Hollywood Park: Patience key for Gervinho in Hollywood Derby

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A little patience from jockey Rafael Bejarano may put Gervinho in the winner’s circle of Sunday’s $250,000 Hollywood Derby at Betfair Hollywood Park.

On Nov. 1, Gervinho finished third in the $150,000 Twilight Derby over 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita. He was third on the backstretch, raced within a length of the lead in the stretch, and was beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Rookie Sensation.

“I was hoping for better,” trainer Carla Gaines said. “He had to sustain a long run. He was asking him at the three-eighths pole. This time, we’ll wait.”

This time, the distance is longer. The Grade 1 Hollywood Derby will be the first start at 1 1/4 miles on turf for Gervinho, who has won 3 of 7 starts and earned $287,140, all for Santa Anita chief executive Keith Brackpool.

Gaines and Brackpool debated whether to run Gervinho in the $100,000 On Trust Handicap for California-breds over 7 1/2 furlongs last weekend or the more lucrative Hollywood Derby.

“I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while,” Gaines said.

A successful race Sunday could lead to a start in the $200,000 Sir Beaufort Stakes over a mile on turf for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, the opening day of that track’s winter-spring meeting. Gervinho won a division of the Oceanside Stakes over a mile at Del Mar in July, which makes the Hollywood Derby trip more of a test, Gaines said.

“I think a mile or a mile and a sixteenth in his best lick,” Gaines said.

The Hollywood Derby will have a strong field, including Admiral Kitten, winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park in August; Jack Milton, who was third in the Secretariat and third in the Grade 1 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park in October; and Twilight Derby winner Rookie Sensation.

The Hollywood Derby is part of a 10-race program that includes the $250,000 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile on turf.

The Matriarch will have an excellent field led by Better Lucky and Tiz Flirtatious, who were first and second in the 2012 running; Egg Drop, winner of the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 3; and the 3-year-old Discreet Marq, who won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August.

Better Lucky and Tiz Flirtatious are Grade 1 winners this year. Better Lucky won the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 5. Tiz Flirtatious won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28 and was sixth, beaten two lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf there Nov. 2.

Troeger now stall super

Trainer Robert Troeger disbanded his stable earlier this month to become the stable superintendent at Santa Anita. As stable superintendent, Troeger, 56, replaces former trainer Donn Luby, who has retired, Troeger said.

Troeger, who worked as an assistant trainer to Mike Machowsky and Jeff Mullins in the early 2000s before launching his own stable, won 61 races. He won the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at Del Mar in 2010 with Gato Go Win, who was second in two Grade 2 races that year – the Potrero Grande Handicap at Santa Anita and Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Troeger had as many as 20 horses in his stable, but said Wednesday that his stable had dwindled to three horses this fall when he sought a career change.

“My stable was okay, but it was hard to compete out here,” he said. “This opening came up. Donn told me he was retiring and thought I should apply for it. It’s given me more time to spend with my family.”