Prospect Park to Make His U.S. Debut Today
A five-time winner in Europe, Prospect Park will make his U.S. debut in the seventh race today at Santa Anita.
Owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer and trained by Richard Mandella, the 5-year-old horse will race on Lasix for the first time as he takes on eight other older horses in a $71,000 allowance at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
Having already earned more than $542,000 and coming in worse than third only three times in his career, Prospect Park will be ridden by Victor Espinoza. The Sadler’s Wells horse won a Group III on Sept. 24 at Maisons-Laffite in France, then was 11th in the Champion Stakes, a Group I, on Oct. 15 at Newmarket in England. The winner of the Champion was David Junior, who won the $5-million Dubai Duty Free last Saturday in the United Arab Emirates -- beating, among others, Mandella-trained The Tin Man.
The allowance also marks the return of 9-year-old Sarafan. A gelded son of Lear Fan, Sarafan hasn’t started since he was pulled up and vanned off the track in the Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 28. Garrett Gomez will ride the 10-time winner.
From the inside out, the rest of the field is Sleepless Joy, Toasted, Hendrix, Buckland Manor, Sam Forli, Clipperdown and Alexandersrun.
Race of the day: Bundoran, who beat maidens by five lengths at 9-1 in his debut on Jan. 22, will try for a repeat as he takes on eight others in the seventh race at Golden Gate Fields. Francisco Duran will ride the 3-year-old Twining colt in the $20,000 starter allowance at six furlongs.
One for the road: Mostvaluableplayer makes his debut in a soft spot and can win at first asking in the sixth race today at Aqueduct. The 3-year-old Distinctive Pro gelding will be ridden by Mike Luzzi in the $41,000 contest for New York-bred maidens at six furlongs. Mostvaluableplayer is out of the productive broodmare Meet the Best.
Exotically speaking: A pick three using The Dempsey Look in the second, Witness This, Run To The Border and Kingdom Come in the third and Crowned Femme and Portuguese Woman in the fourth.
Winners: (previous day/meet total): 3/199. Money: (previous day/meet total): $12/$1,154.80. Total money bet: $1,170.