TRIPLE CROWN CHAMP JUSTIFY IN RECOVERY MODE HERE
Triple Crown champion Justify made his first appearance at Del Mar on Monday morning, a “meet and greet” with the San Diego County media conducted by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Justify looked as imposing as he had at all points through six straight victories in a career begun early this year with the last three coming in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Led around by assistant trainer Jim Barnes awaiting his turn at the wash mat, the big chestnut turned to face the variety of cameras aimed at him through the bathing procedure so all could get a good angle. Afterward, while being walked around the stable area, he reared up and pawed the air briefly before Barnes coolly brought him back down and under control.
Feisty as Justify is by nature, and good as he looks, he’s currently under observation after a filling (swelling or inflammation) was discovered in his left front ankle about two weeks ago. It subsided, then came back after light exercise and Baffert has his second Triple Crown winner in the last four years at Del Mar to personally monitor daily developments before any decision is made regarding his racing career.
“Right now, we’re just looking to get him 100 percent,” Baffert said. “We’re in a holding pattern. I’d love to run him again, because he’s so much fun and exciting to watch. We should know more in a couple of weeks.”
Baffert said Justify’s exercise program probably will involve only walking around the stable area for the next two weeks. The best case scenario would be for a return to racing sometime in the fall with the ultimate goal being the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Churchill Downs.
The possibility of having Justify paraded before the Del Mar crowd, as was done at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos recently, is being discussed.
While Justify walks, Baffert is as usual well stocked with quality runners that figure to impact the summer meeting, which starts Wednesday, in a major way – as has been the case for decades.
He has dozens of 2-year-olds that are candidates to add to his 13 Del Mar Futurity and seven Del Mar Debutante wins.
He has a battery of older horses capable of adding to his five TVG Pacific Classic victories, the most recent being with Collected in last year’s running of the $1 million event. Collected, scheduled to arrive here next week, is a possibility to defend.
“Del Mar has always been the place where everyone wants to win a race,” Baffert said. “It’s just a great atmosphere. Everybody saves their good horses for down here.
“It’s heaven down here. Opening Day is on everybody’s bucket list.”
PRAT AIMS TO IMPROVE NUMBERS AND REPEAT AS RIDING CHAMPION
Like millions of his countrymen, jockey Flavien Prat watched with interest on Sunday as France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup soccer final in Moscow.
And, it would seem, celebrated the victory with considerably more restraint than most of them.
“I watched the first half with just my girlfriend at home, then joined some friends from France at a restaurant for the second half,” Prat said Monday morning. “It was cool. It was fun.
“I’m a fan of soccer for the big events like the World Cup, but not as big as some French are.”
Prat, 25, born in Melun, France, has been a big presence in the Del Mar jockey standings for the last three years and has had his name atop the list for the last two.
Prat won the summer meeting riding title outright in 2017 with 35 wins, six more than co-runners-up Rafael Bejarano and apprentice Evin Roman. Prat shared the 2016 summer crown with Bejarano when each recorded 38 wins.
The riding colony here remains deep with Hall of Famers like Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Victor Espinoza and Kent Desormeaux and youngsters like Evin Roman and apprentices Asa Espinoza and Heriberto Figueroa. But Prat’s goal for 2018 is to better his previous win numbers, which would likely bring another title.
“That’s always the goal, to improve on the record,” Prat said.
Prat enters the summer meeting No. 12 for purse earnings among North American riders for 2018 with more than $6.2 million. He has 95 wins from 423 mounts and an additional 136 on the board finishes plus a 22 percent win rate and 55 percent in-the-money number.
“Overall it has been a pretty good year, I haven’t won any Grade I stakes, but I have won 15 graded stakes. I won on Derby Day at Churchill Downs and Belmont Stakes Day at Belmont Park and at Keeneland. So when I’ve gone out of town I’ve done pretty well.”
NEW OUTFITS GIVE JERKENS A BRIGHT OUTLOOK ON MEETING
Racing Secretary David Jerkens and his crew were hard at work over the weekend taking entries for Opening Day on Wednesday and Day Two on Thursday.
