At 39, Berrio reaches personal milestone

An upset win in the $107,300 Hawthorne Handicap on Sunday at Hollywood Park was a long time coming for jockey Omar Berrio.

A rider who seldom gets opportunities in graded stakes, Berrio, 39, picked up his first stakes victory in Inglewood as he directed River Savage, a 9-1 shot, to a two-length victory in the Grade III race. Berrio, a native of Panama who has been riding in California since 1990, last won a graded stakes with Blade Prospector, who took the Grade III Berkeley Handicap at Bay Meadows in 2001.

Dropping out of three Grade I races in a row, River Savage, a Brazilian-bred owned by Monte Pyle and Shawn Turner’s L-Bo Racing and trained by A.C. Avila, tracked the pace for most of the trip, took the lead into the stretch and went on to her sixth lifetime win. She ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.08 in her first start over the Cushion track.

“This mare had been training super,” said Berrio, whose first win at Hollywood Park came aboard Patzcuaro on April 28, 1990. “I was a little scared about the Cushion, but she ran beautiful.

“It feels real good to win a stakes. I feel like a million dollars.”

This was the second victory of the year for River Savage. She had taken the Paseana at Santa Anita before finishing sixth in the Santa Maria, third in the Santa Margarita and sixth in the Apple Blossom Handicap on April 7 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

“She surprised me a lot,” said Avila, who was saddling his first stakes winner at Hollywood Park. “The last eighth of a mile in her last work [on April 29] was very slow. I think I’m going to give her a short break now and regroup.”

Cantabria, the 13-10 favorite who had won her only other start over the Cushion track by 4 1/4 lengths in her U.S. debut on Dec. 6, finished one length clear of 9-2 shot Ballado’s Thunder.

They were followed by Pyramid Love, Seafree, the 3-1 second choice, and Maxxi Arte.

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Hollywood Park handled a record $27.7 million Saturday on the Kentucky Derby program, surpassing the mark of $26.7 million set last year. The handle was the second highest at the track, surpassed by the $67,096,242 set when the track was host to the Breeders’ Cup in 1997.

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Corey Nakatani, who was supposed to ride Ballado’s Thunder in the Hawthorne, didn’t because of a sore hand he injured on Saturday at Churchill Downs. David Flores was also off his mounts on Sunday in Inglewood after missing a connecting flight from Kentucky, where he had ridden Liquidity in the Derby.

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Talking Treasure, part of an entry that was the 9-5 favorite, won the $115,200 Bouwerie by two lengths at Belmont Park. John Velazquez rode the 3-year-old Catienus filly to her third win in five starts. The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:24.05.

bob.mieszerski@latimes.com