Valenzuela Takes Short Route to Win

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela’s first weekend of racing at Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet turned out well.

Sidelined for several days because of a bruised knee suffered in a starting gate mishap April 22, Valenzuela followed his stakes win aboard King Of Happiness in Saturday’s Inglewood Handicap with another on Sunday.

Riding 9-2 shot Short Route for the first time in the $109,700 Railbird Stakes, Valenzuela was up to beat 3-2 favorite Inspiring by a neck in 1:22.99 for the seven furlongs.

Making her first start since she bruised her right front foot and finished seventh in the Sunshine Millions Oaks on Jan. 29 at Santa Anita, Short Route won for the third time in seven starts for owner-breeders Bill and Donna Herrick.

Short Route, the 3-year-old daughter of Mud Route, is trained by Joe Herrick, one of the couple’s six children.

“She’d been training awfully well lately,” said Joe Herrick, who has been training on his own since 1995. “She’s had some problems with ulcers and she bruised her foot last time. That was a really bad track for her. She was hitting herself behind and she cut herself up. We just regrouped and gave her some time. She’s grown up. She’s much more physically mature and has put on about 100 pounds of muscle.”

The win in the Grade III was the third in the last four years for Valenzuela. He won with September Secret in 2002 and again last year with Elusive Diva, who, as Short Route did, prevailed by a neck.

Inspiring, who lost her second in a row as the favorite after winning her two races as a 2-year-old by a combined 6 1/4 lengths, finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of 21-1 shot Off The Richter, then came Island Escape, Pegasus Rose, Conveyor’s Angel, Donna’s Doll, the 2-1 second choice, and Good Lord Laurie.

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Trainer Art Sherman won four races on Sunday at Bay Meadows, taking the second with Desert Boom, the fifth with Bestofmoose, the sixth with 11-1 shot Just L and the seventh with Brenda’s Time.

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Kela, who won a pair of graded sprint stakes at Del Mar last summer, has been retired because of what trainer Mike Mitchell calls a “nagging ankle injury.”

Owned by Jay Manoogian, the 7-year-old Numerous horse finished his career with eight wins from 26 starts and was second to Speightstown in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park in Texas.

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Chowder’s First, the longest shot in the field at 7-1, rallied from last to win the $75,950 Kings Point Handicap, the closing day feature at Aqueduct. Joe Bravo rode the 4-year-old Let Goodtimes Roll for Inniscarra Stable and trainer Phil Serpe.