Runaway Dancer attempts title defense at Hollywood

A field of seven has been entered for Saturday's $250,000 Jim Murray Memorial

H. (G2) at Hollywood Park, and RUNAWAY DANCER (Runaway Groom) will try to

emulate his 1 1/2-length victory from last year.

The Dan Hendricks charge captured the 2005 Jim Murray after a 19-month dry

spell that saw his best finish come as a third in the 2004 San Juan Capistrano

H. (G2), and the seven-year-old gelding is following the same plan as last season,

dropping five straight starts since winning the Jim Murray. He will have Jose Valdivia Jr. aboard on Saturday.

KING'S DRAMA (Ire) (King's Theatre [Ire]) is a top contender in the 1 1/2-mile turf test. The Bobby Frankel charge was last seen

winning the San Luis Rey H. (G2) at Santa Anita after making a nice return to

the races in the San Luis Obispo H. (G2) in late February. GREY SWALLOW (Ire) (Daylami

[Ire]), the 2004 Irish Derby (Ire-G1) winner, has not raced since finishing third

(placed fourth via disqualification) in the Canadian International (Can-G1) last

October.

The complete field for the Jim Murray, with riders and weights, is MACDUFF

(GB) (Machiavellian), Corey Nakatani, 113; BRECON BEACON (GB) (Spectrum), Aaron

Gryder, 111; Grey Swallow, Alex Solis, 121; GOLDEN RAHY

(Rahy), Omar Figueroa, 115; ONE OFF (GB) (Barathea [Ire]), Jon Court, 114;

Runaway Dancer, 115; and King's Drama, Pat Valenzuela, 122.

Three races earlier on the card, SURF CAT (Sir Cat) heads a field of six in

the $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2) going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. The Bruce

Headley-trained four-year-old is going for his third straight win this season

from as many starts after having scored in the San Carlos H. (G2) in February

and the Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup H. (G2) in April. Among those he'll face on

Saturday are San Antonio H. (G2) hero SPELLBINDER (Tale of the Cat) and recent

Santana Mile H. runner-up DIXIE MEISTER (Holzmeister)

Surf Cat will lead the LeRoy post parade under Solis while carrying the

highweight of 121 pounds. He'll be followed by Spellbinder, Martin Pedroza, 116; KEEP ON PUNCHING (Silver Deputy), Valenzuela, 113; TIMIAS (Seeking the

Gold), Court, 112; Dixie Meister, David Flores, 115; and GALLARDO (Running

Stag), Gryder, 112.

The stakes action will wrap up at Hollywood on Saturday in the $100,000 Los

Angeles Times H. (G3), and the six-furlong test will feature a rematch between

the San Simeon H. (G3) winner and third-place finisher. PURE AS GOLD (Stolen

Gold) was the decisive 1 3/4-length victor in that event while SIREN LURE (Joyeux

Danseur), who had a three-race win streak snapped, wound up a total of

two lengths back in third.

Pure as Gold and Tyler Baze drew the rail post under a 119-pound impost. To

their outside will be AREYOUTALKINTOME (Smokester), Valenzuela, 117; CIGAR PAL

(Benchmark), Flores, 113; Siren Lure, Solis, 120; SECRET RIDGE (Brz) (Choctaw

Ridge), Garcia, 112; PRORUNNER (Tejano Run), Court, 112; OCEANUS (Brz) (Rainbow

Corner [GB]), Octavio Vergara, 114; and THUNDER TOUCH (Gulch), Pedroza, 115.