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Stamp of Approval on Hollywood's Sunset Tadahiro Hotehama's T. H. APPROVAL (With Approval) powered home a 1 1/2-length winner on Sunday in the $159,700 Sunset Breeders' Cup H. (G2) on the closing day card of Hollywood Park's meet. With Alex Solis aboard, the Eduardo Inda-trained five-year-old completed 1 1/2 miles on the firm turf in 2:26 3/5 and returned $4.60, $2.80 and $2.40 as the 6-5 favorite in the nine-horse field. Wild Buddy (Line in the Sand) wasn't the quickest from the gate, but that didn't stop him from surging to the front and taking the lead. With Jon Court trying to nurse his speed through the marathon event, the seven-year-old gelding put some distance between himself and the rest of the field through splits of :24 2/5, :48 3/5, 1:12 4/5 and 1:37 2/5. By the time he reached the final turn, though, the steady pace had begun to take its toll and Wild Buddy couldn't hold off the rush of T. H. Approval coming up the middle of the track. Biding his time in sixth during the early running, T. H. Approval came with his rally three wide around the turn, blowing to the lead and holding off the fast closing Molengao (Brz) (Royal Academy). The runner-up was worth $4.40 and $2.80 to his backers at 9-2 and it was another 3 1/4 lengths back to Wild Buddy, who managed to hold third by a head over Leprechaun Kid (Alphabet Soup) to pay $2.80 at nearly 5-1. The $1 exotics returned $8.70 (exacta), $34.60 (trifecta) and $105 for the 7-8-10-2 superfecta ended by Leprechaun Kid, who was making his first start here since last October's Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). Mighty Mysterious (Mystery Storm) crossed under the line next and was followed by Runaway Dancer (Runaway Groom), Sam Forli (Chi) (Sam M.), Mino Ona (Arg) (Flag Down) and Sultry Bard (Sultry Song). Mr. Splash (Devil His Due) was withdrawn. T. H. Approval came into the Sunset looking for a stakes win other than the San Juan Capistrano Invitational H. (G2), which he's captured for the past two years. Among his stakes placings are seconds in last year's running of this race, and the San Luis Rey H. (G2) and San Luis Obispo H. (G2) from earlier this year. The gray's record now reads 24-6-5-4 with Sunday's win, and he's earned $663,708. Bred in Kentucky by his owner, T. H. Approval is out of the Group 1 winner Potrichal (Arg) (Potrillazo), who came to the United States to run third in the 1994 Golden Poppy H. (G3) and Del Mar's 1995 Matching H. The 18-year-old mare has also produced an unnamed yearling colt by Pleasant Tap and 2006 full sister to the Sunset winner.
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