Test Score © Benoit Photo

WEST COAST VS. EAST COAST SHOWDOWN IN G1 HOLLYWOOD DERBY 

There are only a few races in America that can boast the same age as the Del Mar racetrack. One of them is set to run this Saturday at the seaside oval. The G1 Hollywood Derby has been around for a long time. 85 years in fact. It was run at Hollywood Park for most of those years. The last eleven runnings have come at Del Mar.

Top 3-year-olds clash in the mile and a eighth contest on the grass, part of the FanDuel Racing Fall Turf Festival. And they’re coming from all around the country.

Chad Brown is sending Salamis, a son of Speightstown, owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms. He won the $150,000 Gio Ponte in September before finishing fifth in the G3 Bryan Station at Keeneland last out. 

“He had a terrible post and in hindsight I should have scratched the horse and not shipped him once he drew that post,” Brown says. “I took a shot. It was a big purse and I liked how he fit in the race, by the numbers. But when you’re at Keeneland and you draw the far outside in a race like that you’re at a huge disadvantage. He was wide throughout and it was a terrible set up for him.”

Another shipper worth noting is Tom’s Magic from the Michael Stidham barn. He went up to Canada this summer and finished second to Mansetti in the $1 million Kings Plate at Woodbine before capturing the third jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Breeders Stakes in September. Before heading north, the son of Justify had won stakes races at Monmouth Park and Fair Grounds. 

Test Score is sort of an invader though he won his last race at Santa Anita. Earlier this year the son of Lookin At Lucky won the G3 Transylvania at Keeneland in April and the Belmont Derby at Saratoga in July. Trainer Graham Motion brought him out west and he won the G2 Twilight Derby last month. Motion left him on the left coast for a shot at a Grade I.

“I think he ran a huge race that day,” Alice Clapham, Motion’s assistant trainer, says of the Twilight Derby. “Juan (Hernandez) got on with him great and he’s done well since then.”

The owners and breeders, Amerman Racing, were the major reason for bringing Test Score out west.

“The Amerman’s are here so they can see him run,” Clapham explains. “They’re based in L.A. so it’s easier for them to watch him.”

Trainer Michael McCarthy has two horses in the Hollywood Derby.  Maaz finished second to Test Score in the Twilight Derby, skimming the rail and keeping the winner honest to the wire. 

“He’s a tough kind of a horse,” McCarthy notes. “Kind of his own worst enemy at times. If he ever learns to settle and relax there’s plenty of upside for him.”

McCarthy’s other colt in the race is Copp. The son of Blame has run all seven of his lifetime starts in Kentucky.

Tempus Volat, winner of the $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes on opening day of the Bing Crosby season, is taking a step up in the Derby.

“It’s one of the last chances for these horses to not face older and stay in their own age group,” trainer Leonard Powell explains. “With these horses you either go in the two ranks against olders or you stay in your own age group and you climb the ladder. It is a step up but hopefully he’s improved and he can be competitive.”

Friendly Confines finished second to Tempus Volat in the Let It Ride and will follow his rival into the Hollywood Derby. The son of Twirling Candy finished second in the $100,000 Pasadena at Santa Anita in March. 

The G1 Hollywood Derby is Race 9 on the 11-race card Saturday. Probable post is 3:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and morning line odds: Maaz (Ricky Gonzalez,  5-1); Friendly Confines (Hector I. Berrios, 6-1); Test Score (Juan Hernandez, 5/2); Salamis (Umberto Rispoli, 9/2); Kokosan (Armando Ayuso, 20-1); Noble Confessor (scratched); Copp (Kazushi Kimura, 20-1); Tempus Volat (Mirco Demuro, 5-1) and Tom’s Magic (Antonio Fresu, 7/2).

DEL MAR DODGES BULLET FOLLOWING AIRCRAFT GROUNDING

Del Mar is very reliant on horses shipping in for this weekend’s FanDuel Fall Turf Festival. More than a dozen shippers have been entered for the eight stakes races over the final three days of the Bing Crosby Season. 

So on Tuesday when FedEx notified equine air travel providers the FAA had grounded the MD-11 freighter aircraft for inspections and repairs the Del Mar Racing office braced for the worse. The MD-11 is the aircraft FedEx uses when shipping thoroughbreds around the country.The grounding comes following a crash of a UPS plane that killed 14 people earlier this month in Louisville.  

But of the 13 horses expected to ship-in to the seaside oval this weekend, only one didn’t make the trip. The grounding forced the cancellation of a flight trainer Todd Pletcher had reserved for Noble Confessor, a 3-year-old colt pointing to the G1 Hollywood Derby on Saturday. The other 12 horses shipping in for the weekend were already on the grounds or got here Tuesday under the deadline. 

“There’s a contact that we work with, the former Tex Sutton, that coordinates with FedEx,” Racing Secretary David Jerkens says. “(On Tuesday) we were told all of the flights would not be impacted but we weren’t a hundred percent certain. So it could have been a difficult situation. But thankfully they got out just in time.”

So they’re here and they’re running this weekend but now the big question is, ‘what about after Sunday? How do they get back home? Many to the East Coast.’  

“Unfortunately we’re going to have to van the horses back after they race,” trainer Chad Brown states. “We’re still working out the specifics about that.” 

Brown has three horses at Del Mar. Just Aloof in the G3 Jimmy Durante; Salamis in the G1 Hollywood Derby and Segesta in the G1 Matriarch.

“It’s an inconvenience and it’s unfortunate,” Brown adds. “But all of these horses were due for a break after these races anyway. So although it’s not ideal the timing of it is not a total disaster for us. We can get them back to Kentucky and give them a break.”

