Hollywood Park handicapping roundup: Week of Dec. 7

Two more Galileo shooting stars?

Marketing Mix and Banned were top turf horses for Glen Hill Farm in 2011, but facing Grade 1 competition for the first time, neither could match European imports sired by world-class stallion Galileo.

Marketing Mix was outrun by Together in the Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland; Banned was defeated by Treasure Beach in the Secretariat at Arlington. Trainer Tom Proctor and Glen Hill president Craig Bernick pondered the losses by Marketing Mix and Banned.

“The best horses we had, and we got tow-roped by those Galileos,” Proctor recalled. “I told Craig – we need to get one or two [runners by Galileo].”

The next year, Glen Hill purchased a $500,000 yearling colt by Galileo at a Kentucky sale, and in winter 2013 at a European sale acquired a 4-year-old filly by Galileo for approximately $250,000.

The yearling, now a 2-year-old named Global View, is on his way to becoming a top turf horse in 2014. In his third career start Nov. 30 at Hollywood, Global View scored a convincing victory in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes. He is 2 for 2 on grass and looks every bit a classy prospect for the big 3-year-old grass races of next year.

Though a dirt derby might tempt, Proctor said there is little chance Global View will experiment.

“Galileo has had [more than 150] stakes winners, and none have won on dirt,” Proctor said, adding that Global View “might be a little special on the grass.”

He would be another in a long line of Galileo-sired stars including Frankel, Cape Blanco, Red Rocks, and Magician. Global View will winter in Florida, and target a spring return in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland.

As for the Galileo filly, Gulsary was scheduled for her third U.S. start in an allowance race on Thursday at Hollywood. Stay tuned.

Talent vs. experience

The Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet on Saturday is weak. Rosalind could start favored based on a closing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. But her rally was partly an optical illusion – the final five-sixteenths was a glacial 33.32 seconds.

Other Starlet contenders are marginal, including the filly with the highest Beyer Speed Figure and least seasoning, Taste Like Candy, who will try to win the 1 1/16-mile Starlet in just her second career start.

Taste Like Candy earned an 85 Beyer in her debut, a romping win at 5 1/2 furlongs on Oct. 20. The plan was to return Nov. 9 in the seven-furlong Moccasin Stakes before stretching out for the Starlet. But she missed the Moccasin.

“She had a little foot problem, and we didn’t want to chance running her,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.

Instead, he trained her to the Starlet knowing he would surrender seasoning and two-turn experience.

“It’s not an ideal thing to do,” Hollendorfer admitted. But he added, “In her workouts, no matter how far, she’s always kept going. We think she wants distance, anyway.”

The Starlet has been run 32 times and never has been won by a second-time starter. Two recent Starlet winners made a successful jump from maiden wins – I Believe in You (2000) and Elloluv (2002). Nine of the last 20 Starlet winners were exiting a Breeders’ Cup race.

Despite her inexperience, Taste Like Candy looks, trains and runs like she could be special. If so, she can overcome her inexperience and win the Starlet.

Early Futurity odds

Hollendorfer will hold a stronger hand Dec. 14 in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity with Shared Belief and Tamarando. Shared Belief will make his first start around two turns after a smashing win in the Grade 3 seven-furlong Hollywood Prevue. Tamarando will move up in class after winning the ungraded Real Quiet Stakes around two turns.

As of Dec. 4, eight were possible for the CashCall including East Coast returnee We Miss Artie, recent maiden winner Candy Boy, and European import Craftsman.