Hypergamy © Benoit Photo

Hypergamy heads a field of 11 in the Grade III $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes going a mile on the namesake’s turf Saturday at Del Mar, part of the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival on closing weekend. 

Breaking her maiden in gate-to-wire fashion with Antonio Fresu aboard in her last start, the Doug O’Neill trainee Hypergamy is rejoining stakes competition. Third by one and three-quarters lengths in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on September 6, the American Pharoah filly went three wide to take the lead down the stretch but was overcome in the final stages. A Glenn Sorgenstein W C Racing homebred, Hypergamy is 4-1-1-1 with $64,500 in earnings. She will have Antonio Fresu back aboard.

French-bred Special Wood makes her stateside debut for Thomas Proctor. Owned by C Bernick, Special Wood enters the Durante with a pair of wins under her belt, exactly a month apart in July and August in her native France. She has a record of 3-2-0-0 and will be ridden by John Velazquez. 

Making a quick turn around for Richard Baltas is Bourbon and Ginger who finished sixth in the Desi Arnaz Stakes. She will be switching back to turf and stretching out and trying two turns for the first time. Her last time on turf was a sixth-place finish in the Speakeasy Stakes sprinting on the Santa Anita on October 4. The Spendthrift Farm filly will have a new rider in Tiago Pereira. 

Field of 11 in post-position order: Latte Luv, Mirco Demuro 120; Special Wood, John Velazquez 120; Bourbon and Ginger, Tiago Pereira 120; Just Aloof, Hector Berrios 120; La Ville Lumiere, Kazushi Kimura 120; Sweet Little Lila, Serafin Carmona 120; Umbralle, Armando Ayuso 120; Yours Sincerely, Umberto Rispoli 120; Hypergamy, Antonio Fresu 120; Wild Like the West, Juan Hernandez 120; Cee Drew, Ricardo Gonzalez 120. 

First post time for an 11-race card is 11:30 AM, admission gates open at 10:30 AM. The Jimmy Durante Stakes goes as the seventh race with an approximate post time of 2:30 PM.