RACING RETURNS TO DEL MAR WITH LUCRATIVE BING CROSBY MEET
Last year at this time horses from around the world came to Del Mar for horse racing’s biggest day, the Breeders’ Cup. Many left as champions, other headed into retirement, while some set-off on well-deserved vacations.
This year the stable area is bit more subdued but don’t let the calm fool you. The competitive fires are running hot as the Bing Crosby meet kicks off its ninth year at Del Mar this Friday with the richest stakes schedule ever run in the fall. 15 stakes races are up for grabs, nine of them graded, worth a total of more than $2.4 million.
Several races have purse increases including the G3 Red Carpet Stakes, which kicks off the turf festival on Thanksgiving Day. It’s now worth $150,000, as is the G3 Native Diver, which is run on Sunday, November 27th.
There’s also a new addition to the stakes schedule, the $100,000 Stormy Liberal, to be run on Saturday, December 3rd. It’s named after the horse that captured back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprints, the first one at Del Mar in 2017.
The Bing Crosby meet is run over 13 days, spread out over four weeks, so there’s not as much traffic on the training track or on the backside. Trainers tend to bring their horses days before the race rather than boarding them on the grounds like they do in the summer.
“This is mostly a ship-in meet so the number of horses on the property will be around 300 or so,” Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens says. “Most horses will ship from San Luis Rey, Santa Anita, and Los Al. Overall population numbers look on par from last year.”
Jerkens admits the Bing Crosby meet, which runs from November 11th to December 4th, presents its own unique set of challenges.
“First thing is you want it to stay dry,” Jerkens says. “We run a lot of grass races, given where we are on the calendar. We have our Turf Festival at the end of the meet. So the key is for the weather to cooperate. Then there’s the challenge of not having most people here.”
But those who are here tend to have a great time at the fall meet.
“Most people like the earlier post times,” Jerkens say. “People that are here get to enjoy Del Mar a little more. The summer, as great as it is, is a long day. With the fall meet, the races end at five o’clock. It’s not as strenuous from that standpoint as the summer is.”
The Turf Festival is the highlight of the meet. It consists of eight stakes over the final two weekends. The Red Carpet, the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup and the G2 Seabiscuit are run over the Thanksgiving weekend. The G3 Jimmy Durante, the G1 Hollywood Derby, and the Stormy Liberal are on Saturday, December 3rd. The G3 Cecil B DeMille and the G1 Matriarch take place on closing day.
“We’re excited about our Turf Festival,” Jerkens says. “It just keeps getting better and better. We’ve received good feedback from our local trainers as well as some out-of-state trainers.”
Those out-of-state trainers include Chad Brown, Christophe Clement, Bill Mott, and Graham Motion.
The races are run three days a week during the Bing Crosby meet, Fridays through Sundays with one exception. On Thanksgiving weekend they run Thursday through Sunday. First post daily is at 12:30 p.m. except on Thanksgiving Day when the races start at 11 a.m.
KATHRYN CROSBY STAKES A NICE LANDING SPOT FOR BURGOO ALLEY
The Kathryn Crosby Stakes returns to the fall stakes schedule this year after a one-year absence because of the Breeders’ Cup. The one mile turf event for fillies and mares is the feature on Saturday’s nine-race card. It goes as race #7.
Eight are expected to line-up including Burgoo Alley from the Philip D’Amato barn. The 4-year-old daughter of Footstepsinthesand drops out of graded stakes company. She ran fourth to stablemate Going Global in the G2 Goldikova at Santa Anita last out.
“This a little bit of a class relief for her,” D’Amato says. “I was able to get Flavien Prat and I think he’ll fit her nicely and it should be a spot where she’ll be really competitive.”
Burgoo Alley did break through in a graded stakes, winning the G3 Autumn Miss at Santa Anita. But that was over a year ago and after seven tries against the likes of Avenue de France, Queen Goddess and Going to Vegas, D’Amato felt it was time for a confidence booster.
“She’s been running against some extremely tough horses,” D’Amato says. “This is definitely a step easier in terms of class and hopefully we can get her back in the winners circle.”
She’ll have to deal with the likes of Warren’s Candy Girl. The daughter of Clubhouse Ride won the $150,000 Solana Beach at Del Mar this summer before running fourth in the $90,000 Swingtime at Santa Anita last time out.
