Super High tries to keep it going in Ramser

ARCADIA, Calif. - Since Super High began running on turf earlier this year, her career has undergone a remarkable turnaround.

Stakes-placed while racing on dirt, Super High has won three turf stakes since May 31, making her the 120-pound highweight for Monday's $100,000 Harold Ramser Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

"Every race is an improved race going two turns," trainer Carla Gaines said. "It's fun, but you don't know how long that upward trend will go before it goes as far as it will go."

Owned by John Harris, Super High won her turf debut in the modest California Sires Stakes at Hollywood Park in May, and returned to score a gritty win against open company in the Flawlessly Stakes on July 5.

Although Super High faded from the lead to finish fourth in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 3, she rebounded to win the Solana Beach Handicap against California-bred fillies and mares on Sept. 2, scoring by 2 1/2 lengths as part of the favored entry.

Like the Ramser, the Solana Beach Handicap was run over a mile on turf, giving Gaines confidence. "I think her best distance is a mile," she said.

Super High will be ridden by Garrett Gomez and spots her opponents four to seven pounds. The other probables are Atarama, Crousille, Dancing, Fair Bianca, Got Koko, Ombre Legere, Pina Colada, and Ristra.

Super High and Adoration were the joint 120-pound topweights for the Ramser, but Adoration is scheduled to start in Saturday's $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap.

A 3-year-old, Adoration has not started since finishing last of six in the Delaware Oaks in July, having been withdrawn from the Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap here on Oct. 2. During the summer, Adoration won consecutive stakes at Hollywood Park - the Senorita Stakes over a mile on turf and the Grade 2 Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks on the main track.

The field for the Maddy includes Brocky's Dream, Gabriellina Giof, Nanogram, Palace Royale, Rolly Polly, and Top of Our Game. The race is run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

Rolly Polly, the winner of the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap last April, is the 119-pound highweight. Trained by Bobby Frankel, she is unraced since finishing ninth in the Grade 2 A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park in July.

Gaines also trains Top of Our Game. A 5-year-old mare, Top of Our Game is winless in six starts dating back to the 2001 Solana Beach Handicap.

Captain Squire to miss Oak Tree Derby

Captain Squire, the winner of the Grade 2 Laz Barrera Stakes at Hollywood Park in May, has been turned out and will not start in Sunday's $150,000 Oak Tree Derby, trainer Jeff Mullins said.

As recently as last weekend, Mullins was considering the Oak Tree Derby for Captain Squire, but ruled out it earlier this week. Captain Squire has not started since finishing third in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer on Aug. 10.

"We'd be fooling ourselves if we ran him now," Mullins said. "He's had a long campaign. He's been in training for almost two years."

Mullins said that Lusty Latin, who finished third in the Santa Anita Derby and 15th in the Kentucky Derby, has returned to training. For the last 30 days, Lusty Latin has been tack-walking and will begin jogging on the racetrack next week.

Mullins projects that Lusty Latin will be ready in three months, in time for the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

The Oak Tree Derby field is led by Inesperado, a winner of three graded stakes since arriving from France earlier this year. Other problems are Dream Machine, Johar, Mountain Rage, Rock Opera, and Royal Gem.

Farda Amiga, Disturbingthepeace work

Two Breeders' Cup hopefuls worked in Southern California on Wednesday. At Hollywood Park, Farda Amiga worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds. Considered one of the nation's leading 3-year-old fillies, she is bound for the Breeders' Cup Distaff following wins in the Kentucky Oaks and Alabama Stakes this year.

At Santa Anita, Disturbingthepeace worked six furlongs in 1:11.80, a few seconds quicker than trainer Darrell Vienna expected. "It was an extraordinarily good work," Vienna said. "He was supposed to go in [1:14]; that's kind of what we had scheduled for him. It looked like he went in 1:16."

Skipping injured, no Breeders' Cup

Skipping, a stakes winner in the summer who was scratched from Sunday's Clement Hirsch Turf Championship at Santa Anita, is out of training with an injury, trainer Bobby Frankel said.

Skipping won the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap in May and was third in the Charles Whittingham Handicap on June 15. He finished fourth in the Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 7. He was considered an outside possibility for the Breeders' Cup Turf before the injury.

"He'll miss a few months," Frankel said.