O'Neill sweeps 2-year-old stakes at Hollypark

The rich got richer at Hollywood Park today, with Doug O'Neill, the runaway leading trainer at the spring-summer meet, winning both ends of the stakes races for 2-year-olds.

O'Neill swept the two Grade 3 races -- the Hollywood Futurity and the Landaluce Stakes -- with fillies, beating the boys in the Futurity with Necessary Evil and then coming back two races later to take the Landaluce with Repo. Assistant Leandro Mora saddled both winners because O'Neill is vacationing in Spain with his family.

Necessary Evil is now unbeaten in two races after her three-length, gate-to-wire victory in 1:09.98 for the six furlongs as the 6-5 favorite. She won her debut in gate-to-wire fashion as well, beating eight fillies on May 31 at Hollywood Park in a five-furlong maiden special weight.

"Boy is she fast," winning jockey Joel Rosario said. "She won nicely first time but I think she did even better today. She's a very nice filly. At the top of the stretch she changed leads perfectly. In fact she does everything perfect."

It seems O'Neill is doing everything perfect this meet as well. He went into the day assured of his fourth spring-summer Hollypark title with a 34-20 lead over runner-up John Sadler in the trainer standings. He's up by 16 now after his pair of stakes wins with only four racing days to go.

In the Landaluce, Corey Nakatani guided Repo, the 9-5 second choice, to a gate-to-wire, three-quarter length victory over 3-5 favorite Well Deserved, running the six furlongs in 1:10.07. Repo, a daughter of In Excess, won her debut at Hollywood Park on May 10 against state-breds in a maiden special weight, breaking on top and never looking back en route to a four-length score. She finished second in the Cinderella Stakes to Well Deserved in her next start, breaking slowly and awkwardly in the 5 1/2-furlong race on June 11 and closing well only to come up one length shy of Well Deserved.

"Normally she's a good gate filly but she was a little excited last time and she broke so hard that the ground broke out from under her," Nakatani said. "After that, I just sat and waited and tried to relax her. She showed a lot of courage. Today we got a flyer and the race was over."

Just like the trainer's race.