HOLLYWOOD PARK : Freedom Cry Stretches Out to Win Hawthorne

After a career of sprinting, Freedom Cry was one of several surprises in Sunday’s $112,600 Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood Park. Freedom Cry’s victory at 1 1/16 miles was one thing, her 6 1/2-length margin was another, and the second-place horse, Vieille Vigne, went off at 114-1. The 2-1 favorite, Looie Capote, ran 10th in the 11-horse field.

Trying to cast some logic on the topsy-turvy Hawthorne, trainer Gary Jones explained how he had changed Freedom Cry’s training pattern after she ran sixth in the A Gleam Handicap two weeks ago.

“She’s been one of my Santa Anita horses,” Jones said. “But she bled in the last race and got stirred up, so we left her here (at Hollywood) to train for this race. She got a work over the track, and I think it made a big difference.”

Running beyond a mile for the first time, Freedom Cry and jockey Alex Solis came from just off the pace to overpower the field at 17-1. With Exchange, the assigned high weight of 123 pounds, not running, Freedom Cry carried 117 pounds, sharing the high weight with three other horses, including Looie Capote. Vieille Vigne, who was last after three-quarters of a mile, beat out Miss High Blade by a neck for second place, with Re Toss, another closer, finishing fourth, another half-length back.

Freedom Cry paid $37.40 to win and together with Vieille Vigne, who paid $85.80 to place, they formed a $2 exacta payoff of $1,855, fourth highest in track history. The $2 trifecta was worth $18,969.20, second only to a payoff of $21,878.20 last December.

Freedom Cry, who is owned by Keith and Barbara Card of Corona, was timed in 1:41 and earned $67,600, increasing her purses to $382,500. The Cards bought the 5-year-old Wolf Power-Validation mare for $16,000 at an auction for unraced 2-year-olds.

You have to go back to Freedom Cry’s 3-year-old season in 1991 to find races in which she ran farther than seven furlongs. She ran at a mile a few times that year, including a third-place finish at Del Mar in a $40,000 claiming race.

In the last two years, the 5-year-old Wolf Power-Validation mare has been a steady performer, registering five victories, four seconds and a third in 12 starts. The Hawthorne was her 10th victory in 27 tries.

“She was making so much money, there was no point in stretching her out,” Jones said. “But there was nothing else to do, because there were no sprints left. You look at a one-turn sprinter with a good kick and think she ought to be able to go long, if she just relaxes. We were hoping that, but it happens that way maybe one out of 10 times.”

While Visible Gold and Shes a Sure Bet ran up front early, Solis dropped Freedom Cry into third place. Freedom Cry started to gain ground on the turn for home and won convincingly.

“She was strong,” Solis said. “Around the first turn, she relaxed really good, but on the backside she really wanted to go, and I had to fight her for an eighth of a mile. Then, going to the turn, I just talked to her and settled her down a little. She finished great.”

Third in her only two starts this year, Vieille Vigne went into the Hawthorne with only one victory in 1992-93.

“Maybe her odds were due to me and the jockey,” trainer Jude Feld joked. “I was delighted with her race and I couldn’t believe her price. She had earned almost $450,000 and was No. 2 in the field in earnings. She had won a Grade II race. There are mares in that field who’ll never win a Grade II.”

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Black had a big day riding longshots. Besides his second-place finish aboard Vieille Vigne, he won the fourth race with Lady Snerd, who paid $89.60 to win, and the last race with Island Orchid, who paid $93.40. That 10th race generated a superfecta that paid a record $20,020 to 12 winning tickets. . . . Gary Jones will recommend to John and Betty Mabee, the owners of Best Pal, that they not run him in the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap a week from today. “The weights are ridiculous,” Jones said. “My horse has never won on grass (in only one start) and he hasn’t won a race in a year and a half. Yet they’ve got him high weight.” Best Pal was assigned 122 pounds, two more than Val Des Bois and three more than Bien Bien. After them come Beyton, Lomitas and Alnasr Alwasheek at 117 pounds apiece and Leger Cat at 116. . . . Freedom Cry’s next start is expected to be the $150,000 Milady Handicap, at 1 1/16 miles, on June 12. . . . Goncalino Almeida, who had four wins for the meet before Sunday, rode the winners of three consecutive races. . . . Latin American, winner of the Californian at Hollywood, will run in the $400,000 Nassau County Handicap at Belmont Park on June 5. . . . Virginia Rapids won Sunday’s Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont, with Colonial Affair second and Itaka third.