Ride a Comet targets Hill Prince, Hollywood Derby

Ride a Comet, the Eastern-based winner of Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, may circle back to California before the end of the year.

Trainer Mark Casse said Monday morning that the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Dec. 1 at Del Mar is a long-term goal, with the Grade 2 Hill Prince Stakes on Oct. 6 at Belmont Park as a short-term goal. The $300,000 Hollywood Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the same distance as the Del Mar Derby. The $500,000 Hill Prince Stakes also is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Ride a Comet, who races for John Oxley and My Meadowview Farm, was third in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug. 3 at Saratoga on a yielding turf course. Jose Ortiz rode Ride a Comet in that race and said the surface may not have suited the colt.

“I thought he’d win the Hall of Fame,” Casse said Monday. “Jose said it was a little boggy in the last sixteenth and he fell apart in it.”

Drayden Van Dyke rode Ride a Comet in the Hollywood Derby. The second choice, Ride a Comet ($13.60) closed from ninth to win by 1 1/2 lengths over 50-1 Kazan.

Ride a Comet was Van Dyke’s 10th stakes win of the meeting through Sunday.