Hollywood Park: Recent claim Scherer Magic tops Sadler exacta in Juvenile Championship

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Scherer Magic, a $50,000 claim, wins the Hollywood Juvenile Championship under Joe Talamo.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It took exactly one month, and already Gary and Cecil Barber are out on Scherer Magic. Claimed for $50,000 out of a winning debut against maiden claimers on June 14, Scherer Magic came back on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park and captured the Grade 3, $150,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship, in which trainer John Sadler send out the top two finishers.

Carson’s Crown, Sadler’s other runner, rallied for second, 2 1/2 lengths behind Scherer Magic ($8.20), who completed six furlongs on Cushion Track in 1:11.67 under jockey Joe Talamo. Just Call Me All was another 1 3/4 lengths back in third.

Amarish, the 2-5 favorite following two runaway victories earlier in the meet, faded to sixth in the field of seven after being pressured through early fractions of 21.81 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.70 for a half-mile under jockey Edwin Maldonado.

“He said he was going easy on the backside,” trainer Jeff Bonde reported after talking to Maldonado, “but at the quarter pole, he took a couple of deep breaths and shut it down.”

There was $61,079 out of a total pool of $79,704 bet to show on Amarish, leading to outsized show payoffs of $7 on Scherer Magic, $14.40 on Carson’s Crown, and $25 on Just Call Me Al.

Scherer Magic, a gelding by Doneraile Court, romped by 7 1/4 lengths at 6-5 in his debut. Sadler and the Barbers had to win a post-race shake to take him home. He earned $90,000 Saturday.

“We liked the works on him, liked the way he looked,” Sadler said of the reason for daring to claim him. “We thought he was racy looking, I had had another Doneraile Court I did well with, Noble Court. But we had to get lucky and win the shake.

“The other horse ran well, too,” Sadler added. “This was a good race for us.”

Scherer Magic will be part of Sadler’s team at Del Mar, which opens Wednesday.