Sarafan wins Eddie Read

DEL MAR, Calif. - All the luck that Bobby Frankel had at Saratoga on Saturday ran out on Sunday at Del Mar, when his turf star Beat Hollow encountered a traffic-filled trip when falling to his nemesis Sarafan in Del Mar's $400,000 .

Beat Hollow had won 3 of 4 starts in this country to be ranked as the nation's best turf horse, and he was the 1-2 favorite against five rivals in the Grade 1 Eddie Read. But he raced in a pocket for the first mile of the 1 1/8-mile grass race, and by the time jockey Alex Solis was able to extract him, Sarafan and jockey Corey Nakatani were long gone.

Sarafan knifed between horses on the turn to get first run on Beat Hollow. He rallied from last to first in a quarter-mile, opened a daylight advantage with a sixteenth of a mile to go, and was not hard pressed to prevail by 1 1/4 lengths. Beat Hollow rallied furiously once clear and got up for second, a neck in front of the race's pacesetter, Redattore, who won the 2001 Eddie Read.

Sarafan, the second choice at 4-1, paid $10.80 after covering 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:46.77. The victory, the seventh in 25 lifetime starts for Sarafan, was his first since upsetting Beat Hollow in the Explosive Bid Handcap at Fair Grounds in March. The 5-year-old gelding is owned by Gary Tanaka.

"This horse has got a tremendous turn of foot," said Neil Drysdale, Sarafan's trainer. "The key is to use it at the correct time. Corey rode him well."

Drysdale said Sarafan has been prone to pull himself up when he makes the lead, but "he went right about his business today."

Frankel was not at Del Mar because he has been at Saratoga. That spared Solis a certain dressing down. Solis never got Beat Hollow out until it was too late.

"I didn't want to be in that pocket, but the way the race came up, I didn't have much choice," Solis said.

* Earlier on the card, the talented 3-year-old filly Bear Fan ran her record to 3-for-3 with an overpowering, 7 1/2-length victory in the $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for California-breds. She was bred and is co-owned by her trainer, Wesley Ward. Bear Fan, with Mike Smith up, was timed in 1:22.72 for seven furlongs on the fast main track. She paid $2.80.