Vernon O. Underwood

Fred Carrillo and Daniel Cassella's BORDONARO (Memo [Chi]) grabbed the early

lead in the $98,000

Vernon O. Underwood S. (G3) at Hollywood Park on Saturday

and never relinquished his advantage en route to a three-length score in the

six-furlong affair. Ridden by Pat Valenzuela, the

four-year-old gelding was never seriously challenged against only three rivals as the Bill Spawr

trainee led 4-5 favorite Captain Squire (Flying Chevron) through splits of :21

3/5, :43 4/5 and :55 2/5. Bordonaro completed the race in 1:08 over a fast track.

The winning gelding left the gate at 2-1 to return $6.40 and $4, keying the

$19.30 exacta ($1) over Turnbolt (Deputy Minister), who passed Captain Squire to grab

the place and give back $6.40. Captain Squire and

Lifestyle (Indian Charlie) rounded out the order of finish. Indian Country

(Indian Charlie) was a late scratch.

Bred in California by his owners, Bordonaro is out of the winning Miss

Excitement (Rajab) and is a full brother to an unnamed yearling colt and a

half-sibling to a weanling filly by Mud Route. Bordonaro has one other stakes

victory to his name, the California Cup Starter Sprint H., and improves his

record to 8-6-0-0 with $207,164 in earnings.