Gold Phoenix © Benoit Photo
GOLD PHOENIX EYES A SPOT IN THE RECORD BOOKS SATURDAY
Unbelievable is an overused word in sports. The definition of unbelievable is “too improbable, extreme, or astonishing to be accepted as true or ordinary.” But many times, a commentator or writer will use the word to describe something that, while not routine, is also not outside the realm of possibility. A diving catch in the outfield or on the football field is hardly ‘unbelievable,’ but every season you’ll hear that word to describe that kind of play.
‘Unprecedented’ is how most writers and commentators described Gold Phoenix’ victory in the G2 Del Mar Handicap last year, his fourth in four years. Should the Irish-bred do it again in the mile and three-eighths grass event on Saturday, that would be ‘unbelievable.’
Most horses these days don’t race for five years, let alone maintain their form long enough to be considered for a Grade II race. Gold Phoenix is not only being considered for the G2 Del Mar Handicap, he’s the morning line favorite.
“Just having a great system all the way around,” D’Amato claims is the reason Gold Phoenix has maintained his form over so many years. “Owners that give horses time off at the end of every year. He comes back with recharged batteries and a fresh, happy horse. We definitely pick his spots. He runs five or six times a year and saves himself for those races. Then we give him a break and wait until next year.”
There’s been a lot of attention paid to D’Amato’s barn this week but he says there’s no added pressure leading up to the race.
“No, not at all,” D’Amato insists. “He’s already done something I don’t think many horses are ever going to do. Whatever we get out of him from here on out is just a bonus. He’s already done as much as I could ever imagine he could do so we’re just enjoying the rest of his career and whatever he gives us we’ll be happy.”
Gold Phoenix is owned by a large partnership, spearheaded by Billy Koch and Little Red Feather Racing. He has stood on the sideline for most every race and marveled at the ability of the chestnut gelding who came to his attention back in 2021.
“We have European bloodstock agents with BBA Ireland, Nial Dalton and Michael Donohoe. They sent Gold Phoenix to me. He had won his debut going seven-eighths and just looked like a monster and I said ‘we just have to buy him.’
That was in the winter of Gold Phoenix’ 3-year-old season. He didn’t run again until a year later due to injury. He ran competitively in allowance company for few months in 2022 before they decided to take a shot in the Del Mar Handicap. With Flavien Prat aboard he won by a head.
“He’s a once in a lifetime horse,” Koch says. “We have a tremendous group of partners in on this horse and words can’t describe what he means. Every time he runs he gives it everything he has. You hope that all horses could be like him. To be able to run as good at eight as he was at six and seven. It’s pretty remarkable. Father time is undefeated except for horses like Gold Phoenix.”
Koch knows he has an exceptional horse but he also knows he has a brilliant trainer and a team that has reached heights with this horse that few ever reach.
“Phil and his team and Dr. Carpenter have done an amazing job keeping him going the way they have,” Koch notes. “If you look at his past performances over the years it’s basically the same races over and over again. We’ve taken a couple of shots here and there. We went to Churchill a couple of times and had some bad luck there. And then giving him breaks in the winter after the Breeders’ Cup. Putting him away and letting him be a horse.
“The great Mike Mitchell,” Koch adds, “who Phil learned under, used to tell me ‘Do right by the horses and they’ll do right by you.’ We like giving our horses lots of time and lots of breaks.”
So what would a victory on Saturday mean personally to Billy Koch?
“It’s not really about me,” Koch concedes. “It’s about our partners and the horse’s legacy and what it will be in the record books and the history books. He’s already the all-time Del Mar stakes winner and this would be the feather on the cap so to speak. I really want it for him.”
Gold Phoenix set the Del Mar record for the most stakes victories by a horse when he notched number six in the G2 Eddie Read Stakes last month. But even before that, the 8-year-old gelding had won over the heart of his trainer.
“I have a bunch of favorites,” D’Amato admits, “but he’s right up there with my Breeders’ Cup winner, Obviously, Midnight Storm and Going Global.”
Whether he wins Saturday or not, father time is ticking down on the racing career of Gold Phoenix. After 2026 he will have two years of eligibility left to race in California.
