Del Mar Paddock © Metz Photography
TRADITIONS CONTINUE ON OPENING DAY AT DEL MAR
Take a drive on Freeway 5 on any sunny day and you’ll quickly understand why every summer San Diego is a destination for thousands of people from around the world. The views of the Pacific Ocean, with its silhouettes of palm trees, can be breathtaking. Keep you eye on the road…if you can.
Heading north out of San Diego you first catch a glimpse of the water near Torrey Pines. Those driving south out of L.A. will get a spectacular eyeful driving through Camp Pendleton, then periodic snapshots as you head out of Oceanside, through Carlsbad, La Costa and Cardiff. At one point the urge to pull over and soak it in can be irresistible.
But it’s when you descend into the San Dieguito River Valley, between Del Mar and Solana Beach, you come across one of the jewels of your drive. A six-story structure that towers over the landscape with its one-mile dirt oval encompassing a seven-furlong circle of pristine Bermuda grass. All just a hop, skip and a jump away from the ocean.
It’s the world famous Del Mar, a racetrack where people from all walks of life come every summer. Celebrities and students, CEO’s and janitors. All sitting, or standing, side-by-side watching a tradition that has been in existence for centuries…horse racing.
For Del Mar, it started back in the 1930’s, before Pearl Harbor, before television, before a man walked on the moon, and long before there were microwaves, cellphones, and the internet. Two actors, Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien, both with a mutual love for the sport of kings, decided to put on a race meet at the newly constructed fairgrounds and racetrack built near Crosby’s ranch in Rancho Santa Fe. They hoped it would be a place where their fellow movie makers could come and get away from the hustle of Hollywood and enjoy a day in the sun playing the ponies.
Like everything else these two giants of the entertainment business touched, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and its summer meet was a hit. Thousands flocked to the small seaside community and over the years it became a San Diego tradition. Opening Day was the place to be and through all the changes, like a new multi-million-dollar grandstand renovation in the 1990’s, the tradition lives on, 88 years after Bing greeted his first customers in 1937.
For the next eight weeks, over 31 race days, the horses will be running at Del Mar. Every Thursday through Sunday, owners, trainers, and jockeys will come together with their equestrian athletes with hopes of making it to the winner’s circle. Champions will be on display with dreams of returning in the fall to this very racetrack and capturing a Breeders’ Cup race. It’s what dreams are made of, and they unfold every day at the seaside oval.
To this day we still listen to Crosby’s version of White Christmas every holiday season and when you show up at the races from the middle of July until the week after Labor Day, you’ll hear his call to the post: “Where the Turf Meets the Surf” here at old Del Mar.
TOP 3-YEAR-OLD FILLIES CLASH IN G2 SAN CLEMENTE SATURDAY
If Saturday’s G2 San Clemente is any indication, we are in for a summer full of contentious stakes races at Del Mar. A case can be made for just about every runner in the nine-horse field in the first graded stakes of the 2025 summer meet at the shore oval.
The talented field of 3-year-old fillies will be going one mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in Del Mar’s top prep for the G1 Del Mar Oaks next month. The morning line favorite is a filly who captured the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf last summer. Thought Process then went on to win the G3 Surfer Girl at Santa Anita a month later.
Her swing at the Breeders’ Cup didn’t go as well as expected. She finish fifth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. After a 5 ½-month respite, the daughter of Collected won an open allowance race at Santa Anita, giving trainer Phil D’Amato the confidence to run her back in graded stakes company.
“That was an impressive first race on the comeback trail at Santa Anita,” D’Amato contends. “It was a good prep to have her primed for the San Clemente. She likes this track and I think she’s a little more relaxed this year, which I like to see for the bigger races. Hopefully it will lead her off well to the Del Mar Oaks.”
Thought Process is one of two horses D’Amato will run in the San Clemente. Jungle Piece was in a three-way blanket finish in the G3 Honeymoon at Santa Anita in May.
