After two tries on dirt in stakes at the meet, Holladay Road is back with allowance runners on turf in today's feature.
With second-leading rider Rafael Bejarano half a world away to ride The Factor on Dubai World Cup Day on Saturday, Garrett Gomez regains the mount on 8-to-5 favorite Holladay Road moving back to the turf in Thursday’s featured second-level allowance going 1 1/8-miles.
In two tries on dirt in 2012 with Bejarano in the saddle, the seven-year-old son of Street Cry won the Crystal Water, an ungraded stake restricted to Cal-breds, and closed from dead last, 20 lengths off the pace in a field of 13, to finish fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap (Grade I).
After being claimed for $25,000 by Julio Canani last summer at Del Mar, Gomez guided Holladay Road to allowance wins on turf and dirt, both sprinting and routing, and came up a neck short in the Cal Cup Classic over today’s layout.
Tippety Tap Tap moves up the class ladder as a live price at 6-to-1 off a pair of impressive efforts this year against first-level company that resulted in a runner-up finish and a win over this turf course at this distance on Feb. 4. The five-year-old son of Pleasant Tap has finished in the top two in half of his eight career starts and continues to train impressively at Hollywood Park.
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