HOLLYWOOD PARK : Flu Takes Out Nakatani, Then His Mounts Fly

Suffering from flu, Corey Nakatani said he felt horrible Saturday. He took off his four mounts at Hollywood Park.

By the end of the afternoon, he had to feel even worse.

He watched in the jockey’s room while Algenib, Twilight Agenda and Cox’s Enchante, all horses he was supposed to ride, won.

Twilight Agenda’s victory was the most costly. Two weeks after winning the Super Diamond Handicap on the same card as the Hollywood Gold Cup, the 5-year-old Devil’s Bag horse beat Timebank by three-quarters of a length to win the $158,400 Bel Air Handicap.

Raced exclusively on the turf in Europe, Twilight Agenda has found a home on dirt. After running second to Super May in the Johnny’s Image on the grass June 21 in his first start for Wayne Lukas, the horse has used similar tactics to win his last two.

He won wire-to-wire in the Super Diamond, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:40 2/5. With Pat Valenzuela sitting in for Nakatani, he went a fifth of a second better Saturday. The time was a stakes record and was only a fifth of a second off the track record held by Power Forward.

In providing Lukas with his first stakes victory of the meeting, Twilight Agenda had to withstand a claim of foul by Timebank’s jockey, Kent Desormeaux. As he did in his previous victory, Twilight Agenda drifted out through the stretch, but the stewards made no change.

“He’s taken everything we’ve thrown at him,” Randy Bradshaw, a Lukas assistant, said of Twilight Agenda. “He ran back in eight days the first time, he’s back in 14 days now and he had a six-furlong work in between. So he’s done everything the right way up to now.”

Valenzuela was happy simply to be along for the ride. He also picked up Cox’s Enchante.

“My agent (Jeff Franklin) did all the work on this mount,” he said. “He caught up to Randy Bradshaw before the sixth or seventh race and talked to him in the paddock and we secured the mount.

“He ran a super race. Wayne had him fit, had him ready. I give all the credit to Wayne and my agent. My horse was drifting in the stretch, but (Timebank) was drifting, too. As I was getting closer, I knew I had to straighten him out.”

On the fifth anniversary of his first career victory, at Evangeline Downs, Desormeaux won three times, but he would have liked a fourth aboard Timebank.

“If the other horse ran straight, he might have got by him,” he said.

Sea Cadet, a 3-year-old, was third, then came Flying Continental and French Seventyfive. Trebizond was scratched.

Ever since Algenib arrived from South America earlier this year, trainer Wally Dollase has been singing his praises.

In his U.S. debut Saturday at Hollywood Park, the 4-year-old Oak Dancer colt didn’t disappoint.

Third with about a sixteenth of a mile to run, Algenib overpowered Raj Waki and Val Des Bois, two well-regarded European imports, and won by nearly three lengths.

A winner of three Group I races on turf in his native Argentina, Algenib covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40 under Desormeaux.

“I’ve never had one like him,” Dollase, emerging from an extremely crowded winner’s circle, said of the colt. “That includes (Eclipse Award winner) Itsallgreektome. This horse does everything too easily.

“I told Kent, ‘Show a lot of patience. Don’t get in a hurry.’ He had worked the horse once before, so he knew a little bit about him. He didn’t go with those first two horses (Raj Waki and Val Des Bois) like you think somebody would. He did the right thing.

“This horse has a tremendous kick. I’ve seen it on tape (from his races in Argentina) and, of course, he showed it today. He’s so athletic, he reminds me of a cat. Little spindly legs, but he’s like a cat.”

Del Mar’s restricted Escondido Handicap at 1 3/8 miles Aug. 9 probably will be the next stop for Algenib, then the schedule calls for him to go to the Arlington Million.

Brought To Mind will try to become the third consecutive favorite to succeed in the $200,000 Vanity Handicap when she takes on five rivals today at Hollywood Park.

The winner of the Hawthorne and Milady handicaps in her last two starts for trainer Ron McAnally, the 4-year-old Ruthie’s Native filly is the even-money choice of Russ Hudak, Hollywood Park’s morning-line maker. Bayakoa and Gorgeous were both heavily favored when they won the last two runnings of the Vanity, at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

Third in the A Gleam Handicap April 27, Brought To Mind returned to upset the now-retired Fantastic Look in the Hawthorne, then cruised to a four-length win over Luna Elegante in the Milady. Pat Valenzuela will again ride the gray, who will carry 120 pounds.

Three of the horses who chased her in the Milady--Luna Elegante, Vieille Vigne and Fit To Scout--are back for the Vanity. The newcomers are Gaelic Bird and Summer Matinee.

A 4-year-old Gay Mecene filly, Gaelic Bird will be making her first start on the dirt today. Most recently, she was second, beaten by a head, by Jabalina Brown in a turf allowance race June 27. Gary Stevens will ride for trainer Richard Mandella.

Trained by Wayne Lukas, Summer Matinee has put together back-to-back victories over the track, including a five-length allowance victory June 26. Chris McCarron has the call.