A field of seven has been entered for Saturday’s $250,000 Jim Murray Memorial
H. (G2) at Hollywood Park, and RUNAWAY DANCER (Runaway Groom) will try to
emulate his 1 1/2-length victory from last year.
The Dan Hendricks charge captured the 2005 Jim Murray after a 19-month dry
spell that saw his best finish come as a third in the 2004 San Juan Capistrano
H. (G2), and the seven-year-old gelding is following the same plan as last season,
dropping five straight starts since winning the Jim Murray. He will have Jose Valdivia Jr. aboard on Saturday.
KING’S DRAMA (Ire) (King’s Theatre [Ire]) is a top contender in the 1 1/2-mile turf test. The Bobby Frankel charge was last seen
winning the San Luis Rey H. (G2) at Santa Anita after making a nice return to
the races in the San Luis Obispo H. (G2) in late February. GREY SWALLOW (Ire) (Daylami
[Ire]), the 2004 Irish Derby (Ire-G1) winner, has not raced since finishing third
(placed fourth via disqualification) in the Canadian International (Can-G1) last
October.
The complete field for the Jim Murray, with riders and weights, is MACDUFF
(GB) (Machiavellian), Corey Nakatani, 113; BRECON BEACON (GB) (Spectrum), Aaron
Gryder, 111; Grey Swallow, Alex Solis, 121; GOLDEN RAHY
(Rahy), Omar Figueroa, 115; ONE OFF (GB) (Barathea [Ire]), Jon Court, 114;
Runaway Dancer, 115; and King’s Drama, Pat Valenzuela, 122.
Three races earlier on the card, SURF CAT (Sir Cat) heads a field of six in
the $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2) going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. The Bruce
Headley-trained four-year-old is going for his third straight win this season
from as many starts after having scored in the San Carlos H. (G2) in February
and the Potrero Grande Breeders’ Cup H. (G2) in April. Among those he’ll face on
Saturday are San Antonio H. (G2) hero SPELLBINDER (Tale of the Cat) and recent
Santana Mile H. runner-up DIXIE MEISTER (Holzmeister)
Surf Cat will lead the LeRoy post parade under Solis while carrying the
highweight of 121 pounds. He’ll be followed by Spellbinder, Martin Pedroza, 116; KEEP ON PUNCHING (Silver Deputy), Valenzuela, 113; TIMIAS (Seeking the
Gold), Court, 112; Dixie Meister, David Flores, 115; and GALLARDO (Running
Stag), Gryder, 112.
The stakes action will wrap up at Hollywood on Saturday in the $100,000 Los
Angeles Times H. (G3), and the six-furlong test will feature a rematch between
the San Simeon H. (G3) winner and third-place finisher. PURE AS GOLD (Stolen
Gold) was the decisive 1 3/4-length victor in that event while SIREN LURE (Joyeux
Danseur), who had a three-race win streak snapped, wound up a total of
two lengths back in third.
Pure as Gold and Tyler Baze drew the rail post under a 119-pound impost. To
their outside will be AREYOUTALKINTOME (Smokester), Valenzuela, 117; CIGAR PAL
(Benchmark), Flores, 113; Siren Lure, Solis, 120; SECRET RIDGE (Brz) (Choctaw
Ridge), Garcia, 112; PRORUNNER (Tejano Run), Court, 112; OCEANUS (Brz) (Rainbow
Corner [GB]), Octavio Vergara, 114; and THUNDER TOUCH (Gulch), Pedroza, 115.