Hollywood Park: Schiaparelli succeeds stretching out in Royal Heroine

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Already proven in turf sprints, Schiaparelli showed on Saturday that she can stretch her speed to a mile with a victory in the $150,000 Royal Heroine Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, who collected his third consecutive win on the program, Schiaparelli ($4.20) led throughout the Grade 2 Royal Heroine, holding off a sustained threat from Egg Drop to win by a half-length. Schiaparelli led by as much as a length on the backstretch, through early fractions of 23.73 and 46.74 seconds, and had an advantage of 1 1/2 lengths with a furlong remaining. She was timed in 1:34.11.

“My filly was traveling really well,” Talamo said. “She was doing it within herself.”

Before Saturday’s race, trainer Mike Puype expressed reservations about Schiaparelli’s ability at a mile, an issue that was dismissed after the Royal Heroine.

“She did was she was supposed to do in a legit pace,” Puype said. “She’s a Grade 2 winner now.”

My Gi Gi finished third, followed by I Dazzle and Stormy Lucy. The race was not without incident. Stormy Lucy stumbled on the turn, briefly losing her action, when racing in third behind Schiaparelli and Egg Drop. Jockey Martin Pedroza told trainer Frank Lucarelli that Stormy Luck “hit something” on the turn.

“She looked all right” after the race, Lucarelli said. “Hopefully, she’ll be okay.”

The stewards inquired into the incident, but ruled that Stormy Lucy caused her own difficulty and did not change the order of finish.

The Royal Heroine Stakes was Schiaparelli’s first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. A 5-year-old mare by Ghostzapper, Schiaparelli was second to stablemate Mizdirection in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes on the hillside turf course in April and won the Great Lady M Stakes over six furlongs on turf here on May 26.

Owned by Ran Jan Racing, Schiaparelli has won 5 of 9 starts and $274,184. Schiaparelli is out of Cambiocorsa, who won five turf stakes in Southern California in 2006.