Hammersly: Hat trick for Talamo

Sunday, May 25, review

No ordinary Joe

One of the prime beneficiaries of the absence of top West Coast rider Rafael Bejarano is Joe Talamo. There’s no doubt the youngster has talent and is tied into some top barns, but with Joel Rosario having shipped east and Bejarano sidelined by injury, the colony is ripe for the plucking, and Talamo appears best suited to take advantage.

He showed that with a hat trick today. He deftly guided 4-5 favorite Shapely ($3.60) to victory at a mile over maidens in race 4, dueling early, opening up into the lane, and then keeping the hard-trying Live for Now at bay through the final yards.

Twenty minutes later in race 5, he put Taelyns Prince ($10.20) right on the pace, hounding pacesetter Superlooper in a maiden race on the hillside course, doggedly kept after that rival into the lane, finally got the better of him late, and edged clear to win. He made it three straight in race 6, where he had 2-1 favorite Betty Bing Bing stalking the pace in a six-furlong maiden-claiming sprint, surged to a clear lead into the lane, and held sway to the line.

Sky High takes Mizdirection Stakes

Sky High Gal ($12.60) dueled with Biorhythm in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas on this hillside course April 12, got the better of that rival, but couldn’t fend off closers Tribal Spy and Llandudno, finishing third. On Sunday, she showed a bit more patience under Mike Smith, and showed that she doesn’t need the lead to win, as she had the speed to dog Biorhythm from the start through fast splits, moved up to challenge that foe after the dirt crossing, got the better of her, and edged clear to win smartly by 1 1/4 lengths.

Biorhythm stayed on well for second, while Qiaona and Tribal Spy ran third and fourth. Tribal Spy and Llandudno (fifth) had run first and second in the Las Cienegas but couldn’t make the needed headway here. Top Kisser, the 8-5 favorite off a big dirt-stakes win here April 26, her first start in nine months, and with some prior smart turf form, stalked the pace but gave way to finish last. She’s surely capable of better.

As smart as the winner looked for trainer John Sadler, you get the feeling that if you ran this race 10 times, you’d get six different winners.

Tribal Spy lagged back, made a threatening move into the lane, but flattened out. She gets a break now. Trainer Adam Kitchingham said this is a planned break, as he wants to point her for the California-bred races here in the fall.

Some others in here could come back in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine at a mile here June 28. There are no more hillside turf-sprint stakes for the remainder of the meet. The next turf-sprint stakes for distaffers is the Daisycutter at Del Mar on July 31.

While the cats are away …

Big boys Game on Dude and Imperative are waiting for the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita at the end of next month, so others are poised to try to take advantage come Saturday’s Grade 2 Californian, now run here. Majestic Harbor, the winner of the Grade 3 Tokyo City here, worked five furlongs Sunday in 1:00.40 under Tyler Baze for the $200,000 event. “He went very well,” said trainer Sean McCarthy.

Also expected for the Californian are Clubhouse Ride (Talamo), who won the Californian at Hollywood Park last year, and the streaking Fury Kapcori (Corey Nakatani), who captured the Grade 3 Precisionist on May 3 for his fourth win in a row.

M.I.A.

Gary Stevens won’t be here to ride next Saturday, but it’s not because of bad news. He’s slated to be at Penn National to pilot Global View in the Penn Mile (Global View won the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs on May 3) and Famous Alice in the Penn Oaks. Both are trained by Tom Proctor.

Also, jockey Kayla Stra has been suspended five days (May 30-31, June 1, 5-6) for careless riding aboard Tizbudsformenlimo in last Thursday’s fourth race. Tyler Baze has been suspended three days (May 31, June 1, 5) for interference aboard Tuff Storm in Saturday’s ninth race, while Tiago Pereira has been hit with a three-day ban (May 31, June 1, 5) for his ride on Kulaluka in Saturday’s fifth, where he changed lanes without sufficient clearance.

Horse to watch

Live for Now
Trainer: Eoin Harty
Last race: May 24, 4th
Finish: 2nd by 3/4
This $260,000 daughter of Horse of the Year Tiznow was a sharp second at Golden Gate Fields on March 15, her best race, was then freshened, and came back here to run fourth in a race similar to this May 1. She took a nice step forward here, as she stalked the pace in fourth, doggedly made a run at clear leader (and eventual winner) Shapely into the lane, and kept to her task well to be a solid second. She may be ready to turn the corner.