Del Mar Paddock © Zoe Metz
OUT OF TOWN STABLES AND JOCKEYS DESCEND ON DEL MAR
One of the many benefits of attending a Breeders’ Cup is the opportunity to see some of the top trainers and riders in the sport, many of which are based back east or in the Midwest. Stars of horse racing that you may never get to see at Del Mar.
This year the backside is full of big-name barns setting up camp and preparing for today’s championship races. Trainers Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Miguel Clement and Bill Mott may send a horse out west to run during the Fall Turf Festival at Del Mar or for one of the big races on Pacific Classic Day but they seldom make the trip themselves…except this time for the Breeders’ Cup.
“I’ve always loved Del Mar,” Pletcher says. “My dad trained out here one summer when I was a kid and I spent a summer out here with (trainer) Henry Moreno.”
As one would expect, there’s a lot of planning and organization that goes into packing up a string of top horses and shipping them out from the east coast.
“Just the logistics,” Pletcher states of the challenges. “The travel. You get a change in the weather this time of year and just trying to figure out when the best time to ship and the best time to work.”
“Like Fierceness in the Pacific Classic,” Pletcher adds. “We came in shortly before the race. Everyone’s got a different way of trying it. Usually the most important thing is to bring the best horse.”
Miguel Clement is another east coast trainer in town for the Breeders’ Cup. He says the horse’s well-being is the key to any ship.
“You want to get them as quickly back into their routine,” Clement insists. “Mentally or physically or the feed tub energy level-wise are the real challenges. The quicker they’re settled the quicker you get their true form.”
Clement is another one who doesn’t mind making the trip to Del Mar.
“Del Mar is great,” Clement notes. “The turf course is very tight. The short turns, the short stretch. The weather’s great and I can understand why it could be very appealing for people to be based here.”
An all-star line-up of jockeys from around the world have assembled at Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup. It’s not every day you see Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez,
Joel Rosario, Luis Saez, Irad Ortiz, Jr., and his brother Jose riding in an entry-level allowance race at Del Mar. But you have it today.
Of course they’re not here specifically for that race but it’s evidence of how stacked the riding colony is at Del Mar this weekend. It’s the best from back east, the Midwest and here at home.
There are also the European and Japanese riders who have come to ride their country’s representatives in the World Championships. William Buick, Christophe Soumillon, Oisin Murphy, Mickael Barzalona and of course Frankie Dettori will mix it up with Flavien Prat, Tyler Gaffalione, Florent Geroux and southern California’s finest including Juan Hernandez, Hector Berrios and Umberto Rispoli. The Japanese have sent over Ryusei Sakai, Daisuke Sasaki and others in hopes of taking down one of the nine Breeders’ Cup races today.
DEL MAR WELL REPRESENTED IN SATURDAY’S BREEDERS’ CUP ACTION
It’s day two of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar and once again the host track will be well represented in all nine of today’s races. A total of 15 Breeders’ Cup horses ran at the seaside oval this summer. If you’re a horse-for-course player or if you’re just looking for a local horse to follow, here’s the list of local runners competing in today’s World Championships.
Filly & Mare Sprint
Splendora – Ran twice for trainer Bob Baffert at Del Mar and won both races. She took an allowance sprint in July then returned in September to win the one mile $100,000 Tranquility Lake by 5 ½ lengths.
Richi – The third Baffert entry in this race, the daughter of Practical Joke ran third in this year’s G1 Clement L. Hirsch.
Turf Sprint
Motorious – This English-bred has won the G3 Green Flash at Del Mar three years in a row. He actually got beat by a nose in this year’s edition but the winner was disqualified and Motorious got moved up to first. He missed by a neck in last year’s running of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Reef Runner – He was based in Florida until this past summer when he invaded Del Mar and won the G3 Green Flash only to get disqualified and placed second. He came back to capture the G2 Eddie D up at Santa Anita next out. “He likes it out here,” trainer David Fawkes says.
Sprint
Kopion – She’s taking on the boys for the first time in this race. She ran second to Seismic Beauty in this summer’s G1 Clement L. Hirsch.
Lovesick Blues – Scored one of the biggest upsets of the Del Mar summer season when he won the G1 Bing Crosby in July. It was a ‘Win and You’re In’ for this race. He’s trained by Hollywood movie producer Librado Barocio.
Dr. Venkman – The son of Ghostzapper ran twice at Del Mar this summer, finishing fourth in the G1 Bing Crosby then rebounding and winning the G2 Pat
O’Brien one month later. The Mark Glatt trainee has run in six races at Del Mar and won four of them.
Distaff
Seismic Beauty – She rolled to a wire-to-wire victory in the G1 Clement L. Hirsch in August but hasn’t run since. She’s a big good looking daughter of Uncle Mo and trained by Baffert.
Turf
Gold Phoenix – It was a ‘Hold My Beer’ moment on Pacific Classic Day. Stablemate Motorious won the G3 Green Flash for the third straight year then Gold Phoenix promptly one upped him by winning the G2 Del Mar Handicap for the fourth straight year. This is his fourth consecutive year running in this race.
Classic
Journalism – After his thrilling run in the Triple Crown and a win in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, the son of Curlin returned to the West Coast and ran second to Fierceness in the G1 Pacific Classic.
Mile
Formidable Man – In the dictionary where they have ‘Horse for the Course’ there’s a picture of this horse. He’s six-for-six at Del Mar including last summer’s G2 Eddie Read and G2 Del Mar Mile.
Dirt Mile
Nysos – He has always shown tremendous promise but the injury bug has gotten in the way. He won the G2 San Diego and was being pointed to the Pacific Classic only to get scratched because of a bruised hoof. He hasn’t run since but is the morning line favorite in this race.
