Phil D'Amato © Benoit Photo
D’AMATO LOADS UP IN SATURDAY’S G2 YELLOW RIBBON AT DEL MAR
Trainer Phil D’Amato has never shied away from placing multiple entries in big stakes race. He feels if they fit and they’re working well, that’s where they will go regardless of whether or not he has other horses in the barn that also fit and are working well.
It has been a winning formula in the past. D’Amato’s been known to sweep stakes exactas and, on a few occasions, trifectas. So when he entered four horses in the G2 Yellow Ribbon on Saturday, it was business as usual for the D’Amato operation.
This year he’s bringing back Hang the Moon in the Yellow Ribbon. The winner of last year’s G2 John C. Mabee at Del Mar and the G2 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita hasn’t been seen since she ran a close sixth in the G3 Robert J. Frankel at the end of last year.
“The layoff was by design,” D’Amato says. “She reached her limit of number of races last year. We tried to squeeze in one or two too many and I think she needed a little R & R. She’s come back as good as ever.”
D’Amato will also run Public Assembly, who won the G3 Royal Heroine at Santa Anita in April and then ran fifth in the G1 Gamely on Memorial Day.
“I think I rushed her back too quick off of her stakes win,” D’Amato concedes. “She was a little bit over the top in that last race. Granted it was a Grade I against really nice horses. She’s had some time to relax and strengthen up and get ready for this race. I like her spacing a lot better going into Saturday.”
Mission of Joy is the newcomer to the D’Amato barn, coming over from the Graham Motion stable.
“She arrived less than a month ago,” D’Amato notes. “We got two breezes into her on the grass. She came in in good shape and has a lot of back class. Hopefully she can regain some of that.”
That leaves his longshot, Musical Rhapsody, another one he’s bringing back off of a long layoff. The Irish-bred hasn’t raced since her third-place finish in the CTT and TOC Stakes last year at Del Mar.
D’Amato has dominated turf racing at Del Mar in recent years but he has only won the Yellow Ribbon once, in 2022 with the talented mare, Going Global. There will be several trainers on Saturday looking to make sure he doesn’t win another one. Like Michael McCarthy, who will saddle Liguria, winner of the G2 Buena Vista in March. She subsequently finished third in the Gamely.
“I thought her effort was solid in the Gamely,” McCarthy contends. “She’s come down here and is training as good if not better. We’re looking for a solid performance this weekend.”
Liguria came to his barn early this year after racing two years in the east with trainer Chad Brown. She has experience on the track, winning the G3 Jimmy Durante as a 2-year-old in 2022.
Heredia is the lone shipper in the race. She’s posted a couple of third-place finishes in New York for trainer Motion since arriving in the U.S. this past winter. Unlike most shippers coming into Del Mar to run in a graded stakes, the English-bred is not here testing the waters for this fall’s Breeders’ Cup.
“We’re just taking it race by race,” assistant trainer Alice Clapham notes. “We did think about entering her in a race at Saratoga (the G2 Ballston Spa), but they thought this track might suit her better. We were looking for a firmer track because we haven’t had one for her yet.”
Watchtower, trained by Richard Baltas, and Mahina, from the Paddy Gallagher barn, round out the field of eight going a mile and a sixteenth on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. The 73rd running of the Yellow Ribbon Handicap goes off as Race 9 on the 10-race Saturday card.
Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Hang the Moon (Kazushi Kimura, 3-1); Heredia (Juan Hernandez, 4-1); Liguria (Umberto Rispoli, 7/2); Public Assembly (Antonio Fresu, 5-1); Watchtower (Mirco Demuro, 12-1); Mission of Joy (Armando Ayuso, 6-1); Musical Rhapsody (Ricky Gonzalez, 12-1), and Mahina (Hector I. Berrios, 8-1).
O’NEILL, BAFFERT FACE-OFF IN G3 BEST PAL AT DEL MAR SATURDAY
Two of the biggest stables on the Del Mar grounds will lock horns Saturday in the first of the graded stakes for 2-year-olds this season, the G3 Best Pal. Trainer Doug O’Neill brings three to Bob Baffert’s two to the six-furlong sprint, the local prep for the G1 Futurity next month.
Known as the Balboa Stakes until 1995, the Best Pal has produced such stars as Lookin’ At Lucky, Flying Paster, Nyquist, Timber Country and, of course, Best Pal.
O’Neill is loaded with good 2-year-olds this year and three will be on display Saturday.
“I think we’ve had eight babies win so far,” O’Neill states. “Let’s keep it going. We’ll know more this weekend.”
Punto Forty is one of the victorious juveniles in O’Neill’s barn. He’s a Nyquist colt who won his debut at Los Alamitos in June.
