Academy Spy slight edge in anyone's race

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Every horse running at Hollywood Park on Thursday is either entered for a claiming price or has yet to win.

On the eight-race program, seven races are for claimers, including a sprint for maiden claimers. The third race of the day is a maiden special weight over 1 1/16 miles on turf. An allowance race on dirt for fillies and mares was offered when entries were drawn on Monday, but the race failed to attract a sufficient number of horses.

As a result, the feature race is the seventh, run over 1 1/16 miles on turf for $70,000 to $80,000 claimers.

The race has drawn five entrants, including Wixoe Express, the upset winner of the Tanforan Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in February; and Savage, a stakes winner in Brazil in 2002. Academy Spy, Anzari, and Dark Sorcerer also will start.

Run for a purse of $49,000, it is a feature in which any of the starters can win.

, the likely favorite, won his last start against $62,500 claimers over 1 1/16 miles on turf on June 12, the only member of the field coming off a win. The race marked Academy Spy's first start since he was claimed for that amount by trainer Jeff Mullins on May 2.

Anzari is winless in 11 starts since arriving from Ireland in late 2000. Trained by John Shirreffs, Anzari, 7, finished second in an optional claimer over a mile on turf on

April 21 on the opening day of the meeting. He returned to finish fifth in an allowance race on May 19.

Thursday's race was Anzari's first appearance for a claiming price.

was second in a $50,000 claimer over a mile on turf on May 23. Trained by Carla Gaines, Dark Sorcerer is winless in three starts since returning from a 13-month layoff in March. As a 3-year-old in 2002, Dark Sorcerer finished third in the Grade 3 Baldwin Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.

Savage may inherit the lead, a style that worked in a front-running win in an optional claimer over a mile on soft turf at Golden Gate Fields in January. Trained by Paulo Lobo, Savage was sixth behind Academy Spy on June 12 but was stuck in traffic in early stretch, losing all chance.

Wixoe Express has tailed off since his win in the Tanforan Handicap over 1 1/16 miles on turf. He is without a victory in three subsequent starts, including a third in an allowance race here on May 19.