Gomez picks up win, Baze title

Garrett Gomez won his 69th stakes race of the year, one shy of the record Jerry Bailey set in 2003, Tyler Baze wrapped up the riding title and Nashoba’s Key was selected horse of the meet as Oak Tree at Santa Anita came to a conclusion Sunday.

Gomez rode Naissance Royale to a victory in the Grade II Las Palmas Handicap in a slight upset over 8-5 favorite Black Mamba, who was ridden by Baze.

Naissance Royale, racing four wide into the stretch, took the lead in midstretch. Black Samba was fanned five wide into the stretch and finished strongly to get second, 3 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

Meribel, with Corey Nakatani aboard, finished a close third.

Naissance Royale and Meribel are trained by Christopher Clement, who was in Florida on Sunday.

Assistant trainer Jane Turner said both horses will stay in Southern California and probably run at the Hollywood Park autumn meet, which opens Wednesday.

Baze, who won Sunday’s second race with Powerofvoodoo, finished the 31-day meet with 29 wins, four more than runner-up Victor Espinoza. It was Baze’s second riding title. The other came at the spring-summer meet at Hollywood Park in 2004, when Baze, who just turned 25, was only 21.

Nashoba’s Key won the horse of the meet on the strength of a victory in the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, the 4-year-old filly’s seventh consecutive victory without a defeat. The Yellow Ribbon drew a meet-high 26,907 fans to Santa Anita on Sept. 29.

The first loss for Nashoba’s Key came in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27. Nashoba’s Key finished fourth in that race.

Cal Cup Day on Saturday attracted a crowd of 25,763, and the total handle of $16,8523,200 was up more than $2.1 million from last year.

Although average daily on-track attendance at this year’s meet was down 8% from a year ago, off-track attendance was up slightly, out-of-state daily handle was up 18%, and Southern California handle was up 5%.

Oak Tree, which will play host to next year’s Breeders’ Cup, saw a benefit of the new $10-million synthetic Cushion Track with bigger fields. There were an average of 8.9 horses per race, up from 8.2 last year.

Sherwood Chillingworth, Oak Tree executive vice president and director, said, “The track was safe, it played fair and the racing was exciting. Speed horses could win and so could closers, and that’s what our fans want.

“As far as our horse inventory is concerned, we want to acknowledge the role Del Mar, Hollywood Park and Fairplex played in the success we enjoyed here. The synthetic tracks at Hollywood and Del Mar and the natural surface at Fairplex all served to enable us to have the best inventory we’ve had in many years.”

Trainer Paul Jones, who celebrated his 42nd birthday with five victories Friday night at Los Alamitos, including a 19-1 surprise with Eye For Corona in the $1,202,700 Golden State Million Futurity, had five more wins Saturday during the Bank of America Challenge Championships program.

Jones won three of the four Grade I’s, including the $300,000 Challenge Championship with favored Strawkins.

The victory by the 4-year-old Hawkinson gelding, his 12th in 21 starts for owner-breeders Don and Peggy Boyle, earned him a spot in next month’s $1-million Champion of Champions.

The other Grade I victories for the Jones barn were provided by Snowbound Superstar, who won his 10th consecutive start at 870 yards in the $100,000 Red Cell Distance Challenge, and Blazin Fire, who beat out What A Performance in the $100,000 John Deere Distaff Challenge.

Times staff writer Bob Mieszerski contributed to this report.

larry.stewart@latimes.com