Beverly D. winner Snow Polina in the post parade

Dateline: 08/19/00

A field of ten turf fillies and mares went to post Saturday in the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington. California based New Zealand bred trained by Bobby Frankel was the prohibitive choice at 0.60-1. Longshot Wild Heart Dancing set the early pace completing the quarter in 24.25 and the half in 49.68 before giving way to the fifth choice Elegant Ridge who had stalked her from the start. Elegant Ridge briefly held the lead under Kent Desormeaux reaching the 3/4 in 1:14.18 before plummeting in the stretch run. 4.50-1 second choice Snow Polina passed her at the top of the stretch, completing the mile in 1:38.72. Late running Happyanunoit made a 5 wide move on the far turn passing 4 horses late, but was unable to catch Snow Polina who beat her by a length and completed the 1 3/16 miles of yeilding turf in 1:55.87. Corey Nakatani brought home the 43.60-1 longshot Country Garden third.

Pgm  Horse              Jockey            Win   Place  Show
10   Snow Polina        Bailey          11.00    3.20  3.00
 3   Happyanunoit       Blanc                    2.40  2.20
 2   Country Garden     Nakatani                       5.60

Winning Time:  2:01.37

$2 Exacta 10-3               24.40
$2 Quinella 3-10              8.40
$2 Trifecta 10-3-2          254.80

Entries and background info

Start of the Beverly D.

Wild Heart Dancing, Elegant Ridge, and eventual winner Snow Polina up front first time by the stands. Mark Guidry on Wild Heart Dancing said: "No one really wanted the lead and I found myself up the, but when the running really started, she just didn't have enough"

Snow Polina all alone at the finish. Jockey Jerry Bailey said: "She was very relaxed. I knew that the favorite was somewhere right behind us, but I thought I would just worry about my horse and how she was going. About the three-sixteenths pole I just let her loose."

Snow Polina coming back after the finish of the race. Trainer Bill Mott said: "Sometimes she washes out going to the gate, but I didn't see any signs of that. She left out of there relaxed and Jerry took her back to second or third but had her in good striking position all the way."

Gary Tanaka with his Beverly D. winner Snow Polina. She next start will probably be the Flower Bowl at Belmont.

Favorite Happyanunoit in the post parade. Her jockey Brice Blanc said: "She was nice and relaxed. I didn't want to go five wide, there was no point in that. The hole opened up pretty good and I was following the winner at the top of the lane. I never really had any traffic trouble."

Third place finisher Country Garden in the paddock. Her jockey Corey Nakatani said: "She had a pretty good trip the whole way and in a race like this there's not a whole lot of pace in it and the winner got an easy trip. She ran hard, and she's a very legitimate horse."

Photos by Cindy Pierson and Terence Dulay

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