Prospect Park tries turf in La Jolla Handicap
DEL MAR, Calif. – Prospect Park was expected to be a stakes winner after a promising winter campaign at Santa Anita. Instead, he has amassed a list of narrow losses in stakes in recent months.
Prospect Park was beaten a half-length in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in June and by a nose in the Los Alamitos Derby last month.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Prospect Park will race on turf for the first time in the $150,000 La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. The Grade 3 La Jolla might define how Prospect Park is campaigned through the second half of the year. A successful result would lead to a start in the $250,000 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf Sept. 6.
First, he must reach the winner’s circle for the first time since an allowance in late January.
“He needs to be more focused,” trainer Clifford Sise said.
Owned by breeders Pam and Marty Wygod, Prospect Park is part of a competitive field of 10 in the La Jolla, a race that has drawn the stakes winners Pain and Misery and Papacoolpapacool and the stakes-placed runners Cross the Line, Hero Ten All, Om, and Royal Albert Hall.
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La Jolla Handicap, Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Prospect Park (Last 3 Beyers: 102-97-95)
◗ Prospect Park has won 2 of 9 starts and finished second in four races. His career took off after a second to Dortmund in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes in March, but that effort was followed by a fourth in the Santa Anita Derby. Prospect Park was found to be ill after that race.
On June 7, Prospect Park was second to Gimme Da Lute in the Affirmed, and he was beaten a nose by that runner in the Los Alamitos Derby. Prospect Park lugged to the inside in the Los Alamitos Derby under jockey Tyler Baze.
“When he lugged in, Baze had to straighten him out, and that cost him the nose,” Sise said.
◗ Prospect Park has worked on turf twice since late July. Kent Desormeaux, the colt’s regular rider since December, has the mount Sunday. Desormeaux is likely to have Prospect Park near expected pacesetter Om.
“I’d like to be third, a couple of lengths off the pace,” Sise said.
Om (Last 3 Beyers: 93-90-78)
◗ Om won a five-furlong maiden race here last August, beating a field that included American Pharoah, who finished fifth in his only career loss in nine starts to date.
◗ Om won his turf debut in an optional claimer at Santa Anita in May and was third in the Affirmed, finishing three lengths behind Gimme Da Lute. To win the La Jolla, trainer Dan Hendricks said jockey Fernando Perez must keep Om from doing too much, too soon.
“He can route when he’s relaxed like he is now,” Hendricks said. “He was a little too fresh in the Affirmed. He’s been his own worst enemy.”
Papacoolpapacool (Last 3 Beyers: 84-85-87)
◗ Papacoolpapacool won three consecutive races at Santa Anita from February to April, including the La Puente Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf. His last two starts have caused frustration for his backers, a seventh as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 3 Penn Mile at Penn National on May 30 and a fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Oceanside Stakes here at a mile on turf July 16.
◗ Trainer Phil D’Amato said Papacoolpapacool was too far back in the Oceanside.
“I think he’ll get better with distance,” D’Amato said. “He can’t sit that far back. When he won [the La Puente], he stalked the pace.”