“We kind of take things one race at a time,” Koch states when asked about next year. “We’re going to see how he finishes out this year. It’s really up to him and it’s up to Phil. If he’s not racing at the highest levels then we’ll stop on him. Believe me, I’ve got a lot of aftercare facilities that have called and they all want Gold Phoenix.”
PAIR OF CAL-BREDS TRY OPEN COMPANY IN G3 TORREY PINES SUNDAY
It worked last year. An up and coming Cal-bred filly named Om N Joy stepped up into the G3 Torrey Pines at Del Mar and won the race. It was her fifth win in a row and the beginning of bigger and better things for the daughter of Om. She would win the G2 Santa Margarita Stakes, run second in the G1 Clement Hirsch and run a decent fourth behind the powerhouse Knightsbridge in the G1 Pacific Classic.
This year two more talented Cal-bred Fillies are taking a shot at the Torrey Pines hoping they too can catch lightning in a bottle and proceed with the kind of year Om N Joy has enjoyed post-Torrey Pines.
Mohaven was thought by many to be the top Cal-bred filly running when she went to the post in the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar last month. She went off as the odds-on favorite and led almost every step of the way. Until the end when She’s No Quant came surging late to steal the show and relegate Mohaven to second place.
“She ran her race, she just got beat,” trainer John Sadler notes. “The other filly outran her but she ran well in defeat. She likes this track so we’ll give her another go in the Torrey Pines.”
Mohaven came into the Fleet Treat off a pair of dominating wins. She won the six and a half furlong $125,000 Evening Jewel in April by five lengths then came back and captured the mile and a sixteenth $125,000 Melair Stakes in May by six lengths, both in wire-to-wire fashion.
“You look at her record she runs well every time even if she doesn’t win,” Sadler points out. “She’s ready to go. A little tougher race. Most of her stakes wins are in Cal-bred company but the filly that just beat her is a Cal-bred so she deserves to be in there and she doesn’t have a lot of conditions so it’s the right spot.”
Sadler has won the Torrey Pines six times, four in a row from 2007 to 2010. Mohaven has only been out of the money once in eight lifetime starts and that was when Sadler gave her a try on turf. She has two wins and three seconds in five starts at Del Mar.
She’s No Quant has won three straight including the Fleet Treat last time out. She’s a daughter of Pavel, who has produced several winners at Del Mar this summer. She’s No Quant broke her maiden in May and won an entry level allowance in June. Both of those races were at Santa Anita and both were on the turf. Her connections decided to give her a try on the dirt in her stakes debut and she passed with flying colors.
“I think it was very impressive,” trainer Edward Freeman says about the Fleet Treat victory. “She overcame a fair bit of trouble. She bobbled at the gate and was bothered around the turn by the other Sadler horse. She had every reason to find that difficult to overcome and she overcame it. She ran down Mohaven as if a mile would not be a problem.”
The Torrey Pines is a mile on the main track.
“There aren’t many opportunities left to run against 3-year-old fillies,” Freeman continues. “At this stage you’re either good enough or you’re not, whether you were bred in California or in the Bluegrass.”
Freeman says he’s well aware of Om N Joy’s success in last year’s Torrey Pines.
“I don’t want to be compared, we’re just trying to do our own thing,” Freeman says with a laugh. “We’ll find out if she’s good enough. She beat the best Cal-bred filly last out so we’ll take a swing.”
Of course lurking close by is Bob Baffert, an eight-time winner of the Torrey Pines dating back to 1998. He may be looking for a little redemption from last year when his brilliant filly, Tenma, got beat by Om N Joy in the Torrey Pines. The daughter of Nyquist had won the G2 Santa Anita Oaks earlier in the year and had run fourth in the G1 Kentucky Oaks.
This year Baffert brings Rabeeba, a daughter of Curlin, who is undefeated after two starts. She broke her maiden at Los Alamitos in June and captured an entry allowance race at Del Mar last month at the one mile distance.
“She’s improving with every race,” Baffert states. “I’m just trying to develop her. This will tell a lot about how she’s progressing. Hopefully she can keep moving forward because she’ll have to run against older after this.”
