California stakes races attract fewer shippers these days, but there are exceptions, including a pair of autumn Grade 1s that anchor the Turf Festival at Del Mar – the Matriarch for fillies and mares on Sunday and the Hollywood Derby on Saturday. Eight of the 12 Matriarch entrants raced outside California last out, including likely favorite Gina Romantica; two top contenders for the Hollywood Derby also arrived this week from New York – Carson’s Run and Donegal Momentum. The $300,000 Hollywood Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, is the ninth and final race Saturday at Del Mar. The card includes the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap, race 7, for older turf horses including Almendares, and Grade 3 Jimmy Durante, race 5, for 2-year-old turf fillies with Resolve looking to upset Supa Speed. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. In the 10-year history of the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, shippers and locals each won five. This year, the shippers hold the edge. Late-running Grade 1 winner Carson’s Run is the 3-1 program favorite, while the fast stakes winner Donegal Momentum will be forwardly placed. Neither is a lock against a solid California contingent. Local runners in the Hollywood Derby include Formidable Man, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby; King of Gosford, up in class off a sharp win in a restricted stakes; and four-time stakes winner Stay Hot. Atitlan won the Grade 2 Twilight Derby last out; longshot fillies Chatalas and Tirupati add pace. Tirupati is cross-entered in the Matriarch. Carson’s Run benefits by the Hollywood Derby pace scenario, and shorter distance, after he won the Grade 3 Jockey Club Derby at a 1 3/8 miles. “It was plenty far enough for him, he’s probably a mile-and-an-eighth, mile-and-a-quarter horse,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “You get more pace going a mile and an eighth than a mile and three-eighths.” Dylan Davis has been riding and working Carson’s Run since his debut win as a 2-year-old. “Dylan knows him very well. It’s been a good partnership,” Clement said. Carson’s Run, a two-time Grade 1 winner with five wins and $1,574,629 from nine starts, will be rolling from behind. New York shipper Donegal Momentum employs a different style, which is speed. He was good enough to win his May 16 debut at six furlongs on dirt, but trainer Tom Morley suspected the Uncle Mo colt might end up on turf. “He looks like a turf horse, the dam was a grass horse. Uncle Mo will get you a grass horse, and he moves like a grass horse,” Morley said. Donegal Momentum ran accordingly when he switched to turf. He won a fast allowance in summer at Saratoga, followed by a front-running victory in the one-mile Gio Ponti at Aqueduct. Donegal Momentum was considered for the Grade 3 Hill Prince on Nov. 9 at Aqueduct. “We wanted to stay against straight 3-year-olds, and see if he can get the nine furlongs,” Morley said. “The chance of getting nine furlongs for a horse with as much speed as he has is more likely to happen on California turf that it was at Aqueduct.” Donegal Momentum is a 3-for-5 front-runner/pace-presser who should get a forwardly placed trip under jockey Javier Castellano. Morley did not rule out a return to dirt in the future. “For now, turf is going to remain our target.” Formidable Man and King of Gosford top the local contingent. The former is making his first start since winning the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 1. Trainer Michael McCarthy nominated Formidable Man to a Grade 2 in October at Santa Anita, but passed. “I decided to forgo the Twilight Derby and make sure we were at our best for something like this,” McCarthy said, referring to the Hollywood Derby. Formidable Man is 3 for 3 on turf at Del Mar and gets Umberto Rispoli aboard. McCarthy’s top 3-year-old turf horse, Endlessly, is scheduled to return to Santa Anita this month. His first major objective is the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on March 1. King of Gosford moves way up in class after a sharp win in the restricted Let It Ride stakes at Del Mar. “He won pretty impressively; yes it was against lesser,” trainer Phil D’Amato acknowledged. “He’s going to have to step it up, but I when you look at the PPs of the horses on the West Coast, he’s been running [well] against them.” The stakes race won by King of Gosford has been unproductive regarding the Hollywood Derby. Six winners of the Let It Ride ran back in the Hollywood Derby; none hit the board. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides King of Gosford. Others in the Hollywood Derby include Rothschild, British Isles, Heart Headed, Twirling Point, and Cathal. Favorites are 4 for 10 in the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.