Lost In The Fog Tries to Build a New Streak

For one of the few times in his career, Lost In The Fog will be making a second appearance at a track.

The well-traveled 4-year-old, who is the defending Eclipse Award champion as the country’s top sprinter, will make a return visit to Calder today when he faces 11 others in the $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap.

A Grade II stakes race at six furlongs, the Smile is part of Calder’s annual $2-million Summit of Speed. Won a year ago by the Bob Baffert-trained Woke Up Dreamin, the Smile is also the final leg of a $500,000 guaranteed pick five.

Owned by Harry Aleo and trained by Greg Gilchrist, Lost In The Fog was in last year’s Summit of Speed. The Florida-bred won the Carry Back by 7 1/4 lengths as the 1-20 favorite. The win was his eighth in a row, a streak that reached 10 before he suffered his first loss in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Belmont Park.

Lost In The Fog lost a second consecutive race when he made his first start of 2006 in the Golden Gate Sprint on April 22. He finished three lengths behind Carthage, putting him at a crossroads when he arrived at Churchill Downs for the Aristides Breeders’ Cup Handicap on June 3.

The 1-2 favorite under regular rider Russell Baze, Lost In The Fog responded with a 1 1/4 -length win. Had he lost again, there was a chance he could have been retired.

“If you start putting losses together, it certainly is not helping his stallion potential at all,” Gilchrist said. “I definitely felt we had to win that one because if you get beat there again, then you have to look up the road. If you get beat again, now you have four or five losses and it just goes on and on from there.”

Since beating Kelly’s Landing, who is in the Smile field, and four others in Kentucky, Lost In The Fog has been training well at Golden Gate, turning in a best-of-the-morning five furlongs in 59 2/5 nine days ago.

“I probably didn’t have him completely ready for his first race this year,” Gilchrist said. “So far, he’s shipped well for this race and he’s trained well.”

The main challengers are Gaff; Friendly Island; Pomeroy, making his first start since the Vosburgh on Oct. 1 and first for trainer Marty Wolfson; and Calder specialists Mister Fotis, B.B. Best, Nightmare Affair and Weigelia. Those four are a combined 22 for 54 over the Calder main track.

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The other Summit of Speed races in the pick five are the $300,000 Azalea Breeders’ Cup for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs, the $100,000 Calder Turf Sprint Handicap at five furlongs, the $300,000 Carry Back for 3-year-olds at six furlongs and the $500,000 Princess Rooney, a Grade I race for older fillies and mares at six furlongs.

Dubai Escapade, a 4-year-old daughter of Awesome Again, is expected to be a prohibitive favorite in the Princess Rooney. She has won her first four starts in the U.S. by a combined 19 1/4 lengths for owner Darley Stable and trainer Eoin Harty. She will break from the outside in the field of seven under Edgar Prado.

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Kip Deville, who ran off to a lengthy lead before settling for second in the Colonial Turf Cup last month, will have a new rider when he takes on 10 opponents today in the $1-million Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va.

Rafael Bejarano will replace Quincy Hamilton on the 3-year-old Kipling colt, who opened up about 17 lengths at one point in the 1 3/16 -mile Turf Cup, before being reeled in by Showing Up in the final eighth of a mile. Other contenders in the Grade II race include Spider Power, Go Between and Proudinsky, who will be ridden by Victor Espinoza. Steppenwolfer, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, was scratched on Friday because of illness.

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The other derby today is the $350,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio. The field includes High Cotton, who won the Northern Dancer Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs; Deputy Glitters; Flashy Bull; and Sacred Light, who will be ridden by Aaron Gryder.

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The Jockeys’ Guild and former NBA agent Dwight Manley have not yet signed a contract for Manley to serve as national manager after he was elected to the position June 26, Manley and members of the guild’s board of directors said.

Manley proposed working without a salary and lending the organization at least $500,000 in exchange for a percentage of profits. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson would serve as an unpaid senior advisor.

“We’re just trying to do this right,” said jockey Alex Solis, a member of the guild’s board of directors. “He’s trying to be fair to us, and we’re trying to be fair to him. We have to look after our guys after what happened.”

The Jockeys’ Guild is emerging from near-bankruptcy after former president L. Wayne Gertmenian was fired last year amid an insurance scandal and allegations of financial improprieties.

“Gertmenian was a big mess, where nobody looked into it,” Solis said. “We’re going to take our time.”

Times staff writer Robyn Norwood contributed to this report.