A field of seven is expected for the 49th running of the Torrey Pines. It’s Race 7 on the nine-race card Sunday. Probable post time is 5 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line favorites: Bank Shot (Adrian Escobedo, 10-1); She’s No Quant (Antonio Fresu, 3-1); Rabeeba (Juan Hernandez, 8/5), Channel Place (Kazushi Kimura, 12-1); Mohaven (Emisael Jaramillo, 7/2); Kinzlee’scharisma (Tiago Pereira, 8-1), and Wolf Hill (Joel Rosario, 8-1).
JOCKEY ANTONIO FRESU MOVING BACK EAST AFTER DEL MAR
Jockey Antonio Fresu’s tenure at Del Mar and in Southern California is coming to an end. At the conclusion of the summer meet at the seaside oval, Fresu plans to pack up his gear and move his tack to the East Coast and join the jockey colony at the new Belmont Park.
He leaves behind a path of success that includes a couple of riding titles up at Santa Anita, a pair of victories aboard Motorious in the G3 Green Flash at Del Mar, and several other graded stakes wins including the G2 San Diego and the G2 Pat O’Brien.
This is Fresu’s fourth year riding at Del Mar and it didn’t take him long to establish himself as one of the better, most consistent riders at the seaside oval. His best year at Del Mar, summer and fall meets combined, was 2024 when he won 52 races and $4,120,736 in earnings. Overall, through Friday’s racing, Fresu had won 165 races at Del Mar and $12,458,374.
“Del Mar is a great place,” Fresu says. “One of my favorites. It’s just unique. It’s close to my heart. I always felt like home when I was here. The place is amazing. I had a great time. I never managed to win a title here but I was always there.”
Fresu notched runner-up finishes in the summer meet jockey standings in 2023, ’24 and ’25. This year he sits in third place with 20 wins. Fresu has 14 stakes victories at Del Mar with just under two weeks to go in the summer meet. Six of those were graded stakes. Two of those are among his favorites.
“One was the (2024) San Diego with Dr. Venkman,” Fresu recalls. “It was also special with the Pat O’Brien with Raging Torrent a couple of years ago.”
He also won the 2024 G1 Santa Anita Derby with Stronghold, punching his ticket to his first and only Kentucky Derby. They would run a respectable seventh that year. Fresu has also enjoyed success in the Breeders’ Cup with second place finishes in both the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf with Iron Man Cal and the Turf Sprint with Motorious at the seaside oval. He came close again in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar with Mr. A.P., falling a length short to Ted Noffey.
Fresu’s agent Ron Anderson told the Daily Racing Form they are heading back east for more opportunities. “Looking for greener pastures.”
The likable 36-year-old rider, a native of Italy, will be missed by his fellow riders and the people he made friends with in his four years at Del Mar. When asked if he might come back for the summer meet at Del Mar next year, Fresu laughed and said, “I don’t know. That’s too far.”
COOLING OUT: Friday was all chalk, until the last two races when Nesso’s Lastharrah scored at 19-1 in Race 7 and Big Blast followed with a win at 8-1 in Race 8, knocking out all of the Pick 6 players. So there’s a Pick Six carryover Saturday of $46,407…Another accolade for Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. His home state of New Mexico declared August 26 “Mike Smith Day.” Smith is from Dexter, New Mexico, population about 1,100. Smith was presented with a copy of the proclamation by his mother, Vitoll. He told a local news outlet he plans to put it up alongside his Hall of Fame plaque. Smith turned 60 earlier this month...Notable works for Saturday: Dirt – Collmus (3f, :37.80); Imagination (4f, :48.40); Inshallah (4f, :48.00); Lovesick Blues (4f, :47.60); Majestic Oops (4f, :48.80); Man O Rose (4f, :46.80); On the Whim (4f, :48.40); Somerset West (4f, :47.20); Baltic Fire (5f, 1:00.80); Holmby (6f, 1:11.80), and Desert Gate (6f, 1:11.20). 190 horses put in official works at Del Mar on Saturday.