Kentucky Gal, Innovative and The Mizen Queen © Benoit Photo
There are only two races on the Del Mar summer meet stakes schedule where horses are required to go three turns. One is the G2 Del Mar Handicap on August 29. The other is the $100,000 CTT and TOC Stakes on Saturday.
With the scratch of Catalina Cocktail, 10 horses will line up to go the mile and three eighths on the Jimmy Durante turf course. Trainer Phil D’Amato, who knows a thing or two about training horses for grass marathons (his Gold Phoenix has won the 1 3/8’s mile Del Mar Handicap four straight years) will bring three horses to the dance.
Kentucky Gal won the $100,000 Possibly Perfect at Santa Anita in June when three horses hit the wire together. All three are back for the CTT and TOC. It was Kentucky Gal’s first win in over a year.
“I think she’s just getting good again,” D’Amato claims. “She took time off the layoff to kind of get back to what she was prior. She really likes training here at Del Mar and I’m expecting another solid performance.”
The runner-up to Kentucky Gal in the mile and a quarter Possibly Perfect was Innovative and she’s also back for D’Amato. She got nailed on the wire by her stablemate and missed by a nose.
“She’s another one who’s shown she likes the added distance,” D’Amato contends. “She can be a tactical kind of filly. She can place herself in a good spot depending on how fast or slow the pace is. She’s another one with a good chance.”
D’Amato also will start the Argentine-bred Pulp Fiction.
The third-place finisher in the Possibly Perfect was The Mizzen Queen, an Irish-bred who led every step of the race until the final strides.
“I think the distance is the key with her,” trainer Dan Blacker notes. “She seems to be better at the longer distances. That was our approach coming to Del Mar. We were pointing for a one-x (entry level allowance race) but that race didn’t go so we’re back in the stake. A little tougher spot but she’s doing really good. I think she’ll be forwardly placed if not on the lead and we’re pumped to have (jockey) Juan Hernandez.”
Trainer Graham Motion is also sending a horse for the CTT and TOC. Vronti is an English-bred who has run at four different tracks in her last four races. Del Mar will be number five.
“She handled the ship good,” Motion’s assistant Alice Clapham says. “She got in Wednesday night and everything’s good so far. Her last race at Saratoga showed that she likes the distance and this will be something more in her wheelhouse.”
Vronti finished second in that Saratoga race, a NW2 allowance at the same 1 3/8’s mile distance. She was on the west coast a couple of months ago when she ran fifth in the G1 Gamely at Santa Anita on Memorial Day.
One other horse who could be in the mix is Resolve, a daughter of Midnight Lute who ran fourth in the Possibly Perfect and followed with a fading sixth in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar last month.
“In the last race she never got covered up,” trainer Leonard Powell explains. “If she doesn’t have cover she doesn’t run the same. She needs to be covered up early to finish the way she can.
“We have Joel (Rosario),” Powell adds. “He won on her when he rode her last time. He got a beautiful trip so we hope for the same.”
The 29th running of the CTT and TOC Stakes is the eighth race on the 10-race card Saturday. Probable post time is 5:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Lubie’s Music (Emisael Jaramillo, 8-1); Pulp Fiction (Hector I. Berrios, 12-1); Innovative (Ricardo Gonzalez, 6-1); Cailin Dana (Armando Ayuso, 15-1); Vronti (Umberto Rispoli, 5/2); Resolve (5-1); Roselee May (Kazushi Kimura, 12-1); Catalina Cocktail (SCRATCHED); Kentucky Gal (Antonio Fresu, 5-1); Candy Bar (Abel Lezcano, 8-1), and The Mizzen Queen (12-1).