Hollywood Park: Ellis-Siegel team sends out three contenders

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Led by a promising maiden in Golden Production, owner Samantha Siegel and trainer Ron Ellis have three starters at Betfair Hollywood Park on Thursday, with chances for a multiple win day.

Siegel and Ellis start Revered in the second race, which is for maiden claimers over 6 1/2 furlongs; Temerity in the third race, a $25,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles; and Golden Production in the sixth race, for maidens over six furlongs. Joe Talamo has the mount on all three runners.

The eight-race program does not have an allowance race or optional claimer, a rarity for a weekday program.

Golden Production, a 3-year-old filly by Exchange Rate, was second by 4 3/4 lengths to the highly promising Winding Way in her debut, a maiden race over six furlongs on June 10. Golden Production was 4 1/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher in the field of seven.

“Who knows how good she could be,” Ellis said of Golden Production. “We met a freak in her first race.”

The sixth race drew a field of nine, including the first-time starter Smart and Single. Trained by Bob Baffert for Kaleem Shah, Smart and Single is a 3-year-old filly by Smart Strike out of Leave Me Alone, the winner of the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga in 2005.

Smart and Single, purchased for $400,000 as a yearling, has worked quickly for her debut.

Revered, a 4-year-old filly by Dixie Union, has been “a big disappointment,” Ellis said. The filly is winless in three starts, and makes her first appearance in a maiden claimer. She will wear blinkers for the first time when she breaks from the rail in a field of six.

“We’ll try anything,” Ellis said.

The competition includes Balentina, a 3-year-old filly who was second against maiden claimers in her first two starts.

Temerity starts in the first leg of the pick six and the middle leg of the popular 50-cent pick five.

A 6-year-old gelding, Temerity was fourth in a $32,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles here on June 3, but won his preceding start, an optional claimer over a mile at Golden Gate Fields on April 7.

“Temerity is solid for the price,” Ellis said.

There will be major support in the third race for Jim’s Decision, who on May 10 won a $16,000 claimer for nonwinners of two and will be ridden by leading rider Rafael Bejarano.