But Jerkens took a moment to look forward optimistically to a summer season in which there will be several newcomers to the Del Mar training and racing scene.
“We’ve enhanced our Ship And Win program so that it’s now $2,000 for the initial start,” Jerkens said. “Last year it was $1,500, two years ago $1,000. Plus a 30 percent purse bonus.
“We aggressively put the word out everywhere that we could. The Breeders’ Cup exposure helped with a lot of people seeing Del Mar for the first time. Ian Wilkes, I think especially attributes that partly to his being here.
“Santa Anita, to their credit, had a good season and the Southern California horse population is better than it was a year ago, so we’re optimistic going into this meet.”
Wilkes, a native of Australia, worked for top Australian trainer Colin Hayes and Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Carl Nafzger before going out on his own. Wilkes won the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Fort Larned. The Louisville, Ky., resident, has stalls for five horses and has Giant Payday nominated for the $75,000 Wickerr Stakes on Sunday.
Other trainers testing the Del Mar summer racing waters are: Jim DiVito, who was based in Chicago and Kentucky, Todd Fincher, in from New Mexico, and Midwest-based Shawn Davis.
“There’s quite an influx from Northern California as well, so fans will be seeing some new names,” Jerkens said.
A total of 111 horses was entered for 104 spots in Wednesday’s 10-races with five of the events oversubscribed. Thursday’s eight-race program elicited 81 entries.
DESERT STONE FAVORED IN OVERFLOW FIELD FOR OCEANSIDE STAKES
Irish-bred Desert Stone, coming in from Santa Anita on a two-race winning streak, has been designated the 4-1 morning line favorite for Wednesday’s $100,000 Oceanside Stakes. The traditional Opening Day feature for 3-year-olds over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course will be contested for the 73rd time.
Trained by Richard Baltas for Zayat Stables LLC, Desert Stone broke his maiden on his sixth try going 1 1/8 miles in May and scored while cutting back to a mile in June. Corey Nakatani has the mount.
The Oceanside, noted for being split into divisions from 1989 to 2008, will be a single entity for the fifth year in a row and the eighth time in the last 10 years. The expansion of the turf course to accommodate 14 horses has been a major factor in that decision the last few years.
The field from the rail: Arawak (Gary Stevens, 6-1), Texas Wedge (Flavien Prat, 9-2), Pepe Tono (Alonso Quinonez, 20-1), Artie B Good (Stewart Elliott, 20-1), Desert Stone (Corey Nakatani, 4-1), Shane Zain (Mario Gutierrez, 20-1), Restrainedvengence (Evin Roman, 20-1), Faversham (Tiago Pereira, 15-1), MoveOver (Tyler Baze, 6-1), Calexman (Geovanni Franco, 12-1), Heartfullofstars (Santiago Gonzalez, 20-1), Soltero (Joe Talamo, 8-1), Afleet Ascent (Kent Desormeaux, 8-1), and Respect the Hustle (Tyler Conner, 30-1). Also eligible: More Honor (Tiago Pereira, 20-1), Risky Proposition (Joe Talamo, 20-1).
CLOSERS – There were 109 workouts timed Monday morning as training began in earnest for the meeting. The breakdown was 73 on dirt and 36 on turf. By comparision, the Monday before opening day in 2017 was 77 workouts, 57 on dirt and 20 on turf … Selected works from the 109 – Dirt: City of Light (5f, :47.00), Madame Stripes (5f, :48.60), Coniah (5f, 1:01.60), Mubtaahij (5f, 1:01.20), Sharp Samurai (5f, 1:02.00), Vale Dori (5f, 1:01.20); Turf: Big Score (4f, :49.40), Cambodia (4f, :49.60), Paradise Woods (4f, :53.20), Bowies Hero (5f, 1:01.60), Isotherm (5f, 1:01.20), Om (5f, 1:03.80), Pee Wee Reese (5f, 1:01.60) … Bob Baffert, throwing out the line of the day when asked how many texts he got following Justify’s Triple Crown completing win in the Belmont Stakes: “I want to say about 350. Mike Smith said he got 1,000, but a lot of those were from his old girlfriends.”