Mrs. Astor © Benoit Photo
MRS. ASTOR RETURNS TO DEFEND HER CROWN IN G3 RED CARPET
It was around this time last year when Mrs. Astor began catching the eyes of horseplayers. Trainer Jonathan Thomas brought her out west and she responded with victories in the G3 Red Carpet at Del Mar and the G3 Robert J. Frankel at Santa Anita. She got caught in traffic and had to go four wide in the G3 Santa Ana in March but still got up for second that day and then rattled off two more victories in the $100,000 Santa Barbara and the $100,000 Possibly Perfect.
So it was a bit of a surprise when she ran third in the $100,000 CTT & TOC at Del Mar this summer. Thomas took that as a sign she needed a break so he packed her up and took her back to Kentucky for a few weeks of R&R.
“We felt she needed a little bit of a breather,” Thomas notes. “She was at the tail end of a very long campaign with a minor freshening. She’s had a couple of good workouts and she runs very well here.”
One of those workouts, her first after the break, was at Keeneland before Thomas brought her back to Del Mar to prepare to defend her crown in the G3 Red Carpet on Sunday. She’s worked three times at the seaside oval, once on the turf.
“She got stymied here a little bit this summer in a paceless race,” Thomas says about her race in the CTT & TOC. “She got kind of corralled and stuck down in there. I thought she needed to extricate herself because she’s kind of a grindy filly. She doesn’t have a blazing turn of foot.”
He says he’s not concerned about the mile and three-eighths distance of the Red Carpet.
“I think those sort of trips are style dependent,” Thomas adds. “Genetics gets you the trip so the layoff doesn’t concern me, from a fitness perspective.”
Thomas also will run Will Then, a filly by War of Will, who won the G3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar last year.
There will be eight other fillies and mares hoping to spoil Thomas’ bid to repeat in the Red Carpet, three from the Phil D’Amato barn. He brings Public Assembly, Sun of Hill and Musical Rhapsody to the dance.
Public Assembly won the G3 Royal Heroine at Santa Anita back in April and ran second to Heredia in the G2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar in August. She followed that with a fourth in the G2 John C. Mabee and a sixth in the G3 Goldikova on Breeders’ Cup Saturday.
“She should be one of the choices coming out of a very strong Goldikova,” D’Amato states. “She won for me first out when I ran her going a mile and a quarter so we’re going to stretch her out and see what she does.”
Sun of Hill ran second to Public Assembly in the Royal Heroine. She’s run the distance of the Red Carpet twice and finished out of the money in both. But D’Amato feels the longer the better for the Brazilian-bred.
“We’ve been saving her for this race,” D’Amato claims. “(Kazushi) Kimura knows her very well. I think she kind of got going in her last race and I think some extra yardage will only help her.”
Like the favorite, Musical Rhapsody is returning from a brief freshening, having last run in an allowance race on Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar.
“Little issues, nothing major,” D’Amato says. “She’s come back really good and is rounding into form. She ran second in this race (two years ago) so we know distance isn’t a problem.”
Venganza has trainer Richard Mandella and Del Mar’s leading jockey Mirco Demuro in her corner. The daughter of Curlin led late last time out in the $100,000 Swingtime at Santa Anita only to get run down in a four-horse blanket finish. That was at a mile but she has run at the longer distance.
“I don’t think so,” Mandella states when asked if he has any concerns about the longer trip. “I think it might help her.”
The G3 Red Carpet is Race 7 on the nine-race Sunday card. Probable post is 3:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Mahina (Tiago Pereira, 20-1); Mrs. Astor (Umberto Rispoli, 5/2); Hey Jessie (Mike Smith, 15-1); Will Then (Hector I. Berrios, 4-1); Public Assembly (Antonio Fresu, 5-1); Paradise Lake (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Sun Of Hill (Kazushi Kimura, 20-1); Cornelia Fort (Tyler Baze, 15-1); Venganza (Mirco Demuro, 8-1) and Musical Rhapsody (Armando Ayuso, 5-1).
FREEWAY CLOSURE CAUSES MINOR DISRUPTIONS AT DEL MAR SATURDAY
If it’s not Mother Nature presenting obstacles to the racing at Del Mar this week, it’s life itself. Saturday morning a police action on the Five Freeway north of Oceanside prompted the closing of the freeway in both directions.
It began with a pursuit that originated in Buena Park up in Los Angeles and ended with the suspect holed-up in a brushy area at Camp Pendleton and refusing to come out. Police closed the freeway at around 2:30 a.m. and didn’t start reopening the lanes until seven hours later.
Needless to say it created a huge back-up in both directions on the freeway. Anyone who knows the area knows there’s nowhere to get off the freeway in Camp Pendleton so motorists were stranded in their vehicles for hours.
The tie-up affected racing at Del Mar. Horses, jockeys, trainers and others, coming to Del Mar following morning workouts at Santa Anita drove straight into the mess. Two horses in the second race had to be scratched. The CHRB requires horses get administered their Lasix four hours prior to the race. Majestic Palisades and Typhoon Tommy were stuck in the traffic jam and didn’t arrive until after the deadline.
