palmas Handicap.

* Other stakes: Nov. 6, California Cup day (10 races for California-breds, worth $1.35 million).

* Last year’s leaders: Owner, Juddmonte Farms, $373,720; trainer Mike Mitchell, 13 wins; jockey Corey Nakatani, 21 wins.