Mighty Bodacious draws away

Mighty Bodacious validated his Wildcat Handicap upset by capturing Turf Paradise's traditional closing-day stakes, the $50,000 Hasta La Vista Handicap. The race brought down the curtain on the Phoenix track's 153-day meet.

Owned and trained by Dana Vannorsdel, the 7-year-old gelding sat in third while 9-5 favorite Chestertown Slew set the pace, bided his time, swung out for the stretch run, blasted to the lead, and drew away with nary a worry. He reported home 3 3/4 lengths in front under Ry Eikleberry. Cleard for Action rallied behind the winner to get second, three-quarters of a length in front of Chestertown Slew in the field of nine.

Mighty Bodacious covered the 1 7/8 miles on turf in 3:11.20 and paid $9.20 as the second choice. The winner's share of $30,000 pushes his career earnings to $97,060 from 6 wins in 29 starts.

* Big Bug Creek, the ovewhelming 2-5 favorite, was an easy winner of the $73,058 Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Sales Stakes. The 2-year-old son of Red Sky's, trained by Kevin Lewis, ran the five furlongs in 57.09 seconds under Sandi Gann. Albacore Bob was second, with Hidden Bounty third in the field of 10.