Prospect Park romps in turf debut in La Jolla Handicap

DEL MAR, Calif. – The grass is greener for Prospect Park, who made an auspicious turf debut Sunday at Del Mar with an overpowering 4 1/4-length romp in the Grade 3, $151,000 La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds.

Prospect Park ($6) was graded stakes placed thrice on dirt but looked like he found a new home Sunday. He cruised up to the leaders with three furlongs to go under jockey Kent Desormeaux, aggressively was sent for the lead at that point, and kept motoring while covering 1 1/16 miles on the firm course in 1:41.54.

Om, the 7-5 favorite, set the pace and held second, 2 1/2 lengths better than Royal Albert Hall. Papacoolpapacool was fourth and was followed in order by Pretentious, Pain and Misery, Over Par, Hero Ten All, and Cross the Line. Desormeaux said he made an assertive move because Prospect Park is a big colt, and he wanted to stretch the field to take away the closing punch of the late runners.

Cliff Sise Jr., who trains Prospect Park, credited the colt’s owner and breeder, Marty Wygod, with the decision to try turf. When the meet began, they had given thought to trying older horses in the Pacific Classic but decided to remain against 3-year-olds for now and see if Prospect Park liked the turf. He liked it. A lot. “When Kent worked him the other day, he said he worked just like he did on dirt,” Sise said.

Prospect Park, a son of Tapit, took four starts to win a maiden race but quickly progressed to finish second two starts later in the San Felipe Stakes in March at Santa Anita. He was on the Kentucky Derby trail at that point but came off it after the Santa Anita Derby. He finished fourth in that race and soon thereafter became ill, sidelining him from racing for two months.

After second-place finishes to Gimme Da Lute in the Affirmed at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos Derby, he got his first stakes win Sunday. Prospect Park now has won three times in 10 starts and has finished in the money eight times.