Star Parade holds off Adoration
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Star Parade played the spoiler in Sunday's $150,000 at Hollywood Park, leading throughout and turning back a challenge from Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Adoration in the final furlong.
Star Parade won by 3 1/4 lengths, extending a one-length lead at the eighth pole.
"I thought we'd be on the lead," winning trainer Darrell Vienna said. "We knew the only time she'd been headed she kicked in and kept running."
Star Parade ($26.40) finished 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.02, winning her first stakes in her 12th start.
Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Star Parade carried 112 pounds, the lowest weight in the field, Star Parade led by as many as two lengths through early fractions of 23.17 and 46.15 seconds. Adoration, the 121-pound topweight, was wide on the first turn and backstretch, stalking the pace from second-place. She was closest to Star Parade at the eighth pole.
"She had every chance," said David Hofmans, Adoration's trainer. "The other filly had too easy of a lead. She did what we did in the Breeders' Cup."
Despite her victory in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, Adoration was not favored in the Bayakoa, which drew six fillies and mares. She was sent off at 7-5.
Bare Necessities, the winner of four stakes from March to August, went off as the 9-10 favorite. Trained by Wally Dollase, Bare Necessities closed from fifth to finish third. Angel Gift finished fourth, followed by Keys to the Heart and Sparkling Ava, who took up sharply on the first turn while in traffic.
A 4-year-old Argentine-bred filly, Star Parade is owned by Doug McClure of Arlington, Texas. Vienna found her on a scouting trip to Argentina last spring.
"I looked at a lot of horses," Vienna said.
In Argentina, Star Parade won her maiden in her second start but lost five consecutive allowance races before joining Vienna. In four starts in California since late July, Star Parade won two allowance races - one-mile races at Del Mar in July and Santa Anita in October. She finished fourth in an allowance race on turf here on Nov. 13.
The Grade 2 Bayakoa Handicap was her stakes debut. She has earned $176,112.
"We thought she had a chance to win the race," Vienna said. "We weren't going in without a hope."