“She just got zapped on the last jump there,” D’Amato notes. “A mile suits her better than the mile and an eighth she ran last time. I think we got a good one-two punch in there.”
The top three finishers in the Honeymoon are back in the San Clemente. Firenze Flavor got the best of the bob.
“It was a nice race to win,” her trainer Patty Gallagher says. “We were very happy to win it. It was a close race. They were all right there together. The first three or four fillies all ran good. We got them fillies back (in the San Clemente) and of course a few others that are really good as well. We’re hoping for the best.”
Miso Phansy missed by a nose in the Honeymoon and with a little luck in her brief six-race career she’d be undefeated.
“She’s only run first or second,” her trainer Leonard Powell points out. “We’re testing the waters with her but she’s shown she can be competitive at this level. If she runs her race, she’ll be very tough to beat.”
Trainer Bob Baffert has also brought a pair of horses to the dance. Casalu was runner-up to Thought Process twice last year and then ran second to Will Then in the G3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar last fall. She returned this year and won both of her races, the $100k Blue Norther and the $100k Sweet Life at Santa Anita. Afterwards, Baffert turned her out for a couple of months.
“We just gave her a break,” Baffert says. “Ease her up and get some weight on her. Get her fresh for the summer. It’s a tough race.”
His other entry is Silent Law, runner-up to stablemate Tenma in the G2 Santa Anita Oaks last April. The San Clemente will be her first try on the grass.
“I’d rather run her on the dirt,” Baffert concedes. “There’s only one race for 3-year-old dirt fillies (the G3 Torrey Pines) but it’s toward the end of the meet.”
Conditioner Jonathan Thomas has two horses entered in the San Clemente. Will Then, winner of Jimmy Durante at Del Mar last fall, won her 3-year old debut, the $100,000 China Doll at Santa Anita in March, and then shipped back to Churchill Downs and ran fifth in the G2 Edgewood.
As Catch Can is the other Thomas entry. She was just off the three way blanket finish in the Honeymoon. She ran second to Casalu in the Sweet Life and was runner-up in the Bourbonette at Turfway Park in March.
Further adding spice to the mix is Amorita, a daughter of Liam’s Map, who ran second to Jungle Peace in the G3 Senorita in April and second to Will Then in the China Doll.
The G2 San Clemente is Race 9 on the 11-race card. Probable post time is 6 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line favorites: Will Then (Mike Smith, 4-1); Casalu (Kazushi Kimura, 6-1); Miso Phansy (Armando Ayuso, 12-1); As Catch Can (Vincent Cheminaud, 10-1); Thought Process (Hector I. Berrios, 8/5); Amorita (Juan Hernandez, 10-1); Jungle Peace (Antonio Fresu, 8-1); Firenze Flavor (Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1), and Silent Law (Mirco Demuro, 10-1).
BEYOND BRILLIANT RETURNS IN $100,000 WICKERR SATURDAY
When your morning line favorite is 7/2 any handicapper knows they’re in for a tough go. So to call the $100,000 Wickerr, a wide-open affair may be an understatement. The one mile turf event for 3-year-olds and up is the first of the two stakes races on the Saturday card.
John Lies, the Del Mar lines maker this summer, made Beyond Brilliant the lukewarm favorite despite the fact the 7-year-old son of Twirling Candy hasn’t raced since November of 2022. When he did run, he was a good one. He won the G1 Hollywood Derby in 2021 and in 2022 he captured the G2 Charles Whittingham, the G2 City of Hope and missed by a neck to Hong Kong Harry in the G2 Seabiscuit.
But in early 2023 he suffered an injury that would sideline him for over two years.
“He had a bow, a tear in his tendon,” trainer John Shirreffs explains. “We just went slow with him and made sure the tendon got as much strength and flexiblility as possible.”
Shirreffs says once they were confident he could handle more, they brought the 7-year-old gelding back to the track.
