Emisael Jaramillo © Benoit Photo
MEET THE JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS FOR DEL MAR’S BING CROSBY SEASON
Horse racing is an ever-changing sport. New horses make their debuts and new stars are born. Jockeys migrate to new tracks and jurisdictions in search of career changing success. The lone constant tends to be the trainers and even that is subject to a change every now and then.
Here at Del Mar changes can occur even in the short amount of time between the summer and the fall. Temperatures are cooler, post times are earlier and the number of horses on the grounds is less because many trainers choose to ship in their horses (usually from the Los Angeles area) for the races rather than keep them at Del Mar for the duration of the meet.
The evolving nature of the Del Mar jockey colony was never more apparent than this past summer with the addition of Emisael Jaramillo and Julien Leparoux and the return of Hall of Fame rider Joel Rosario, who promptly won the summer meet riders title.
There are a couple more notable changes this fall. Antonio Fresu is now riding back east. Taking his place is Jamie Spencer, a jockey who has made a name for himself riding overseas.
Otherwise, the cast of characters in the jockey room remains the same. Juan Hernandez is coming off another riding title up at Santa Anita and his first Breeders’ Cup win. Rosario is back in search of a summer and fall meet double. Umberto Rispoli is the defending Fall Meet riders champion, winning his first riding title in Southern California at Del Mar last year. No one expects him to give up his crown without a fight.
Other Top Ten jockeys back this fall include Jaramillo, Kazushi Kimura, Hector I. Berrios and Armando Ayuso. Not to mention, Hall of Fame jockeys Mike Smith, Kent Desormeaux and Victor Espinoza. And while Flavien Prat is entrenched in New York these days, he has been known to come out West for a shot at the big purse money available during the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival at Del Mar.
The roster of trainers at the seaside oval remains relatively unchanged led by the top conditioner from the summer meet Doug O’Neill, who carried the momentum of his seventh Del Mar trainers title up to Santa Anita and promptly won their Autumn Meet title. He’s joined again at Del Mar this fall by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, John Sadler and Philip D’Amato.
Last year’s leading trainer during the Bing Crosby Season was George Papaprodromou, who returns to defend his title against the likes of Peter Miller, Mark Glatt, Michael McCarthy and Leonard Powell, as well as Hall of Famers Richard Mandella, Neil Drysdale and Jerry Hollendorfer.
One notable addition this season is Jonathan Thomas, a Kentucky trainer who has captured his share of Fall Turf Festival stakes races in past years. He chose to stay back east this summer but returns this fall with his stock of talented runners looking to continue his run of graded stakes victories.
The Bing Crosby season tends to attract several prestigious out-of-town operations who ship in for any one of the big races at the end of the meet. Stables like Chad Brown and Graham Motion have been known to send out a horse or two. Brad Cox and Brendan Walsh are no strangers to Del Mar in the fall, as well as Wesley Ward, Saffie Joseph and Miguel Clement. And don’t be surprised if Todd Pletcher doesn’t send out a horse in search of a Graded Stakes victory.
The 13th Bing Crosby Season opens Friday. Racing will be conducted on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. First post daily is at 12:30 p.m. except on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, when racing begins at 11 a.m.
SETTING THE STAGE FOR TURF RACING AT DEL MAR THIS FALL
It’s always the first thing you notice when you walk out on the tarmac or through the entrances out into the grandstand at Del Mar…the lush, green Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Ten and a half acres of bermuda grass shaped in a large oval.
Anyone who has maintained a lawn during the scorching days of September and October will appreciate the effort that goes into maintaining such a large swath of grass. It’s a year-round chore that shifts into high gear with closing day of the summer meet.
“We do what is called ‘coring’,” points out John Beggin, turf and landscape superintendent at Del Mar. “We repair any damage that is done in the summer to areas like the finish line or where they switch leads in the last quarter mile. Those areas usually get beat up more than anywhere else. Especially the finish line because a lot of races go through it twice.”
Beggin and his crew meticulously go over every bit of ground on the turf course, searching for damaged areas.
“I take what is called a cup-cutter,” Beggin continues. “In golf, they use it to replace their cups when they change pin locations. We take a piece of grass from the outside rail and we put it in the damaged areas. Then we add a couple of fertilizer applications to promote healing and new growth.”
They also utilize UV turf blankets that are laid over the turf course.
“They radiate heat and warm up the soil,” Beggin explains. “Our turf is a warm season turf and with the coastal climate the warmer you can make the turf the more it wants to heal and produce new shoots. We kind of had a little heatwave at the end of summer and it got a little too hot. So, we did a little bit of blankets but not much.”
Which was a good thing when the ferocious Santa Ana winds blew through San Diego County last month.
“If you have blankets, which we didn’t, they tend to blow away,” Beggin says. “The wind tends to dry everything out so it took a little more moisture managing. A couple sections of the outside rail were blown down which we had to fix but we made it through the Santa Ana’s pretty good.”
Beggin’s turf course will get a lot of use…and abuse…during the Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar when turf racing is an emphasis. It comes as no surprise that the hardest part of maintaining Del Mar’s turf course comes during live racing which wreaks havoc on the grass. Beggin says they’ll continue with the weekly coring and rotate the rail position more frequently.
“I’ve been talking to other tracks,” Beggin notes. “We’ve been kind of playing around with the idea after the last Breeders’ Cup that we rotate the rail more often than we have in the past. I’m rotating it every race day. One rail position Friday, a different rail position Saturday and a different rail position Sunday. That means more work for us at night because we move the rail after racing.”
The results of Beggin and his crew’s diligence are on full display every day at Del Mar. And while the turf course is pleasing to the eye, it’s also a safe track and that, above all else, is what’s important.
“I think about it every day,” he says. “Every time those horses get on the track.”
COOLING OUT: Entries for Friday’s opening day card were pulled Tuesday. A total of 82 horses were entered in the eight-race program including 10 in the feature, the $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes which will go off as Race #6…The number of horses on the grounds at Del Mar continues to grow with every new day this week. Over 115 have moved into the barn area as of this morning. Peter Miller has brought a string of 25 horses, split from the group he has year-round at San Luis Rey. The horses from the Richard Mandella barn began arriving overnight and Bob Hess, Jr. has set up shop with at least a dozen horses on site…Horses from the Doug O’Neill and Richard Baltas barns were out galloping on the main track this morning as they continue preparations for opening weekend.