Jones will have major presence on undercard

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Marty Jones will have a busy afternoon at Hollywood Park on Sunday.

On the 10-race California Gold Rush program, Jones has six starters in five races, three in stakes and three in maiden and allowance races that have been given higher-than-normal purses for the card, dedicated to California-breds.

Those lesser races will provide Jones with his best chance for success.

Even though the races are restricted to maidens or first-level allowance horses, participants pay entry fees. All four races are sprints, and two are in the pick six, which covers the fifth through 10th races and features a guaranteed pool of $1 million.

The first such race of the day is the second race, the $60,000 Magali Farms Stakes for maiden fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs. The field includes Harbor's Halo, who was promoted to second in the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar last summer. Harbor's Halo was third, but moved up when a rival was disqualified.

The favorite will be Tutta Bella, a 3-year-old Holy Bull filly who finished second by a nose in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on March 29.

Jones's first starters of the day are in the $60,000 Pepper Oaks Farm Stakes, run at 6 1/2 furlongs for maiden colts and geldings. The race has drawn an oversubscribed field of 15 and will be limited to 14 starters.

Jones runs the first-time starters Freedom Event and Tizmet, who are drawn alongside each other in posts 12 and 13. "They both drew well," Jones said.

Jones does not win frequently with first-time starters, but occasionally wins with a longshot.

Other contenders are Sea Battle, who was second and third in two starts at Santa Anita at Santa Anita; Kat Kald Kalamazoo, unraced since October; and Midnight Cabinet, who was a game second at Santa Anita on April 8 and is trained by Bruce Headley.

The seventh race is the $70,000 Barretts Stakes, a first-level allowance race run over seven furlongs. It has drawn 12 runners, some of whom have just won a maiden race and others who have been racing in claiming races or allowance races.

The race marks the first start of the year for Catouttathebag, who finished third in the California Cup Juvenile last November but was placed second when a rival was disqualified. Trained by John Shirreffs for Tom and Debbie Shapiro, Catouttathebag won his maiden by seven lengths in his debut last October.

Jones starts Winning Tactics, who beat maidens in a seven-furlong race at Hollywood Park last December.+

There will be support for Moonlit Habit, who beat Midnight Cabinet at Santa Anita earlier this month.

The day's final race is the $70,000 Warren's Thoroughbred Stakes, a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

Jones starts the well-bred Arousing, who won a maiden race for statebreds by 10 lengths at Santa Anita on Feb. 23. She was subsequently entered in an allowance race but was scratched when she drew the rail and the race was run on a wet-fast track.

Owned by John Harris and Don Valpredo, Arousing, 4, is by Cee's Tizzy out of Soviet Problem, the runner-up in the 1994 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Arousing has drawn the rail on Sunday and has 12 rivals.

"She seems like she's doing good right now," Jones said. "Hopefully, she can get a decent trip."

The race features several other contenders, including Yearly Attitude, the winner of a $25,000 claimer on March 29, and the speedy Proudest Moment, who was second on April 5.