“He was training really well going into his debut,” O’Neill points out, “and he certainly didn’t disappoint us. We’re looking forward to him running like his Papa.”
Pavlovian is the Cal-bred son of another horse O’Neill had success with in the past. Pavel won the 2018 Stephen Foster and then ran second to Accelerate in the 2018 Pacific Classic.
“He looks a lot like his stallion,” O’Neill acknowledges. “He’s trained well and runs well so we figured we’d take a chance with him in open company and see what happens.”
Brigante is the only one of O’Neill’s entries in the Best Pal who has yet to win. He finished second in his debut on the turf at Santa Anita in June. The son of More Than Ready is owned and bred by Calumet Farms.
“He’s a big, good looking 2-year old that’s got a lot of upside,” O’Neill says. “Looks like the more ground the better. Turf or dirt. So we’re real excited about him. Hector (Berrios) worked him the other day and when he got off of him he said ‘Wow, this is a talented horse’.”
Baffert has won the Best Pal a record 11 times, including the last three runnings. He won it with the ill-fated Havnameltdown in 2022, Prince of Monaco in 2023 and Getaway Car last year.
This year he brings Desert Gate, a son of Omaha Beach, who won at first asking at Santa Anita in June.
“We thought he’d win first out,” Baffert states. “He’s come back and trained well. He’s a cool horse.”
The other Baffert entry is St Petersburg, a son of Constitution who sold at last year’s Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale for $700,000. He finished third in his debut at Los Alamitos, 2 ¼ lengths behind Punto Forty.
“His first race you can draw a line through it,” Baffert says. “He needed the race. He was green. He wasn’t ready. He’s come back and worked well. He wants to go two turns, so I want to get some races into him.”
The 55th running of the G3 Best Pal is Race 4 on the Saturday card. Probable post is 3:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and morning line odds: Brigante (Hector I. Berrios, 6-1); Punto Forty (Antonio Fresu, 4-1); St Petersburg (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1); Pavlovian (Umberto Rispoli, 8-1), and Desert Gate (Juan Hernandez, 3/5).
CALLS FOR CARMA BRING FANS INTO THE ANNOUNCER’S BOOTH
He makes it sound easy. His description of a race effortlessly flows out of his mouth, into the mic and out across the Del Mar Fairgrounds. But it takes a lot of preparation and work to do what announcer Larry Collmus does every race day at the seaside oval.
Now you can sit-in on one of Larry’s special race calls. Actually go up to the booth on the roof of the giant grandstand and watch Collmus do his thing. The same ‘thing’ he’s done for countless Kentucky Derbies and Breeders’ Cups. All the while you’ll be contributing to a great cause, CARMA, the California Retirement Management Account, which helps find homes for retired racehorses.
A $200 donation gets you a front row seat for one of Collmus’ race calls -- side-by-side with one of the premier announcers in all of horse racing. He used to do it at Saratoga, adopting the idea from Hall of Fame announcer Tom Durkin.
“I meet them out on the roof and we take pictures and chat for a while,” Collmus explains. “I’ll bring them into the booth and show them how I get prepared to call a race. Then they watch me call the race.”
It’s a great behind-the-scenes experience.
“In three ways it’s good,” Collmus notes. “People get to see how it works up there. I get to meet people I would have necessarily never met and CARMA gets the proceeds.”
If you’d like to participate, you can call the Del Mar ticket office at 858-792-4242 or go online at DMTC.com/tickets
PAIR OF HANDICAPPING SEMINARS ON TAP THIS WEEKEND
Racing fans can sit in on a pair of free handicapping seminars this weekend held on the Plaza de Mexico. Each day the seminars start at 1:00 p.m. and run for about 30 to 40 minutes.
The seminars feature guest experts with solid opinions on the afternoons’ races. On Saturday, host Frank Scatoni will feature horse player Jonathan Paley. Sunday will see host Dan Smith working with newspaper handicapper Ed Wilson.
COOLING OUT: Veteran trainer Sam Scolamieri notched his first win of the 2025 summer session at Del Mar when Too Sassy won Race 2 Thursday. Scolamieri has been training horses for over 40 years…Lil Yachty will be in the house Saturday when two of his horses are set to run. The popular rapper has Listenupshance in Race 1 and Punto Forty running in the G3 Best Pal (Race 4)…Notable works on Friday: Tarantino (4f, :48.40); Darlin Tami (4f, :46.80); Hot Girl Walk (5f, 1:00.80); Yogi Boy (5f, 1:00.20); Explora (6f, 1:11.60); Barnes (7f, 1:23.80), and Goal Oriented (7f, 1:23.80). A total of 121 horses put in official works at Del Mar on Friday.