Prospect Park wins La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar

By foxsports
Published

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) Prospect Park ran away with the Grade 3 $150,000 La Jolla Handicap on Sunday at Del Mar, beating Om by 4 1/4 lengths in the Grade 3 race for 3-year-olds.

Ridden by Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux and trained by Clifford Sise Jr., Prospect Park ran 1 1/16 miles on the infield turf course in 1:41.54.

Prospect Park was sidelined by a virus after finishing fourth in the Santa Anita Derby, causing the colt to miss the Kentucky Derby and other Triple Crown races. He returned in June and was second to Gimme Da Lute in the Affirmed and was nosed out by the same rival in the Los Alamitos Derby on July 4.

''Finally, this horse did what we knew he could do,'' Desormeaux said. ''We've been so high on him, right from the first time I got on him. We knew he was special. But he's had so many things go wrong. He's had trouble in his races, he's gotten sick, he's had issues - it goes on. But today he did it.''

Prospect Park paid $6, $3.20 and $2.80 for his third victory in 10 career starts. He earned $90,000 to push his total to $396,570.

Om returned $3.40 and $3, and Royal Albert Hall paid $4.20 to show.

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