Little Mike heads Shoemaker; Smiling Tiger, The Factor face
off in Triple Bend
Little Mike will try to make it consecutive Grade 1 victories on turf when he
makes his California debut in the $300,000
Shoemaker Mile Saturday at Hollywood Park.
The Shoemaker Mile is the more lucrative of two Grade 1 events being offered
Saturday at the Inglewood venue. Defending champion Smiling Tiger and The Factor
head the field in the $250,000
Triple Bend Handicap, which is run at seven furlongs over Cushion Track.
Trained by Dale Romans, Little Mike has won five of his last six, including a
gate-to-wire upset in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the Kentucky
Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. That was only his second appearance in a
Grade 1, as the Spanish Steps gelding finished sixth in the Gulfstream Park Turf
Handicap on February 5, 2011.
Little Mike recorded a 12-1 surprise in the Turf Classic, scoring by 2 1/2
lengths, and the Florida-bred could provide Romans with his second Shoemaker
Mile win in four years. The trainer scored with 9-1 outsider Thorn Song for
owner Ahmed Zayat in 2009.
Defeated as the odds-on favorite in consecutive starts, Mr. Commons will be
aiming for his first Grade 1 victory for trainer John Shirreffs. The Artie
Schiller colt was runner-up behind longshot Wilkinson — who was forced to miss
the Shoemaker after coming down with colic more than a week ago — in the Grade
2 American Handicap on May 26 in his first race over the Hollywood Park turf.
That loss came nearly three months after Mr. Commons just missed by a neck in
the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in early March. Regular rider Mike Smith
will be in the saddle for the Shoemaker.
Jeranimo was an easy winner of the Grade 2 Citation Handicap the last time he
tried the local grass, scoring by 2 3/4 lengths on November 26, and is seeking
his first victory since that one in the Shoemaker. The six-year-old was last
seen rallying to just miss by a half-length in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile,
and the Mike Pender-trained son of Congaree will become a millionaire if he
prevails Saturday.
Corporate Jungle arrives at Hollywood Park sporting a three-race win streak
from the opposite coast. The four-year-old Giant’s Causeway colt began his
current roll with an allowance victory on February 18 at Gulfstream Park,
followed by a 2 1/2-length win in the Grade 3 Appleton and a half-length
decision in the Elkwood on May 19 at Monmouth Park.
California will be the fifth different state — following Florida, Kentucky,
New York and New Jersey — in which the Chad Brown-trained Corporate Jungle has
run.
The Shoemaker field is completed by Dubai You X Y Z, Hudson Landing,
Suggestive Boy and Liberian Freighter
In the Triple Bend, Smiling Tiger will be trying to become only the second
repeat winner of the seven-furlong contest — joining Porterhouse, who won what
was then called the Lakes and Flowers Handicap in 1955 and 1956 for trainer
Charlie Whittingham.
Smiling Tiger, trained by Jeff Bonde, is zero-for-five since wiring the
Triple Bend field last July 2, with two of those defeats coming in a pair of
Grade 2 races this year. The five-year-old Hold that Tiger horse was fifth in
the Churchill Downs Stakes on May 5 and third in the True North Handicap on June
9, but is perfect in three races over Cushion Track.
Smiling Tiger’s main rival in the Triple Bend is The Factor, who is
undefeated in four races at seven furlongs. However, the War Front colt has been
idle since finishing sixth in the Group 1 Dubai Gold Shaheen on March 31 at
Meydan in the United Arab Emirates.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, The Factor closed out 2011 with a 3
1/2-length triumph in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes and opened his four-year-old
season with a half-length victory in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes. The Triple
Bend will be his first start at Hollywood since he ran fourth as the favorite in
his career debut in November 2010.
Comma to the Top returns to the site of his biggest victory for trainer Peter
Miller when lining up in the Triple Bend. The four-year-old Bwana Charlie
gelding won three times over Cushion Track during the 2010 autumn season,
earning him Horse of the Meet honors. He began with a victory in the Real Quiet
Stakes, followed with a score in the Grade 3 Generous in his first race on turf,
then completed a lucrative six weeks with a 1 3/4-length decision in the Grade 1
CashCall Futurity.
Comma to the Top ran sixth in his final race of 2011, the Grade 3 Sir
Beaufort, but sprinted clear to a wire victory in his 2012 debut on the Golden
Gate Fields turf June 9.
Looking to breakthrough at the top level is Camp Victory, who finished second
in last year’s Triple Bend. The Mike Mitchell-trained five-year-old earned his
only black-type win via disqualification, elevated to first in the Grade 3 Los
Angeles Handicap in 2011, and finished third in that same contest in his most
recent start. The gelded son of Forest Camp was also third in his only other
outing this season, the Grade 3 Potrero Grande Stakes.
Tres Borrachos is cutting back in distance for the Triple Bend, which also
features Centralinteligence, Mobilized, Don Tito and Italian Rules.
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