Also coming out of the Swingtime is Sugar Fix, a well-traveled 5-year-old mare who hails from the Bob Hess barn.
“It was the plan all along to run in the stakes at Santa Anita and then here,” Hess says. “We were happy. That was a good race and she should move forward a bit.”
Sugar Fix is primarily based out of Gulfstream Park but she also ran at Kentucky Downs before her last race and will return to Florida after Saturday’s Kathryn Crosby.
“They have good Florida-bred stakes races,” Hess says. “She’s tough. Very healthy. She galloped great this morning (Thursday). We’ll school her in the paddock and hopefully have some fun with her Saturday.”
Another one that fits in the turf test is Bipartisanship from the Graham Motion barn, one of four horses the highly successful East Coast trainer has brought to Del Mar for this weekend’s stakes. She’s another one that travels a lot. She was bred in England and ran the first part of her career in Ireland. She made her U.S. debut at Belmont Park in September of 2021 and has run at four different tracks since, including Keeneland last time out. She’ll be ridden by Juan Hernandez.
The Kathryn Crosby is named after the wife of Del Mar co-founder Bing Crosby.
Here’s the field from the rail with jockeys and morning line: Royal Address (Joe Bravo, 15-1); Pulpit Rider (Ramon Vasquez, 8-1); Sugar Fix (Edwin Maldonado, 6-1); Bipartisanship (3-1); Burgoo Alley (9/5); Izzy Em (Mike Smith, 30-1); Warrens Candy Girl (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1) and Gold For Kitten (John Velazquez, 6-1).
JESSICA PYFER TAKES OVER AS HOST OF DAYBREAK AT DEL MAR
Daybreak at Del Mar will have a new host this fall, someone who owns an Eclipse Award and knows a thing or two about riding and winning races.
Jessica Pyfer, 2021’s Apprentice champion, will take over for longtime host Michelle Yu this fall at the Bing Crosby meet. She brings an impressive resume and knowledge of the sport that fans can tap into Saturday mornings during the workouts.
Pyfer has been testing the waters of television broadcasting for the past few months, working on the Santa Anita broadcast feed.
“I work with Michelle at 1st Bet Racing,” Pyfer says, “She couldn’t do it (host Daybreak) this fall so she mentioned my name to somebody and they asked it I could do it. I was going down to Del Mar for the whole month to gallop and ride and I said yes.”
Pyfer says she’s not abandoning riding altogether.
“I’m doing both,” she says, “so I’m kind of just selectively riding. I only ride for about three trainers now anyway. I always wanted to go into media and TV after I was done riding. There were too many days when I was doing nothing on race days when I could be doing something so I was offered a job at Santa Anita. I’ve been doing that for a little over a month now and I’m loving it.”
Daybreak at Del Mar is held Saturday mornings from 8 until 9:30. Fans can get into the grandstand area for free and enjoy a cup of coffee or breakfast from the Clubhouse Terrace Restaurant while Jessica fills you in on the upcoming day’s races. She’ll also provide insight on the horses and give out useful tidbits about the industry itself. There’s lots of questions and answers from those in attendance, all while the horses train on the track.
WEEKEND HANDICAPPING SEMINARS OFF AND RUNNING TOMORROW
Del Mar’s free weekend handicapping seminars – which will be presented throughout the fall meet – will start tomorrow in their new usual spot on the patio of the Hacienda Room just off the Plaza de Mexico.
The sessions will be held both Saturday and Sunday starting at 11:35 a.m. and running until approximately 12:05 p.m. Guest handicappers will run through the day’s race card and share their selections and thoughts.
A pair of old pros – Frank Scatoni (Saturday) and Dan Smith (Sunday) -- will host the sessions.
Scatoni’s guest will be the veteran handicapper C. C. Rogers, who is also a longtime member of Del Mar’s Fan Advisory Panel. Smith will hook up with the former editor of Daily Racing Form, George Bernet, on Sunday.
COOLING OUT: Another light day of training at Del Mar. Three horses put in official works, two from the Peter Miller barn including Apprehend, an Arrogate colt, coming off of a second level allowance win up at Santa Anita last month. He worked 6-furlongs in 1:13.00…