Photo: Hollywood Park
Globetrotting trainer Carl O’Callaghan was back in
the stable area here Thursday morning, applying the finishing touches to
Princess Haya for the $100,000 Grade III Beverly Hills Handicap for fillies and
mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf Saturday.
O’Callaghan returned Wednesday night from England,
where he had spent the past two weeks with star sprinter Kinsale King, who
finished third in the Grade I Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19.
Princess Haya, a 5-year-old mare, drew post three in
a field of eight under high weight of 117 pounds in the Beverly Hills.
A Grade II winner at Woodbine last year, Princess Haya finished a distant
seventh in the Grade I Gamely Stakes in her second California
start May 29.
“She came out of the Gamely with a bad lung
infection,” said O’Callaghan. “She’s had two good works since she’s come back.
I think you will see the real Princess Haya this time.”
O’Callaghan has also taken blinkers off, another
factor that he thinks will help the mare in the Beverly Hills.
O’Callaghan, who returns to London next week, outlined an ambitious and
scenic schedule for the well-traveled Kinsale King, a 5-year-old gelding who
won the Vernon Underwood Stakes here and the Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa
Anita last winter before being shipped to Dubai
to capture the Group I Golden Shaheen Stakes in March.
“He proved he can run on turf, he can run in a straight
line and he can run with the best of them,” said O’Callaghan of Kinsale King’s
encouraging grass debut at Royal Ascot.
“I left him there for the Darley July Cup July 9 at Newmarket,”
said O’Callaghan. “Then I will bring him back and get him ready for races in Japan in September and Hong Kong in October. Then in November, it
will be either Melbourne or the
Breeders’ Cup.”