“As we began his workouts we spaced them and they were short works down the lane,” Shirreffs adds. “Then we gradually added distance and speed. You’re always looking for subtle changes in the tendon in particular. Because he’s done so well, we haven’t seen any changes at all and it looks very good, it gives us the confidence to move him up to the next step and that’s having a race.”
Shirreffs would have preferred to find Beyond Brilliant an easier spot to come back in. Nine of the 11 entries in the Wickerr ran against graded stakes company in their last race. But he’s out of conditions.
“He’s peaking now as far as physically and mentally at this level of his conditioning,” Shirreffs says. “It’s a good time to race him.”
Two of his opponents in the Wickerr squared off in the G3 Daytona at Santa Anita last month. Bran finished second to the winner Motorious, Air Force Red came in third.
“He’s really a nice horse and has great form,” trainer John Sadler says of Bran. “He’s always right there. He’s comeback with two strong races this year, two seconds off the layoff."
Air Force Red won the G3 San Simeon at Santa Anita in March.
“I’m happy with the setup of the race,” trainer Leonard Powell says. “There doesn’t seem to be that much speed, so (Air Force Red) should be the controlling speed. That’s where he likes to be.”
Almendares is another one who has been knocking on the door against graded company. He was runner-up to Conclude in last summer’s G2 Del Mar Mile; finished second again, this time to Johannes, one month later in the G2 City of Hope and was involved in a four-way blanket finish with Zio Jo in the G1 Kilroe Mile.
“We’re hoping this will be a nice prep for the Del Mar Mile,” trainer Phil D’Amato notes. “We freshened him up so hopefully he’ll come with a nice, big run.”
Astronomer is returning from a 5 ½ month layoff after he ran in a string of five straight graded stakes dating back to last summer. That included a close third in the Del Mar Mile and a close third in the G2 Seabiscuit in the fall. He ran a well-beaten sixth in the G3 Thunder Road before he was turned out for the spring.
Arguably, the most intriguing entry in the race might be Endlessly, trainer Michael McCarthy’s Derby horse in 2024. The son of Oscar Performance has run exclusively on the grass since the Derby, running fifth in the G1 Manhattan at Saratoga last month.
The Wickerr is Race 6 on the 11-race card Saturday. Probable post time is 5 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Watsonville (Tiago Pereira, 20-1); Nineeleventurbo (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Beyond Brilliant (Drayden Van Dyke, 7/2); Final Boss (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Il Bellator (William Antongeorgi, 20-1); Zio Jo (Kyle Frey, 8-1); Bran (Vincent Cheminaud, 5-1); Air Force Red (Armando Ayuso, 8-1); Almendares (Antonio Fresu, 6-1); Astronomer (Kazushi Kimura, 8-1), and Endlessly (Hector I Berrios, 6-1).
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 patio of the Hacienda Room just off the Plaza de Mexico. Each day the seminars start at 1:05 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 podcast host and horseplayer Ryan Anderson. Sunday will see host Dan Smith working with Equibase chart caller and handicapper Ellis Davis.
BEERFEST RETURNS TO DEL MAR SATURDAY
San Diego is widely known as the Craft Brew Capital of America so what better way to celebrate opening weekend at Del Mar than with a good-old-fashioned Beerfest. Over 50 breweries will be on hand Saturday serving samples of brews, ciders and seltzers while live horse racing unfolds nearby. You can even pair brews with a variety of gourmet foods which will be available for purchase. Tickets are available online. It all gets underway at the Seaside Cabana at the west end of the blacktop at 1 p.m. You must be 21 or older.
COOLING OUT: Trainer Michael McCarthy will not be at Del Mar opening weekend. He’s back in New Jersey where he will saddle Journalism in the G1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Saturday…158 horses put in official workouts at Del Mar Friday morning. Notable works on the dirt: Kopion (5f, :59.20); Richi (5f, :59.40),and Speed Boat Beach (5f, 1:02.20).