26-1 Virden Surprises at Senorita

Virden, the longest shot in the field at 26-1, led throughout to win the $111,900 Senorita Stakes on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

A 3-year-old Tactical Cat filly owned by Dennis Weir, whose only previous Hollywood Park stakes win had come with Eagleton in the 1999 Will Rogers, and trained by Dan McFarlane, Virden was making her first start outside Arizona in the Grade III.

An easy winner of her first start on grass when taking the Scottsdale Handicap on April 2 at Turf Paradise, Virden set slow fractions under jockey Omar Figueroa and had enough left to hold off Three Degrees and win by a nose in 1:35.37 for the mile.

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Jockey Patrick Valenzuela was kept overnight Sunday for observation at Centinela Hospital Medical Center after being unseated by eighth-race favorite Mango Escapade at the start. He did not appear to be seriously injured.

The leading rider at Santa Anita’s winter-spring meet, Valenzuela missed six days during the first week of the Hollywood Park season after injuring a knee in a starting gate mishap on opening night (April 22).

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Both Hollywood Park and Churchill Downs will have sizable pick six carry-overs when racing resumes Wednesday. The latter has a carry-over of $143,270 and Churchill Downs has an even larger $471,588 after the parade of upsets at the Kentucky Derby.

-- Bob Mieszerski