McCarron Is in 7,000th Heaven

Although the $175,000 Khaled Stakes wasn’t the richest race on Hollywood Park’s second Gold Rush Day for Cal-bred horses, it turned out to be the most significant.

Spinelessjellyfish’s victory by a neck over Lesters Boy and favored Native Desert on Saturday provided jockey Chris McCarron with his 7,000th victory.

Ending a chase that took longer than the Hall of Famer anticipated, Spinelessjellyfish, a 5-year-old Skywalker horse trained by frequent McCarron employer Jenine Sahadi, helped the rider become the seventh jockey to reach the milestone.

And he was far from done.

McCarron, who leads all jockeys with more than $250 million in purse earnings, followed with two more victories. Immediately after the Khaled, he won the $70,000 Lakeview Thoroughbred Farms Stakes with 9-2 shot Cee’s Elegance, then capped his memorable day with a victory aboard 5-1 shot Romanceishope, another Sahadi trainee, in the $250,000 Snow Chief Stakes.

Honored in a ceremony after Spinelessjellyfish’s win, McCarron, 46, was joined in the winner’s circle by, among others, wife Judy, Laffit Pincay, Bill Shoemaker, longtime agent Scott McClellan and Roger Clinton, the brother of the former president who came as a guest of one of McCarron’s close friends.

“This is an awesome feeling,” said McCarron, who has had 33,529 career mounts. “It’s been weighing heavily on my mind for the past week. It was great to hit this milestone on a horse like Spinelessjellyfish. He’s a digger and a fighter. He loves to win photos.

“You can’t pick and choose who you would want to break it on. You just want to go out there and do it. It’s great to do it with a horse trained by one of my stronger clients. Jenine has been great to me.”

Said Sahadi: “This is so special to me because I adore Chris McCarron. He’s such a professional. And he genuinely cares about the horses.

“This horse [Spinelessjellyfish] won’t run for anyone but him. You can’t fight him, you can’t get mad at him. This is just a great day.”

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Romanceishope, a 3-year-old gelded son of In Excess, made it three consecutive wins with a 1 1/2-length victory over 15-1 shot Mr. Joe C in the Snow Chief. Hoovergetthekeys, the 2-1 favorite, was a nose back in third.

“This horse has been such a special surprise,” said Sahadi after Romanceishope completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50 4/5. “Bernie Hatake [who owns the gelding with Semji Nishimura] sent him to me last year and I couldn’t even get him to walk because he was so sore.

“My veterinarians were great, we worked him through that and we got him going. It’s been a special day. I’m so grateful and thankful for all the work [McCarron] has done in my barn.”

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In addition to McCarron, Pincay and Victor Espinoza also won multiple races.

Pincay, who reached 9,000 career victories when riding five winners at Santa Anita’s California Cup last fall, took the $70,000 Merial Stakes with 5-1 shot Valiant Wonder and the $175,000 Fran’s Valentine with 3-5 favorite Rare Charmer.

Espinoza, meanwhile, took the $150,000 B. Thoughtful with 4-5 choice Lazy Slusan and the $60,000 Jaklin Klugman with 11-10 favorite Ex Federali, one of two winners on the card for trainer Bob Baffert. Lighten Up Tiny, a first time starter trained by Baffert for owners Jack and Florence Arnold, was a decisive winner in the $60,000 A Kiss For Luck.

Notes

In the ceremony honoring Chris McCarron’s 7,000th career victory, he was presented with two large $7,000 checks, representing donations by Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Oak Tree and Del Mar to the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, a charity McCarron helped establish about 14 years ago. McCarron, an avid golfer, was also given a vacation for two to Pebble Beach. . . . The other Gold Rush winners: Channing Way, a 6-1 shot, in the $150,000 Melair Stakes, and Ringaskiddy, a 22-1 shot, in the $100,000 Quicken Tree. . . . Dixie Dot Com, the 5-2 second choice ridden by David Flores, rolled to a 6 1/2-length victory in the $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park. His time was 1:34 3/5. . . . Redattore, an 8-1 shot ridden by Jason Lumpkins for trainer Richard Mandella, won the $300,000 San Francisco Breeders’ Cup Mile at Bay Meadows by three-quarters of a length over 13-10 favorite Hawksley Hill. He completed the distance on turf in 1:35.