Last Leaf wins the Hollywood Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Trainer Ron Spatz admits he didn’t know how Monarch Stables Inc’s 2-year-old filly Last Leaf would handle the turf in Saturday’s $75,000 Hollywood Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
“My legs are tired. I’ve been doing a rain dance for three days,” said Spatz, whose filly won twice on the main track before facing colts and geldings in the Hollywood Beach. “They tell me top and bottom is good for [turf], but she has small feet so I really didn’t know.”
Any doubts Spatz might have had were erased when Last Leaf drove past a game Nerve in the final sixteenth to win the Hollywood Beach by a head. Barone Cesco was a fast-closing third, another head behind Nerve.
A daughter of Not This Time who has now won three of five starts, Last Leaf covered a ‘good’ five-furlong course in :57.46 after chasing Nerve past fractions of :22.32 and :45.40. The filly has won at 5 ½ furlongs on a fast track, six furlongs on a sloppy track, and on the turf.
“I told [Monarch Stables Inc.] ‘You have an all-terrain vehicle now. That’s a good thing,” Spatz said.
In the $125,000 Wildcat Heir, Rodney Lundock’s Pro Quality, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Ralph Catanese and ridden by Luca Panici, drove past Shivaree inside the final sixteenth pole to win by lengths
Pro Quality, a son of Exclusive Quality, came into the Wildcat Heir off third-place finishes in the City of Dania and Benny The Bull. Panici raced fourth down the backstretch past fractions of :23.91 and :46.91 before Panici moved Pro Quality three-wide entering the stretch and driving to the finish.
Pro Quality has won four races and has placed first, second, or third in 11 of his 13 starts.
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