Camp Victory upsets The Factor

Camp Victory registered a first top-level success Saturday when posting a 10-1 upset of the Grade 1, $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park. Rallying from slightly off the pace, the five-year-old gelding caught odds-on favorite The Factor inside the eighth pole and drew off to win the seven-furlong Cushion Track test by 3 1/4 lengths in a time of 1:22 3/5. Ridden by Joe Talamo, Camp Victory paid $22.60, $7 and $3.60.

"There was a tear or two coming down," said assistant trainer Phil D'Amato, who did the saddling duties after trainer Mike Mitchell underwent surgery Friday to remove a brain tumor. "Mike did all the work. I just had him in maintenance mode. Mike's always loved this horse and picked him out to claim. It was like a six-way shake the day we got him. The rest is history."

"It was crazy here," said Mitchell's wife, Denise, who watched the Triple Bend with her husband on a computer in the hospital. "We were ready to move to a new room from the ICU [Intensive Care Unit], but they let us sneak a laptop in there to watch the race. Mike came out of the surgery fine and he's doing very well. In fact, he's sitting in a chair right now and isn't in any pain."

Making his first start since late March, The Factor failed to get a breather down the backside while setting splits of :22 2/5 and :44 4/5. Pressured by Smiling Tiger passing the quarter pole, both Grade 1 veterans were clearly in the sight of Camp Victory, who tracked outside rivals while gradually moving up from fifth approaching the stretch. Despite turning back the challenge from Smiling Tiger, The Factor was softened up sufficiently and might have been a tad short while proving second best at 4-5. However, he was 5 1/4 lengths ahead of 10-1 chance Mobilized at the finish.

Completing the order of finish were Tres Borrachos, Smiling Tiger, Centralinteligence and Italian Rules. Scratched from the Triple Bend were Don Tito and Comma to the Top.

Camp Victory was acquired by his present connections -- the partnership of Featherston, Jacobsen and Miller -- via the claim box for $40,000 in February 2011. After an initial victory for his new owners in an optional claimer, Camp Victory missed by a nose in the Grade 3 San Simeon Handicap, but was elevated to first in the Grade 3 Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood after the disqualification of eventual sprint champion Amazombie.

Subsequently second to Smiling Tiger in the 2011 Triple Bend, Camp Victory occupied the same slot behind The Factor in the Grade 1 Pat O'Brien at Del Mar. He concluded last year's campaign with unplaced finishes in the Grade 3 Morvich and Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

Prior to Saturday's win, Camp Victory recorded third-place finishes in the Grade 2 Potrero Grande and in his title defense of the May 28 Los Angeles Handicap. His record now stands at 23-8-3-2, $517,986.

Bred in Virginia by Atkins Homes, Camp Victory is by Forest Camp out of the winning Clever Trick mare Victory Trick, a half-sister to Canadian Grade 2 winner Last Answer and a full sister to multiple stakes winner Victorious Trick. This is the extended family of Grade 2 winner Clever Response and this year's Grade 3 San Francisco Mile winner Hudson Landing.

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