Fairplex: Going for a Spin, coming off restricted stakes win, tries open company in Las Madrinas

POMONA, Calif. – The filly Going for a Spin and the gelding Explain will not object if the Los Angeles County Fair meet ends the same way it began – with a stakes win at Fairplex Park.

Just 14 days after a workmanlike victory opening weekend in the E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares, Going for a Spin meets open company Saturday in the $50,000 Las Madrinas Handicap.

The turnaround is shorter for Explain, upset winner 13 days ago of the Jim Kostoff Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. Saturday, Explain will stretch to 1 1/16 miles for the $50,000 Pomona Derby on the final weekend of the meet. Closing day is Sunday.

Going for a Spin is second choice behind 5-2 program favorite Hard to Resist in the Las Madrinas, a 1 1/16-mile route for fillies and mares that is race 11. Explain is second choice behind 5-2 favorite Northern Iowa in the Pomona Derby, race 6.

Jerry Hollendorfer trains Going for a Spin, a 5-for-23 veteran for whom it is difficult to find suitable races. Is the turnaround an issue? Assistant trainer Dan Ward shakes his head no.

“It’s so hard to get her in a race, she’s usually coming off a layoff,” Ward said.

Good point. Fillies and mares in California, after winning a second-level allowance, can drop into claiming or move up into stakes.

Going for a Spin did both. She dropped in for a $40,000 price in January and was claimed. Four months later in May, Hollendorfer and owner-breeder Tommy Town Thoroughbreds claimed her back for the same price.

Going for a Spin finished a troubled fifth in her July 29 comeback in a $55,000 stakes at Santa Rosa and put it all together Sept. 8 at Fairplex. She won the E.B. Johnston by one length, an effort that, if repeated, might be enough for her and jockey Martin Pedroza to win again. But the Las Madrinas field is bigger and deeper than the field she just beat.

Hard to Resist is the 122-pound topweight for her first start since July for trainer Pete Eurton and jockey David Flores. Hard to Resist, who is 3 for 12, has raced exclusively on synthetic and turf since early 2011. If she reproduces her turf form switching to dirt, she can win.

Other contenders include Kayce Ace, Ricspretentiousgal, and Glowing Spirit.

In the Pomona Derby for 3-year-olds, Kostoff winner Explain meets lightly raced Northern Iowa. Explain won the Kostoff first off the claim by Robertino Diodoro, but is wheeling back in 13 days and is unproven beyond a sprint.

Northern Iowa is a worthy favorite in just his fifth start. Vladimir Cerin trains the colt for owners David and Holly Wilson. He won a special-weight route at Del Mar, followed by a fifth-place finish against older allowance company.

“He ran like a green horse. He wasn’t quite sure what to do,” Cerin said. “He got outrun down the lane, but those were older horses. It was a good learning experience for him.”

Cerin said Northern Iowa “is training better now than he was before that race,” and he expects a top effort under jockey Edwin Maldonado.

Other starters include Huntsville and likely pacesetter Tiz Point.