Daytona Diamond © Benoit Photo
SPARKLING MAIDEN WINNERS STEP UP IN GENEROUS PORTION FRIDAY
The last of the Cal-bred stakes races for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar this summer will be run Friday. The $100,000 Generous Portion is a six-furlong sprint on the main track. Ten fillies are expected to line-up in the starting gate some of which are coming into the race off open-lengths maiden scores.
Daytona Diamond is the morning line favorite off her impressive 5 ¼ length victory against maiden special weights first time out.
“We knew she was a nice filly,” trainer Carla Gaines says. “She trains very well. Quite honestly, I thought the race was going to be premature for her. But with nothing coming up in the next book the timing of the race worked out.”
Gaines has big plans for the daughter of Tonalist.
“I distinctly remember telling the jockey (Kazushi Kimura),” Gaines notes, “win, lose or draw let her continue her run past the wire because she is definitely a two-turn horse. She’ll relish the two turns and we’re getting there. This seemed like the next logical spot.”
Palo Alto Baby is another filly who won big at first asking. The daughter of Stanford won by 9 ¼ lengths in her debut at Del Mar August 20.
“You never expect them to win by nine lengths,” Miller said when asked if he was surprised by Palo Alto Baby’s debut. “You’re happy when they do. She’s doing well and she’s a very nice filly but this is not an easy race.”
Miller says he’s not concerned with coming back in two weeks.
“A little bit of a quick turnaround,” Miller acknowledges, “but she did so well in her last. We’ll see what we got.”
Four of the top five finishers in the $100,000 CTBA Stakes at Del Mar last month are back for the Generous Portion. The winner of the CTBA Free Closer is not one of them. She will run in the G1 Del Mar Debutante Saturday. That leaves the runner-up Stay Bossy; the third-place finisher Strident Miss; the fourth-place finisher Sentient Soon, and the fifth-place horse You Trust Me.
Of the four, all but Stay Bossy won first time out and all five followed their maiden scores with the CTBA. Stay Bossy was the best of the rest in the race albeit 8 ¼ lengths behind Free Closer.
The 34th running of the $100,000 Generous Portion is Race 6 on the eight-race Friday card. Probable post time is 4:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Tashie (Antonio Fresu, 8-1); Palo Alto Baby (Joel Rosario, 7/2); Big Twist (Umberto Rispoli, 8-1); Sentient Soon (Kyle Frey, 8-1); Strident Miss (Hector I. Berrios, 8-1); Breakaway Babe (Ricky Gonzalez, 15-1); Daytona Diamond (Kazushi Kimura, 5/2); You Trust Me (Victor Espinoza, 20-1); Stay Bossy (Juan Hernandez, 6-1), and Obhayve (Edgar Payeras, 20-1).
O’NEILL RIDING HIGH IN TRAINERS’ STANDINGS WITH ONE WEEK TO GO
A wise old man once said as his horse opened up and separated from the pack coming down the lane, “It’s all over but the shouting.”
That certainly applies to the trainers’ race at Del Mar this summer. A victory appears out-of-reach for everyone chasing Doug O’Neill. His 24 wins are 10 better than his closest rival Philip D’Amato. O’Neill has entries in 16 races through Sunday. Of his 101 starts, the most of any trainer this season, O’Neill’s horses have finished in the money 51% of the time.
After the top two, the trainer standings get bunched up with Peter Miller’s 12 victories, George Papaprodromou’s 11, and John Sadler, Bob Baffert, and Mark Glatt with 10.
Michael McCarthy and Jeff Mullins start the week with nine wins and Tim Yakteen and Craig Lewis round out the Top Ten with seven.
D’Amato leads with five stakes wins. He also has the highest earnings of all the trainers with $1,800,236.
There’s still an outside chance the defending champ in the jockeys’ race could put together a big week and pull out a come-from-behind victory.
Juan Hernandez currently sits six wins behind Joel Rosario, the leader in the jockeys’ standings. Hernandez has made 30 trips to the winner’s circle this season, five of those coming last week, including two graded stakes wins. That keeps him within striking distance of Rosario. Hernandez will play his Bob Baffert card this weekend in at least three of the big races, the Debutante, the Futurity and the Shared Belief.
Antonio Fresu announced he’s moving his tack back east after this summer and promptly went out and had the best week of everyone with eight victories. He currently sits third in the standings with 26 wins.
Umberto Rispoli and Emisael Jaramillo are next with 20 followed by Kazushi Kimura with 18, Armando Ayuso with 16, Hector I. Berrios with 14 and Tyler Baze with nine. Tiago Pereira and Joe Bravo round out the Top Ten with seven.
While Hernandez’ title is on the line this week, his hold on the most stakes wins this summer looks secure. His run last weekend has him up to nine stakes victories. His closest competitor is Rispoli with five. The record for stakes wins in a season at Del Mar is 15 by Flavien Prat in 2020.
