Midnight Interlude’s turf debut kicks off big weekend at Hollywood Park
It’s a big weekend for racing at Hollywood Park, starting with the turf debut by Santa Anita Derby winner Midnight Interlude on Friday night in the $70,000 Tsunami Slew Stakes at one mile.
On Saturday, the championship race for older females takes place. There’s no Zenyatta, but the $250,000 Grade I Vanity Handicap features Blind Luck, Switch and St Trinians among a strong field of six fillies and mares entered to race at 11/8 miles.
Midnight Interlude, trained by Bob Baffert, didn’t do well on the dirt track at Churchill Downs, finishing 16th in the Kentucky Derby, then 13th in the Preakness at Pimlico.
Baffert and owner Arnold Zetcher had always planned to see whether the 3-year-old son of War Chant would appreciate turf racing, and this will be the first test.
The Vanity Handicap on Saturday has the potential to be one of the best races of the spring-summer meeting. Blind Luck, Switch and St Trinians have combined to win 12 graded stakes.
Blind Luck had five graded stakes victories in 2010 to earn an Eclipse Award. Switch is a Grade I winner, and St Trinians finished first in the Grade II Milady Handicap but was disqualified.
Adding to the race is some jockey intrigue. St Trinians’ trainer, Mike Mitchell, has replaced Joe Talamo with Rafael Bejarano, and Talamo has picked up the mount aboard Miss Match, the upset winner of the Grade I Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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