Lucayan rallies to earn first U.S. victory in Hollywood Turf Cup

Pandora Stud LLC's Lucayan earned his first victory in the United States in

memorable fashion on Saturday, collaring Temeraine in the shadow of the wire to

take the last running of the Grade 2, $250,250

Hollywood Turf Cup at its namesake track, which is scheduled to be torn down

following the December 22 closing day of the autumn meet.

Jockey Joel Rosario settled Lucayan in the rear of the six-horse field as

Segway led the way in the 1 1/2-mile turf contest through splits of :25 3/5,

:50, 1:14 1/5 and 1:38 2/5. Temeraine was tracking in second just to the

pacesetter's outside while Artic North kept in close attendance behind and on

the rail.

Artic North tried his best, but couldn't keep pace as Temeraine ranged up to

race in tandem with Segway rounding the final turn before taking over in the

lane. Lucayan was still biding his time and unleashed his late run in midstretch.

The four-year-old son of Turtle Bowl just got up to take the win by a

half-length over Temeraine while stopping the clock in 2:26 over the firm

Hollywood Park turf.

"He was traveling well, but I had to keep after him," Rosario said. "He is

one-paced and can get a little lazy, but I knew that if I kept after him we

would eventually catch (Temeraine) and we got it done."

Lucayan made his way to the United States from France, where he was saddled

by Francois Rohaut. The bay four-year-old upset last year's French Two Thousand

Guineas but was unable to hit the board in his three subsequent starts before

shipping stateside.

He joined trainer Neil Drysdale's barn and finished second in the American

Handicap in his U.S. debut on May 25. Lucayan just missed by a half-length when

runner-up in the Del Mar Handicap in late August and was third in the John Henry

Turf Championship at Santa Anita on September 29 prior to an unplaced effort at

Woodbine in the October 27 Canadian International last out.

"The key to this guy is

getting him to relax and (Rosario) did a lovely job of relaxing him," Drysdale

explained. "He's had an

unlucky year. At Del Mar he tried to come

up the middle and got stopped. In the John Henry he also got stuck. And then in Canada, it was just a bog and he couldn't handle it.

"We felt that it was just too fast for him in this country to go a mile and he

really needed nine or 10 (furlongs). But there weren't any races at those

distances, which kind of pushed us into running him longer. My heart was going a

little boom, boom, boom because they were going so slow, but this horse is

talented."