By Jim Charvat
BREEDERS’ CUP TO RETURN TO DEL MAR IN 2025
In the words of the immortal Ernie Banks. “Let’s play two.”
Breeders’ Cup has announced its site for 2025 and it’s the same as 2024….Del Mar.
“Our return to Del Mar in back-to-back years marks the continuation of a wonderful collaboration and successful partnership, both with our friends at the track and with the greater San Diego area,” president and CEO of Breeders’ Cup Limited, Drew Fleming says, “demonstrating our continued commitment to California horse racing.”
Del Mar has hosted the Breeders’ Cup twice in recent years, in 2017 and 2021, and will host it a third time on November 1-and-2 in 2024.
“We couldn’t be more excited about hosting back-to-back Breeders’ Cup World Championships,” Joe Harper, CEO of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club says, ”and welcoming the very best in international racing back to the town of Del Mar and the greater San Diego area.”
After widening the turf course so it could accommodate the large Breeders’ Cup fields, Del Mar was granted its first Breeders’ Cup in 2017. Gun Runner won the Classic that year and Del Mar soon found itself in a three-track rotation with Keeneland and Santa Anita.
Breeders’ Cup returned in 2021 amid the Covid outbreak. With limits on ticket sales due to the pandemic, Del Mar nonetheless shined again as the host track.
“The Breeders’ Cup represents the pinnacle in world-class racing,” Harper says, “and the organization’s willingness to return here again is a testament to the quality of our racing facilities, our idyllic weather and the warm hospitality shown to our visitors by the local community.”
The Breeders’ Cup will be run on October 31 and November 1 in 2025.
LET IT RIDE LAUNCHES BING CROSBY SEASON STAKES SCHEDULE
The Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar kicks off Friday and the first of 15 stakes over the 13-day meet will be the feature, the $75,000 Let It Ride Stakes. Six horses are entered in the one mile contest restricted to 3-year-olds and set to be run on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
Dandy Man Shines is the morning line favorite off of his impressive maiden victory at Santa Anita last out. Jeff Mullins trains the Irish-bred for Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal. As a 2-year-old, he ran in the G3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf, finishing fourth behind Packs A Wahlop.
A freshening did Dandy Man Shines a world of good. He returned from an eight month respite and won by 2 ¼ lengths.
The Doug O’Neill barn will send out a pair of runners in the Let It Ride. Ah Jeez is no stranger to Del Mar, having run here seven times over the past two years, including the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes and the G2 Del Mar Derby this past summer.
“He deserves another chance,” assistant trainer Leandro Mora says. “He’s a horse we thought had a lot of potential early on and he kind of stayed at one level. We decided to try it again, looking for a spot for him to do good.”
How high were they on Ah Jeez? They sent the son of Mendelssohn back to Dubai for the UAE Derby earlier this year. He won a prep race back there but then finished 13th in the Derby.
His stablemate Sharp Aza Tack has been running sprints throughout his six-race career.
“The way he ran at Santa Anita we made the decision that distance will help him rather than force him to use a lot of energy early on,” Mora says. “So we’ll give it a try.“
Trainer George Papaprodromou sends out Calm Sea, another son of Mendelssohn who is coming off of his maiden win at Santa Anita last out. He ran at Del Mar this summer and finished third behind Dandy Man Shines.
Smart Mo and Camilo round out the field. Trainer John Shirreffs is giving Smart Mo another shot on the turf. He’s run four of his five career starts on the dirt.
Camilo ships in from Canada for trainer Jonathan Thomas. The son of More Than Ready was last seen breaking his maiden in a seven-furlong race on the all-weather track at Woodbine.
The Let It Ride Stakes is named after the popular horse racing movie starring Richard Dreyfus. The term ‘let it ride’ is often associated with gamblers and the phrase they use when asked what they want to do with all their winnings. It’s the seventh race on an eight-race card. Post time for the stakes is 3:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Sharp Aza Tack (Tiago Pereira, 12-1); Calm Sea (Mario Gutierrez, 4-1); Camilo (Flavien Prat, 5-2); Ah Jeez (Antonio Fresu, 4-1); Smart Mo (Juan Hernandez, 6-1), and Dandy Man Shines (Umberto Rispoli, 8-5).
COOLING OUT: Nine fillies and mares are slated to go in Saturday’s feature, the $75,000 Kathryn Crosby. 79 horses were entered for the nine race card…