Full Serrano – Here’s another one that runs lights out when he’s healthy. The defending champion in this race, the Argentine-bred returned to racing in September and won an allowance race at Del Mar by 7 ¼ lengths. He ran second behind Nevada Beach in the G1 Goodwood at Santa Anita last out.
Citizen Bull – The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile made it to the Kentucky Derby but ran 15th. Since then Baffert has shortened up his races. He won the one mile Shared Belief by 5 ½ lengths at Del Mar in September.
Filly & Mare Turf
Mission of Joy – She was in trainer Graham Motion’s barn back east until the summer when she was shifted to Philip D’Amato at Del Mar. She ran sixth in the G2 Yellow Ribbon and third a month later in the G2 John C. Mabee. She finally hit pay dirt at Santa Anita last month when she won the G2 Rodeo Drive.
Honorable mention goes to Johannes, Ag Bullet, Straight No Chaser, Hope Road and Big City Lights. All have raced at Del Mar in the past but skipped this past summer. And let’s not leave out Fierceness, a horse based back east with trainer Todd Pletcher who came out here this summer and won the G1 Pacific Classic.
BREEDERS’ CUP ‘24 REVISITED: THE FIRST OF A BACK-TO-BACK AT DEL MAR
Del Mar is getting a lot of experience hosting the Breeders’ Cup World Championship. This is the second year in a row, the third time in five years and the fourth time in nine years the seaside oval has put on the event.
Last year a star-studded collection of horses and their connections descended on Del Mar in late October for the 41st running of the Breeders’ Cup. Top barns from across the country and the world were represented in the two-day event beginning Friday, November 1st with the Future Stars portion of the weekend.
The game’s best juveniles were in the spotlight and they didn’t disappoint. The day started with a 12-1 upset from Irish-based Magnum Force, who captured the Juvenile Turf Sprint. But the next two races were more ‘chalky’. Godolphin’s Immersive was no match for her rivals taking the Juvenile Fillies by 4 ½ lengths. Next up the Aiden O’Brien trained Lake Victoria grabbed the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile provided the biggest upset of the day as Bob Baffert’s Citizen Bull established himself as an early favorite for the 2025 Kentucky Derby with a convincing wire-to-wire win.
A third Irish-bred won the final race of the day as Henri Matisse passed them all in the stretch to win the Juvenile Turf.
Then it was on to Day Two, a Saturday packed full of stakes racing including nine Breeders’ Cup races. Fans began filing into Del Mar early and were primed and ready by the first championship race, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. What they were not ready for was the outcome as longshot Soul of an Angel rallied late to win at 19-1 for conditioner Saffie Joseph.
No sooner had the gathering recovered from the shocker in race one than another longshot hit in the second race, the Turf Sprint, as the European-based Starlust posted the biggest upset of the weekend, winning at 33-1.
Fortunately, for those who like to bet the chalk, things reverted back to normal as the favorite won in the next two races, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and the Turf. The shortest price of the weekend, soon-to-be Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna won handily followed by a popular win by Rebel’s Romance. The globetrotting marvel became the first horse to win the Turf twice in non-consecutive years.
Next up, the richest race of the day, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The race had a top Euro-based horse in City of Troy and a top Japanese horse in Forever Young not to mention the best handicap horses America had to offer. It all set up nicely for the popular 3-year-old, Sierra Leone who beat them all and add a Classic to the resumes of trainer Chad Brown and jockey Flavien Prat.
Prat returned to the winner’s circle in the next race guiding Canada’s Horse of the Year Moira to victory in the Filly & Mare Turf. Then it was time for the locals to take over as Straight No Chaser won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint for Southern California-based trainer Dan Blacker. Two races later, the Argentine-bred Full Serrano, runner-up in the G1 Pacific Classic earlier in the summer, won the Dirt Mile for Del Mar conditioner John Sadler.
Between those two races, More Than Looks snapped the Euro’s four race win streak in the Breeders’ Cup Mile with an impressive win for trainer Cherie DeVaux and jockey Jose Ortiz.
In the end, Del Mar posted the third best handle for a Breeders’ Cup as fans wagered $179,123,036 over the two days of action. A crowd of 30,982 gathered on Friday and another 36,436 showed up on Saturday.
COOLING OUT: A crowd of 30,059 packed Del Mar for Friday’s Future Stars Program, the first of two days of Breeders’ Cup action. For the fifth straight year the handle exceeded $60 million, coming in at $62,008,354. On track handle was $6,216,798 for the ten race card that included five Breeders’ Cup races featuring the top 2-year-olds in racing…A formful undercard to Breeders’ Cup Friday. Following the longshot Vodka Vodka’s win in Race 1, four favorites crossed the line first in the next four races… Conducted, who won the $200,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes, came out of his race in good order. Trainer O.J. Jauregui says there are no plans yet on the colt’s future…Trainer Todd Pletcher scored with odds-on favorite, Ted Noffey in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. In his office Saturday morning Pletcher said the colt came out of the race fine and will ship down to his base at Palm Beach Downs for the winter…No trouble trying to find Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Cy Fair this morning. His bright yellow and purple flower blanket is on full display outside of his stall at trainer George Weaver’s barn on the backside…Scratches on today’s Breeders’ Cup card include three in the Filly & Mare Sprint. The morning line favorite, Sweet Azteca; Tamara and Japan’s Fee Blanche are all out. Arizona Blaze has been scratched from the Turf Sprint; Atsila from the Filly & Mare Turf and Mystik Dan from the Dirt Mile.