Reddam Racing picked up another win last week and continues to sit atop the owners’ standings with nine victories. Hronis Racing and Run Fast Racing are next with five.
Average Field Size remains steady at 8.50 as we enter the final week of racing at Del Mar. It might increase a bit this week as more trainers try to get in one more race before the meet ends. There have been 2,124 starters this summer, lower than last year at this time but higher than 2024.
Thanks to Bill Nader, president of the TOC for this tidbit: Despite running nine less races in August, Del Mar still posted a 16.5% market share across the country. That’s up from 15.6% in August of 2025. Combined with Saratoga’s market share in August, the two tracks made up 56% of the wagering market last month.
Thursday marks the beginning of the final week of racing at Del Mar. It’s a five-day race week with the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Post time will move up to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
MANDELLA UNLEASHES STRONG PAIR IN TRANQUILITY LAKE SATURDAY
A lot of stakes action is on tap this week, closing week at Del Mar. A stakes tripleheader is set for Saturday including the $100,000 Tranquility Lake for fillies and mares going one mile on the main track. Ten horses are entered in the event, two from the Richard Mandella barn.
Mandella is unleashing a powerful pair in Amorita and Magnificat, but in both cases he’s stretching them out around two turns and in the case of Amorita, he’s switching surfaces. Mandella has been ‘trying’ things with his horses for years and more times than not they work. It’s one of the reasons he has a spot in racing’s Hall of Fame.
Amorita is coming off a come-from-behind win in the $100,000 Daisycutter at Del Mar in July. She finished with a flourish and appeared to have plenty to spare in the end. The Daisycutter was five furlongs on the turf but Mandella has seen things with Amorita in the mornings that suggest a change of surface could enhance the daughter of Liam’s Map’s performance in the afternoons.
“She has trained fantastically this year on the dirt,” Mandella reasons. “Because of that I’ve been wanting to give her a try back on the dirt. If she can do dirt it will open up new possibilities for her. You look at her workouts on the dirt and you have to think she might like it.”
Of Amorita’s 12 lifetime races, only one has been on the dirt, a last-place finish in her debut at Del Mar in 2024.
“She ran terrible the first time on it,” Mandella admits. “I think it was just a bad day for her.”
Mandella’s other entry, Magnificat, was runner-up to Sweet Azteca in the G2 Great Lady M at Los Alamitos on July 4. That followed a victory in the $100,000 Desert Stormer at Santa Anita in June. Magnificat will be stretching out around two turns in the Tranquility Lake, the first time for her in eight lifetime starts.
“She’s won a stake and is stakes placed now,” Mandella says. “Her mother (Holy Helena) ran a long distance so I want to give her a try at two turns.”
Bob Baffert will start Howin in the Tranquility Lake. She’s a daughter of Gun Runner who will be making her first start in 11 months. Her last race was the 2025 G2 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita.
“We freshened her up,” Baffert says. “It’s sort of a tough spot. I would have liked to have brought her back in an allowance but that’s not going to happen in California anymore.”
Howin won going a mile on the main track at Del Mar in an entry level allowance race last summer. Signaling she’s ready, she fired a bullet work last Sunday, going five furlongs in :58.40.
A horse worth watching is So There She Was, coming off an eight-month layoff. She was runner-up to Om N Joy in the 2025 G3 Torrey Pines, which is also a mile on the main track. A month later she won the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks. She’s also tangled with the likes of Fully Subscribed in the G2 Mother Goose at Aqueduct in November and Usha in the G1 Malibu in late December.
The 22nd running of the Tranquility Lake is Race 8 on the Saturday card. Probable post time is 5 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys: So There She Was (Emisael Jaramillo); Magnificat (Joel Rosario); Mi Confesion (Umberto Rispoli); Catalina Cocktail (Drayden Van Dyke); Surf Song (Julien Leparoux); Howin (Juan Hernandez); Our Moonlight (Tiago Pereira); Amorita (Kazushi Kimura); Rosie Jeeks (Kyle Frey), and Lavender Love (Edwin Maldonado).
COOLING OUT: Track announcer Larry Collmus gets another chance to call a race with his namesake in it. Collmus, the horse, will make his second lifetime start in Race 5 today, a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the main track. Collmus is trained by Bob Baffert and will be ridden by Emisael Jaramillo…Post time for Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be moved up a half hour to 1:30 p.m. this weekend. Eleven races are slated for both Saturday and Sunday necessitating the earlier start time…Notable works this week: Monday – Dirt – Palo Alto Baby (3f, :37.00); Fibonaccis Ride (4f, :49.00); Medoro (4f, :49.80), and Net Par (5f, 1:00.80). Thursday – Dirt – Listenupshance (4f, :48.80).