Hollywood Park handicapping roundup: Week of Dec. 14

Bejarano’s lead precarious

While Rafael Bejarano currently sits atop the rider standings, that position figures tenuous at best as he sat out a three-day suspension that ended Friday. The penalty was for his ride on Battled in the seventh race Dec. 1. Battled finished first in that maiden race but was disqualified and placed second for drifting out in the stretch. Fortunately, the incident didn’t affect trainer Bob Baffert. While Baffert trains Battled, he also trains Secretsatmidnight, the victim of the incident who was awarded the win.

Bejarano’s good work during the week, however, (five wins) helped pad his lead as he ended the segment with 27 wins. Martin Garcia at 23 and Joe Talamo at 22 are his closest pursuers.

Among trainers, Baffert had another strong week, his four wins pushing his meet-leading total to 15. Peter Miller (three wins) moved into second with 11 victories, followed by John Sadler (10), and Jerry Hollendorfer and Doug O’Neill (nine apiece).

Cranking up for a return

Eblouissante may not be that accomplished yet, but she’s certainly well known due to her family line – she’s kin to Horse of the Year and local legend Zenyatta. After being so impressive in two races in Southern California last fall/winter, Eblouissante had a setback and missed the late winter/spring.

She shipped east but things didn’t go so well. Eblouissante hasn’t run since she threw a fit in the gate in the Grade 1 Shuvee Handicap at Saratoga on July 20, ending up no factor as a well-beaten sixth She broke a few teeth in the incident in the gate and came out of the race body sore, so trainer John Shirreffs opted to give her time to regroup. He brought her back to Southern California, and she is back on the work tab. Most recently, she worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 here Monday. Shirreffs is not sure when and where she may reappear.

Taking Inventory

Tiz Flirtatious left herself with too much to do in the Grade 1 Matriarch here Dec. 1 but finished well to be fifth, beaten just a length, that on the heels of finishing a close-up sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

“Her last two races were disappointing,” trainer Marty Jones said. “But she’s a special horse. We’ll give her some time off and then see about next year.”

Suggestive Boy, Ron McAnally’s top-class South American import who won the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile earlier this year and looked poised to compete with Obviously as the West’s top turf miler before being sidelined with a splint fracture, is back on the work tab. The 5-year-old Suggestive Boy has been working sharply here in recent weeks as he gets back into racing shape. McAnally was originally targeting another shot at the Grade 1 BC Mile, a race in which Suggestive Boy ran seventh in 2012 behind eventual Horse of the Year Wise Dan, but hit a few snags. He was next targeting the Grade 2 Citation here Nov. 29 but had to miss that as well, so he’s now pointing to return this winter at Santa Anita.

The horse he nipped in the Kilroe Mile, Silentio, recent game winner of the Grade 2 Citation Handicap here Thanksgiving week, will reportedly target another run at the Kilroe Mile as well for trainer Gary Mandella. He’s the real deal when you note his Kilroe run, his Citation win, and his fine third in the BC Mile to repeat winner Wise Dan on Nov. 2.

Doug O’Neill’s crack duo of Private Zone and Goldencents represented the best of times and worst of times for the trainer in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 30. Private Zone set the pace and finished a game second to Flat Out. O’Neill said the horse came out of the race well and will target the same early season races in 2014 as he did this year: the Grade 2 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita on Feb. 2 and the Group 1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai on March 29. This year, he ran second in the Palos Verdes and was ninth in the Golden Shaheen.

Goldencents, meanwhile, got bumped hard at the start, but after pressing the pace, the Grade 1 BC Dirt Mile winner gave way, fading to seventh. The 3-year-old Goldencents may get a vacation now and point to a spring return.