McCarron’s Return a Triumphant One

The week of the Kentucky Derby, Chris McCarron couldn’t raise his right arm above his head. He needed no other reason not to ride Hello at Churchill Downs.

“I could extend my arm out this way,” McCarron said Sunday at Hollywood Park, holding his arm perpendicular to his body. “But that was as far as I could go with it. I wouldn’t have had a chance riding against guys who are as fit as this guy [pointing to Alex Solis].”

McCarron suffered a shoulder injury in a spill at Santa Anita on April 20, and then didn’t get on a horse until Wednesday, when he was out in the morning to work his Preakness mount, Touch Gold, at Hollywood Park. He returned to the races Saturday, and it was lollipops and cotton candy all weekend. McCarron won with both of his mounts Saturday, including a victory aboard Brave Act in the $114,200 Will Rogers Handicap, and Sunday his lone winner was Blushing Heiress, who held on by a nose against Real Connection in the $108,400 Wilshire Handicap.

The day after his injury, McCarron, 42, was working out at a gym, maintaining the muscle tone in his legs and keeping his cardiovascular system revved up. This regimen went on for three hours a day, for almost three weeks.

“If I didn’t do it, I really would have been behind the eight-ball when I came back,” McCarron said.

He did get to the Derby, but instead of riding Hello, who finished eighth for Mike Smith, McCarron was an analyst for the ABC telecast.

“I gained a new appreciation for the work guys like Al Michaels do,” McCarron said. “You’re in the middle of a sentence, trying to complete a thought, when somebody’s saying into your ear, ‘You’ve got 10 seconds.’ ”

Some of McCarron’s Derby notices weren’t bad.

“Certainly, one of the high points of the show was Chris McCarron,” wrote Anne Scott in the Daily Racing Form. “[He] had many insightful comments, including his suggestion that if Deeds Not Words won the Derby, a third spire should be constructed and named the D. Wayne Lukas Monument.”

When McCarron returned to Hollywood Park on Sunday, all those hours in the gym had paid off.

“I wasn’t tired at all from the day before,” he said. “The first winner I had Saturday was a hanger-on, and the second one didn’t tire me out either.”

Given the mount on Blushing Heiress by trainer Dan Hendricks, McCarron and the 5-year-old mare just did last. Real Connection, the one-eyed mare ridden by Goncalino Almeida, finished second, a head in front of De Puntillas, in a three-horse photo.

“At first I thought she was going to win by herself,” McCarron said. “Then as we hit the wire, I heard Goncalino making a lot of racket on the outside. He was celebrating, so I figured I finished second.”

Past the wire, Almeida was punching with his whip in jubilation.

McCarron looked over and said: “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Almeida answered.

The real winner of the Wilshire, Blushing Heiress, paid $8.80 after running 1 1/16 miles on grass in 1:40 4/5. Dirca, the 8-5 favorite, ran last in the seven-horse field.

De Puntillas carried high weight of 117 pounds, and Blushing Heiress and Real Connection were even at 115 apiece. Blushing Heiress, who is six for 18 overall, has won three of four starts this year and Sunday’s win, worth $65,040, increased her total to $258,340.

“It was picture perfect, except for making it so close at the finish,” Hendricks said. “I lost a few years. We went into this race after we went over the [nominations] and decided that we’d be on the front end alone. I just got her last summer [Doug Peterson was the previous trainer]. She had been laid up, because of some ulcers. She just didn’t enjoy racing at all. We took some time with her and it’s worked.”

As a young horse, Real Connection was kicked in the eye by her dam, Right Connection, who was trying to shoo some flies. Real Connection has won only once in 24 starts in the last 1 1/2 years, but at least Sunday’s near- miss, in her 51st start, pushed her bankroll over the $700,000 mark.

“Maybe next time I’ll be right,” Almeida said. “This is a wonderful mare. She tries, tries, tries and never stops trying.”

Touch Gold, McCarron’s mount in Saturday’s Preakness, won the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 20, the day McCarron went down at Santa Anita. Gary Stevens, who rode Touch Gold at Keeneland, will be aboard Silver Charm, the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness favorite.

“I like my horse very much,” McCarron said. “He worked very well the other day.”

Horse Racing Notes

The other stake on Sunday’s card, the $66,650 Nursery for 2-year-old fillies, went to Unreal Squeal, a 17-1 shot who beat Dereks Baby by 6 1/2 lengths. Unreal Squeal, trained by James Chapman, ran on Lasix, the bleeders’ medication. The $15,500 yearling purchase has been ridden by Michael Hunter while winning two of three starts.

Trainer David Hofmans is upbeat about Touch Gold taking on Silver Charm and Captain Bodgit, the 1-2 Kentucky Derby finishers, in the Preakness. “We didn’t consider the Derby because it was less than two weeks after this colt ran in the Lexington,” Hofmans said. “So I’ve got a fresh horse, and sometimes fresh horses can be dangerous. Maybe the other two will finish each other off, and we’ll come running and get all of it.”

At Golden Gate Fields, trainer Darrell Vienna, who saddled three of the seven horses in the race, won the $200,000 San Francisco Mile by about a length over Savinio, with Romarin running third and Via Lombardia, the 6-5 favorite, finishing off the board. Brice Blanc rode Wavy Run, who paid $11, making his first start since a 10th-place finish in the Hong Kong International Bowl on Dec. 8. Blanc let Romarin make the lead and his mount moved past in the final sixteenth of a mile. “This horse has improved under Brice’s handling,” Vienna said. “His riding style and patience have helped the horse relax.”

At Golden Gate on Saturday, A Matter Of Style’s eight-race winning streak ended when Native Russian beat him in an allowance race. It was the first loss for A Matter Of Style since last August.