Laragh wins Hollywood Starlet

Laragh led all the way in winning the $438,500 Hollywood Starlet at Hollywood Park by one length over Wynning Ride on Saturday.

Laragh, the 17-10 favorite ridden by Edgar Prado, covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.96 and paid $5.40, $3.80 and $3.40. The win was the third in six lifetime starts for Laragh, who was coming off a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. It was worth $263,100, raising the career earnings of the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit to $509,465.

Wynning Ride, ridden by Joe Talamo, returned $8.40 and $4.80. Her stablemate, Toro Bonito, ridden by David Flores, paid $6.20 to show.

“I was the speed of the race and got to go nice and easy,” Prado said. “The first quarter was very comfortable, and I guess they didn’t want me going any slower than that, so they went after me early. My filly got a little strong, so instead of fighting her, I let her run along.

“My filly’s still in the process of learning. Once she learns to relax without fighting, she’s going to be even better.”

Trainer John Terranova II said the main goal in looking ahead for Laragh was the Kentucky Oaks in May.

“She’s a real classy, talented filly, and I think over time and natural maturity, she’ll be able to relax a little bit,” Terranova said.

“Right now, she’s going to get a nice break.”

“We all wanted to win, but we feel they’re improving,” said Bob Baffert, trainer of the second- and third-place finishers. “They ran well, but we got beat by a nice filly.”