HOLLYWOOD PARK : Star Of The Crop Wins Prevue

The way Star Of The Crop won Saturday’s $102,700 Hollywood Prevue Breeders’ Cup Stakes, the Relaunch colt might very well be the one to beat in next month’s $500,000 Hollywood Futurity.

Del Mar Futurity and Norfolk Stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Bertrando is through for the year and no other local 2-year-old has really distinguished himself, leaving the door open for Star Of The Crop.

Making only his third start, owner Leonard Lavin’s homebred tracked heavily favored Salt Lake for a half-mile, then came away in the final furlong to win by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:22 1/5 for the seven furlongs.

Seahawk Gold was second, nearly two lengths better than Salt Lake, who was 7-10 on the strength of three stakes victories in New York.

Third in his Aug. 17 debut at Del Mar, Star Of The Crop broke his maiden Oct. 20 at Santa Anita, but neither trainer Willard Proctor nor jockey Gary Stevens were prepared for what happened Saturday.

“He’d only had two races, but I didn’t really have any other place to run,” said Proctor, after his first stakes victory at Hollywood Park since Claim won the Debonair in 1988. “But I didn’t mind running in there because he’s doing well.

“(Salt Lake) looked way the best. He’s had more races and had won three stakes in New York. You had to respect him and to be truthful, I thought my horse would be second. It looked like (Salt Lake) would go to the front and we couldn’t catch him, but it worked out differently. If everything is OK, we’ll run him in the Futurity (Dec. 22).”

Stevens couldn’t believe the improvement the 7-2 second choice has made since his debut and he says the best is yet to come.

“He’s so mentally immature right now. In his first race, he was all over the track with me. The day he broke his maiden, he started flicking his ears up and wasn’t putting out at all as soon as he made the lead. He was just going through the motions.

“He came away from the gate running today--he was pulling me. I started up inside (of Salt Lake) at the three-eighths pole and he surged away from me. It was only my horse’s third race and his first time going seven furlongs, and I didn’t want to start my run right there.

“(Salt Lake) kind of shot away from me. I was going to ease outside to go around, but, at that time, Chris (McCarron on Seahawk Gold) was outside of me. I had no choice but to come through on the rail.

“He was a little timid about going through there and right at that point, the sun just kind of bears down on you at this time of day. When the sun hit him, he just kind of propped and ducked out and was just protecting himself up against the rail. I gave him a crack and he just went on with it. He’s so smooth and easy on himself . . . He’s got a great future.”

Successful in the Tremont, Hopeful and Cowdin, Salt Lake found things much more difficult, even though he made the lead without any pressure on a day when front-runners were dominant.

“He didn’t get away well and he’s a funny little horse,” trainer Wayne Lukas said. “Sometimes he just blasts out of there and opens up seven or eight (lengths) and sometimes he doesn’t. He’s been in and out and we’re still trying to figure him out.”

Eternity Star, who was beaten by only a head when third in last month’s Volante Handicap, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the first division of today’s $200,000 Hollywood Derby. In the second division of the Grade I race, French import Bistro Garden is the 5-2 choice.

Sillery, the runner-up in the Budweiser International at Laurel, is the 3-1 second choice in the first division, which will be run as the fifth race and is the stronger half. The remainder of the field with their jockeys and odds: Rimpa (Allan Patterson, 50-1), Heavy Rain (Pat Day, 20-1), Masterclass (Pat Eddery, 5-1), Satin Flower (Pat Valenzuela, 6-1), Young Daniel (Alex Solis, 20-1), Perfectly Proud (Kent Desormeaux, 50-1), Dominion Gold (Gary Stevens, 6-1), Native Boundary (Chris McCarron, 15-1) and Stark South (Laffit Pincay, 8-1).

Olympio, who will carry top weight of 124 pounds, is the 7-2 third choice in the second division, which will be the eighth race. Eddie Delahoussaye has the mount. General Meeting, who is unbeaten in two starts on turf, is 3-1 and Desormeaux will ride for trainer David Hofmans.

Others in the field include: River Traffic (Solis, 20-1), Claret (Stevens, 30-1), Tellmethetruth (Freddie Head, 50-1), Rainbows For Life (Day, 15-1), Track Monarch (Valenzuela, 12-1), Sardarmati (Pincay, 15-1), Lackington (David Flores, 30-1), and Hokusai (Corey Nakatani, 4-1).

Stalwart Charger won for the first time in more than 14 months in a $30,000 overnight handicap at Bay Meadows Saturday.

Winner of the California Derby, Silver Screen Handicap and Del Mar’s Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap in 1990, Stalwart Charger hadn’t come close in any of his three previous races this year. Before his three-length victory at 4-5 Saturday, the 4-year-old Stalwart gelding had finished last, beaten by 25 1/2 lengths by Best Pal in the $1-million Pacific Classic.

Horse Racing Notes

The distance of the Derby is 1 1/8 miles and the rail on the turf course will be down. . . . Easy Now, a half-sister to Easy Goer who is unbeaten in two starts, is certain to be favored in today’s $200,000 Demoiselle at Aqueduct. She drew the rail in the 1 1/8-mile race and will be ridden by Mike Smith. . . . David Flores had four winners Saturday--Speak Firm in the second, Becky’s Queen in the third, Cease Firing in the sixth and Great Relations in the ninth.