Father's Day weekend is coming up, but a productive mother will be in the forefront of stakes activity at Hollywood Park. Downtown Blues, a broodmare by Seattle Song, is the dam of both Night Patrol and Harbor Blues, entered in the $350,000 Charlie Whittingham Memorial Handicap (gr. IT) and $200,000-added Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks (gr. II), respectively, on Saturday.Nick Canani trains both Night Patrol, a 7-year-old gelding, and his 3-year-old half sister for owner-breeder Everest Stables, nom de course for Jeff Nielsen of St. Paul, Minn. Both were shipped from Santa Anita to Hollywood Park on Thursday. "They've both been training well and are ready to run," said Canani.
Night Patrol, a hard-knocking son of Storm Boot, has won 10 of 50 starts and earned $704,273. He led most of the way as a 16-1 longshot before finishing second to Denon last year in the Whittingham at 1 1/4 miles on turf and later won the Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT).He drew the rail in a field of six this year. Harbor Blues, a daughter of Petionville, broke her maiden with an 11-length victory in the Arizona Oaks at Turf Paradise in February and finished second in the Fantasy Stakes (gr. II) at Oaklawn on April 11 in her most recent outing. Harbor Blues leaves from post five in a field of eight in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks.
