Turf Paradise: L.A. Weekend easily defends title in Coyote Handicap

L.A. Weekend had made a habit of beating Absolutely Cool at Turf Paradise until Absolutely Cool rallied past him in the meet’s marquee event, the Phoenix Gold Cup, on Feb. 15. Well, L.A. Weekend put things back in order as he had no trouble turning the tables and easily defeating four others in Saturday’s $35,000 Coyote Handicap.

Owned by Rick Wiest and trained by Robertino Diodoro, the 6-year-old L.A. Weekend was won the 6 1/2-furlong Coyote for the second straight year. Under Geovanni Franco, he dueled early with Absolutely Cool, dispatched that rival moving into the lane through six furlongs in 1:07.95, and drew off to win easily by 4 3/4 lengths. La Mano Nera stalked the pace and ran on for second with Magic D’ Oro third. Absolutely Cool paid the price for dueling with the winner, fading to last.

L.A. Weekend ran the distance in 1:14.42 and paid $2.80 as the overwhelming favorite. The winner’s share of $21,483 gives him earnings of $340,523 from 11 wins in 22 starts.

*Madame Pele, at 8-1 the longest-priced horse in the race, came home smartly to post the upset in the $35,000 Mesa Handicap. Owned by Kama’aina Thoroughbreds and trained by Mike Anderson, the 4-year-old Madame Pele stalked in fourth under David Lopez as 2-5 favorite Tribal Gal dueled with Chubash through a fast half-mile in 44.27 seconds in the 6 1/2-furlong event for fillies and mares. She came out into the lane and closed resolutely to get the win by 1 1/2 lengths over Ronda Rocks. Ronda Rocks stumbled at the start, raced in tandem with the winner but couldn’t finish with Madame Pele late. Chumash held third, a neck ahead of Tribal Gal in the field of five.

Madame Pele ran the distance in 1:16.32 and paid $18.20. The winner’s share of $21,700 gives her earnings of $106,401 from 4 wins in 18 starts. She’s now 2 for 2 on Turf Paradise’s main track.