Solis Is a Big Winner at Hollywood Park

Although he almost certainly would have traded the victories for one a week earlier with Brother Derek in the Kentucky Derby, jockey Alex Solis swept all three graded stakes on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

The future hall of fame rider did the expected by winning the $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy with Surf Cat and the $250,000 Jim Murray Memorial Handicap with Grey Swallow, then pulled a 5-1 surprise with Siren Lure in the $100,000 Los Angeles Handicap.

The 3-5 favorite in the Murray, Grey Swallow did exactly what trainer Dermot Weld thought he would do in his first start as a 5-year-old.

Specifically, win big. In a Grade II weakened by the Friday scratch of 122-pound highweight King’s Drama, Grey Swallow toyed with his four opponents, winning by five lengths while completing the 1 1/2 miles on turf in 2:27.33.

Owned by a group that includes Mrs. C.L. Weld, the trainer’s mother, and Alain Vetterli, the Daylami horse made a successful U.S. debut and will try to win a bigger prize next month in New York. The next destination for Grey Swallow, who has won six of 13, is the $400,000 Manhattan Handicap, a Grade I, on June 10 at Belmont Park.

Ridden for the first time by Solis, Grey Swallow, whose biggest wins came in the 2004 Irish Derby and last year’s Tattersalls Gold Cup, tracked the dawdling pace set by longshot Brecon Beacon for most of the trip, then took charge in the stretch.

Weld, who has had success in the past shipping horses to Hollywood Park, winning races such as the Matriarch and American Oaks, praised the new turf course.

“It’s a super, safe fast track,” he said. “I’ve always thought Arlington Park has the best turf course in America, but I think they’ve got a rival here now. He’s a very good horse and a lovely one to train. The Manhattan is the next port of call.”

Brecon Beacon, the 7-1 fourth choice, finished second, one length in front of defending champion Runaway Dancer. Golden Rahy and One Off completed the order of finish.

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Those who took 1-5 on Surf Cat in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap might have had an anxious moment or two in the early portion of the Grade II.

The 4-year-old broke last in the field of five and was trailing on the far turn, but Solis was never worried.

When requested by Solis, Surf Cat took a little while to get going, but once he did, the LeRoy was over.

In winning his fourth in a row and seventh in 11 starts, Surf Cat was dominant in the final quarter of a mile, scoring by 3 1/2 lengths over 4-1 second choice Spellbinder. It was the third victory in four starts at Hollywood Park for the colt, who is owned by Marsha Naify and trainer Bruce Headley’s wife Aase, and he ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.65, only about three-fifths of a second off the track record set by Power Forward in 1987.

“I just sat back and waited,” Solis said. “It took him about 50 or 100 yards for him to get going after I asked him, but, by the five-sixteenths [pole] he was flying. He won handily.

“Around the turn he felt like a train going down a hill. He’s very powerful, just a great horse. He’s way better this year than he was as a 3-year-old.”

If Surf Cat stays healthy, Headley indicated he’ll return in the $250,000 Californian on June 17, then the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 8.

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The Kentucky Derby may have escaped trainer Bob Baffert this year, but the $300,000 Lone Star Derby did not.

Wanna Runner, the 1-2 favorite, coasted to an easy victory over five outclassed opponents in the Grade III.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza for owner Mike Pegram, the 3-year-old El Corredor gelding won for the fourth time in eight starts and ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.71. Wait in Line finished second and Admiral’s Arch was third.

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In other stakes around the country, 19-1 longshot More Than Pretty rallied from off the pace to win the $100,000 Open Mind at Churchill Downs and favored Tiger rolled past four rivals in the $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park.

Owned by Susan and John Moore and trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Tiger, a 5-year-old Storm Boot gelding, won for the fourth time in eight tries, running the six furlongs under Eibar Coa in 1:08.49.

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Neither Point Determined, ninth in the Kentucky Derby after finishing second in the Santa Anita Derby, nor Bob And John, 17th in the Derby after winning the Wood Memorial, will run in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, Baffert told Pimlico Race Course officials.

Staff writer Robyn Norwood contributed to this report.