The jocks room was empty except for five jockeys an hour before the first post. Given there were seven horses in the first race you could see the problem developing. Fortunately, all the riders made it in on time and no scratches were needed.
People were arriving at Del Mar well after the races started at 12:30 p.m. They reported sitting in traffic for up to four hours. Del Mar’s Kurt Hoover said his normal 30-minute drive from San Clemente took him four hours.
The CHP eventually opened all the lanes of the freeway at 3:30 p.m.
END OF THE YEAR DECISION: WHO’S RETIRING AND WHO’S RACING IN 2026
Tiz the season for the connections of top-level race horses to make a decision whether or not they will race in 2026. Some will be retired and begin a second career making future stars of the sport. Others will continue building on their racing resumes.
Days after the Breeders’ Cup we learned that Fierceness, Sierra Leone, and Mindframe were heading for the breeding shed in 2026. Straight No Chaser, the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion from the Dan Blacker stable, the Grade I winning filly Kopion, and the multiple graded stakes winner Johannes have also been retired from racing.
But not all of the big names are cashing in their tickets. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is expected back and while we don’t get to see him race in the U.S. during the year, Forever Young is expected back to defend his Breeders’ Cup Classic title next year.
California racing has plenty of nice horses returning for another year. It was announced soon after the Breeders’ Cup that Sweet Azteca and Ag Bullet would be returning to the Richard Baltas barn for a 2026 campaign.
“It’s nice to have two grade one winners in your barn,” Baltas contends. “Hopefully the horses continue to do well next year.”
Sweet Azteca was a repeat winner of the G3 Rancho Bernardo this summer at Del Mar. Ag Bullet beat the boys at Saratoga in the G1 Jaipur before running second to Shisospicy in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Bob Baffert loses Citizen Bull, who has been retired to Ashford Stud in Kentucky and Tenma, who was purchased by the Japanese owners of Forever Young Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm. But Baffert will have Nysos, Nevada Beach, Seismic Beauty, Splendora, Barnes and his strong crop of juveniles back in 2026.
Journalism will return for trainer Michael McCarthy. The Preakness and Haskell winner is expected to be one of the top horses in the handicap division next year. His stablemate Formidable Man is also expected back.
“To me, he’s the best we have here in America,” McCarthy states about his top grass horse. With wins in the G2 Eddie Read and G2 Del Mar Mile this summer and a near-miss in the Breeders’ Cup Mile it’s hard to argue McCarthy’s claim.
Phil D’Amato’s barn is always filled with front-line runners and it looks to stay relatively intact for 2026. Coming back are Motorious, Conclude, The Padre and Gold Phoenix.
“He probably won’t run until Santa Anita,” D’Amato says of his four time Del Mar Handicap winner. “We’re going to give him a little breather right now. A well-earned vacation. Then we’ll try to do the same thing with him next year.”
Iscreamuscream, King of Gosford and Balnikhov are also expected back next year for D’Amato but Vodka With a Twist was sold to Japanese interests and will become a broodmare overseas.
The Cal-bred ranks should remain strong in the new year. Grand Slam Smile, Man O Rose and Om N Joy are all expected to race in 2026. G1 Bing Crosby winner Lovesick Blues has been mentioned as a possible player in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard this winter and Big City Lights is being pointed to the Stormy Liberal turf sprint at Del Mar at the end of the month.
Other horses planning 2026 campaigns include Baeza, who will race again for trainer John Shirreffs and Dr. Venkman, winner of this year’s G2 Pat O’Brien. The gelding is expected back in trainer Mark Glatt’s barn for his 6-year-old campaign.
DEL MAR’S TOYS FOR TOTS DRIVE
Del Mar’s annual Toys For Tots drive will be held Sunday. All of those who show up with a new toy to donate will receive free admission to the races.
In the 11 years Del Mar has participated in the Toys For Tots Drive, 20,000 toys and $187,000 in monetary donations have been collected on track. It all adds up to a wonderful Christmas for kids who might not necessarily have one.
Donation bins are set up outside the admission gates.
COOLING OUT: Nevada Beach came out of his half-length victory in the G3 Native Diver Saturday in good order. Trainer Bob Baffert will now set a course for a 2026 campaign for the son of Omaha Beach…Big balloons in the nightcap Saturday when jockey Mike Smith got So Happy home first at 38-1 for trainer Mark Glatt. The $78 payoff is the largest payoff on a $2 win ticket so far at the Fall Meet…Horses put in official workouts on the main track for the first time since Thursday. There were also works on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course for the first time in two weeks. Notable works: Dirt – Proton (4f, :49:00) and Sharons Beach (4f, :46.80). Turf – Balnikhov (4f, :51:40); Big City Lights (4f, :51.40); No Nay Hudson (4f, :51.20); Almendares (5f, 1:03.00) and Lyle the Crocodile (5f, 1:03.80).