Frankel Appears to Have Edge Again

No trainer has won the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap more often than Bobby Frankel.

Frankel today will go for his fifth win in the LeRoy, a prep for the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 1.

Frankel has two of the five entrants in the Grade II--Skimming, the 6-5 favorite on the morning line, and Euchre, the 3-1 third choice who has never lost in three races at Hollywood Park.

Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Skimming has not raced since finishing last, 37 lengths behind winner Albert The Great, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup last Oct. 14 at Belmont Park.

That debacle was his only bad race during a year in which he won five of 10, among them the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Third in the 2000 Mervyn LeRoy, the 5-year-old Nureyev horse figures to make the lead and has shown he is tough to beat that way. Garrett Gomez will ride Skimming, who has won three of five at 1 1/16 miles, the distance of the LeRoy.

Owned by Frank Stronach, Euchre hasn’t run since finishing eighth in the Japan Cup Dirt last Nov. 15. The last time he ran at Hollywood Park, he won the Bel Air Handicap, a Grade II, in the summer and he could be closest to his stablemate early on.

Completing the field are Futural, the 8-5 second choice who has won two in succession for trainer Craig Dollase, and longshots Devine Wind and Moonlight Charger.

A 5-year-old gelded son of Future Storm, Futural-- who will be ridden by Chris McCarron with Gomez on the favorite--won the Tokyo City Handicap as the 5-2 favorite, then returned to win the San Bernardino Handicap, upsetting Irisheyesareflying and Tribunal.

Notes

Bobby Frankel scored his four wins in the Mervyn LeRoy with Mehmet in 1982, Fighting Fit in ‘83, Louis Cyphre in 1991, and Marquetry in ’93. . . . The last horse to win both the LeRoy and the Gold Cup in the same year was Siphon in 1996. . . . Gates at Hollywood Park will open at 8 this morning and the first race from Churchill Downs goes at 8:30. . . . Gourmet Girl, the surprise winner of the Apple Blossom Handicap last month at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, was among five fillies and mares entered for Sunday’s $150,000 Hawthorne Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. Feverish, Brianda, Printemps and Cookin Vickie complete the lineup in the Grade II. . . . Jockey Felipe Martinez will be sidelined for several weeks after suffering a broken left leg in a starting gate accident before Thursday’s sixth race.