Looks like there’s a van ride back east in the future for Sweet Little Lila, a 2-year-old filly running in Saturday’s Jimmy Durante. 

“Originally we were going to fly her back but now she’s going to have to van back,” claims Dominic Boccia, assistant to trainer Brittany Russell. “She’s going to go back home to the east coast and probably get a break for the winter.”

Other trainers dealing with the issue are Graham Motion, Miguel Clement, Michael Stidham, and Saffie Joseph. All got their horses out to Del Mar before the grounding.

FedEx is the only equine air travel service available in the U.S. They have 28 MD-11’s in their fleet. The carrier typically suspends equine air travel from the middle of December until after the first of the year because of holiday rush.

Always taking the glass half full approach, Jerkens reminds us how this could have been worse.

“Think about how Breeders’ Cup was fortunate,” Jerkens says. “From a timing perspective it could have been a lot worse.”

STAY HOT, CABO SPIRIT LOOK TO BREAK THROUGH IN G2 SEABISCUIT

A contentious group of nine runners are on tap for the 49th renewal of the G2 Seabiscuit, part of this weekend’s FanDuel Racing Fall Turf Festival at Del Mar. Unlike other races in the festival, the Seabiscuit is void of any shippers and will pit horses that have been running primarily on the West Coast this year.

Stay Hot has been running long distances against the likes of Gold Phoenix and Formidable Man finishing second in his last two outings, the G2 Del Mar Handicap and the G2 John Henry Turf Classic at Santa Anita. The son of Summer Front will be shortening up for the mile and a sixteenth Seabiscuit.

“He’s kind of a tweener,” trainer Peter Eurton says. “I don’t mind the mile and a sixteenth. I like the mile and an eighth or the mile and a quarter but this is what it is. He likes the racetrack and we’re going to give it a try.”

He’ll be facing a fresh El Potente, who has been off since February. The 6-year-old son of Temple City won a second-level allowance and then the G3 Thunder Road at Santa Anita before getting turned out for eight months.

“He’s a horse who always puts in four or five good races and then needs a little time,” trainer Dan Blacker explains. “Leading up to his next race, which was the Kilroe (Mile at Santa Anita), he wasn’t quite a hundred percent and to win a grade one you have to be a hundred percent. The next grade one was three months away and I felt it was in his form cycle to give him a little more time.”

El Potente is out of the mare Charmsil, by Silver Charm.

“He’s a super talented horse,” Blacker adds, “and thankfully he’s got a really patient owner in Mike Way. He’s just improved so much as he’s got older. He’s so different now to what he was as a 3-year-old. He’s just so much stronger and faster than he was so I’m really thrilled to get him back to the races.”

Cabo Spirit has been a regular at Del Mar since he won the La Jolla Handicap when it was a grade three back in 2022. While he hasn’t reached the winner’s circle since taking the G3 American at Santa Anita in April, he’s finished in the money in his last six races, all of them graded stakes.

“He’s been running well in all of his races,” notes trainer George Papaprodromou. “He’s been running grade one and grade two races and all of the races have been tough. Nothing has changed. He’s just getting better and better.” 

Old Pal is back for another shot at open company albeit a bit deeper than in the past. The 5-year-old son of Grazen has been a fixture in Cal-bred company since winning the Snow Chief Stakes in 2023. He won the Unusual Heat Turf Classic at Santa Anita in January. Trainer Mark Glatt has run Old Pal in open company in the past with good results. But that was at the allowance level. The Seabiscuit will be the gelding’s first graded stakes race of his career. 

Glatt won the Seabiscuit last year with Mi Hermano Ramon.

Almendares has shown he fits with these. After winning the $100,000 Wickerr this summer at Del Mar, the English-bred finished second to Formidable Man in the G2 Del Mar Mile and then third in the G2 City Of Hope. 

“A very consistent horse,” trainer Phil D’Amato says. “He really likes it down here at Del Mar. Has always given us some good runs here. He needs a trip but we got Hall of Famer Johnny V (Velazquez) aboard and hopefully we can get the right trip Saturday.”

Sumter is coming into the Seabiscuit off a four-length victory in the $80,000 Lure Stakes at Santa Anita last month, the second year in a row he’s won the race. 

The G2 Seabiscuit, named after the popular racehorse of the 1930s, is Race 5 on Saturday’s 11-race card. Probable post is 1:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Scoobie Quando (Kazushi Kimura, 15-1); Sumter (Mike Smith, 6-1); Almendares (John Velazquez 5-1); Call Sign Seven (Ricky Gonzalez, 20-1); El Potente (Hector Berrios, 7/2); Astronomer (Antonio Fresu, 10-1); Old Pal (Kent Desormeaux, 12-1); Cabo Spirit (Umberto Rispoli 5-1) and Stay Hot (Juan Hernandez, 5/2).

COOLING OUT:  Don’t forget the early post time Saturday, 11:30 a.m…The weather forecast for this weekend’s FanDuel Racing Fall Turf Festival has improved greatly over the past few days. The chance of rain is no more and we’re all clear for Friday, Saturday and Sunday…Jockey Antonio Fresu celebrated his 34th birthday Monday with his eleventh win of the Bing Crosby Season in Race 5 aboard Willa T for trainer Tim Yakteen…As we head into the final weekend of the Bing Crosby Season a couple of fan favorites top the leaderboard. Umberto Rispoli leads the jockey standings with 14 wins, three ahead of runner-up Antonio Fresu. And George Papaprodromou sits atop the trainers standings with nine wins, two better than Doug O’Neill and John Sadler…Track announcer Larry Collmus can always be counted on for a good call of a race but every once in a while he comes up with a real gem. Monday, as the gelding Uecker was running in the first race, Collmus stated as he made his move in the turn, “just a little outside.”…