By Hank Wesch

 

 

In 2005, Doug O’Neill saddled the first and third-place winners in the Del Mar Futurity with 5-2 favorite Stevie Wonderboy five lengths clear of The Pharaoh crossing under the wire and Jealous Profit another length behind.

           

“I’d forgotten about Jealous Profit running third, but Stevie Wonderboy was a wonderful horse,” O’Neill said Sunday morning. “And being owned by (entertainment mogul) Merv Griffin added spice to the whole deal.”

           

The trip down memory lane was prompted by the fact that O’Neill is positioned for what would be his second win in the Grade I $300,000 event Monday. O’Neill will saddle 5-2 morning line favorite Nyquist, undefeated in two starts and a 5 ¼-length winner of the Futurity-prep Best Pal Stakes and Archaeo (20-1) a maiden making only his second career start.

           

Nyquist is owned by J. Paul Reddam, who owned Jealous Profit in 2005 and has become O’Neill’s major client. Looking back at Stevie Wonderboy, and ahead to Nyquist on Monday, O’Neill said there were both similarities and differences.

           

“They’re both very mentally mature,” O’Neill said. “I think any good young horse we’ve ever had was more mature mentally than the average baby. He (Nyquist) definitely falls into the category of being a good-minded colt.

           

“Stevie Wonderboy was a little bit bigger. (Nyquist) is a little better balanced and maybe more athletic. I’d say Nyquist is like a young Kobe Bryant and Stevie Wonderboy was maybe like a Pau Gasol. Just bigger.

           

“Both had minds of two-turn horses but leave the gate like sprinters. It’s a perfect combination.”

           

O’Neill followed the 2005 Futurity success with a second by Great Hunter in 2006 and Team O’Neill got another second with Know More in 2012 when assistant Leandro Mora saddled the colt while O’Neill was serving a suspension.

           

Besides the two runner-up finishes, O’Neill has had eight other Futurity starters, failing to have a representative in only 2009,  with the top results being fifth-place efforts by Basmati in 2011 and Henry’s Holiday in 2014.

           

On paper, it looks to be O’Neill’s best chance in a decade.

           

“This is a special colt, but when they’re lightly raced like that you never know,” O’Neill said. “There are some good ones in there and we’ll just have to see what happens.

           

“You don’t want to jinx yourself by talking coming into a race, but he’s training great and we’re excited. I wouldn’t trade places with anybody, that’s for sure.”

           

The field from the rail out:  Nightly News (Rafael Bejarano, 8-1), Annie’s Candy (Victor Espinoza, 10-1), Swipe (Kent Desormeaux, 4-1), Mt Veeder (Martin Garcia, 5-1), Nyquist (Mario Gutierrez, 5-2), Archaeo (James Graham, 20-1), Blameitonthelaw (Tyler Baze, 3-1) and Rockin Bayou (Mike Smith, 6-1).

 

 

Neither new owner Michael House nor trainer James “Fozzy” Stack had anything to do with the naming of Optimism And Hope, the 2-year-old filly they’ll send out Monday in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf.

           

That would be the work of her original owner/breeder Michael Begley.

           

But in importing the filly from Ireland, House and Stack – the latter of whom is deputizing here for his father, Peter, the trainer of record – are exhibiting the very qualities stated in her name.

 

Optimism And Hope was fifth of nine in her debut, a maiden race with a $17,000 purse on June 19 at Limerick, Ireland, going seven furlong on a “right-handed” (opposite of U.S.) course.

           

Brought back two weeks later on the “left-handed” course at Bellewstown and stretched out to a mile, Optimism And Hope went straight to the front and held on when challenged over the last three furlongs to win by a nose.

           

Bellewstown is a village located in County Meath on the eastern Irish coast about 30 miles north of Dublin. It lays claim to having conducted racing since the 1700s and this year staged two meets, a three-day session July 2-4 and a two-day meet August 26-27.

             

Given that, Del Mar figures to be a huge climatic and cultural change for the filly whose sire (Holy Roman Emperor) and dam sire (Galileo) are Irish equine royalty. But the way she handled the long ship, arriving 10 days in advance of the race, and the subsequent orientation period is encouraging to Stack.

 

“She should fit well here, she likes fast ground. She looks well, she’s held her condition well and hopefully she’ll run her race,” Stack said.

 

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who’ll be aboard Monday, was to “jump her out of the gate,” on Saturday, to prepare Optimism And Hope for racing American style. “The American horses tend to break more quickly from the gate than the European horses, and we hope to eliminate that, we don’t want to get left behind,” Stack said.

 

Away well, “She has a good turn of foot and she’ll stay,” Stack said.

 

The Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, in only its fourth running, can be a stepping stone to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf as it was for Clenor in 2013.

 

“Actually, she’s not Breeders’ Cup nominated,” Stack said. “We’ll see what happens Monday and go from there.”

 

Songbird, the impressive winner of Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante came out  of the race fine, as did stablemates Stays In Vegas (fifth) and Surfside Tiara (7^th), Dan Ward, assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, said Sunday morning.

           

They’ll all be departing soon for Santa Anita where Songbird will be prepared for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on October 30 at Keeneland in Kentucky, likely via a run in the Grade I Chandelier Stakes on September 26.

           

Stays In Vegas and Surfside Tiara, meanwhile, are likely to be pointed to races other than Songbird’s.

           

“They might both really like turf,” Ward said.

           

Trainer Peter Miller said that Hollywood Don, winner of the  $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf came out of the race “in fine fettle,” and would be pointed for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on October 31.

           

“I think he’s that quality,” Miller said.

 

 

           

Jerry Hollendorfer and Peter Miller, co-champions of the 2014 Summer Meeting, are engaged in a similar struggle for the training title with two days remaining.

           

Miller won three races, among them the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf, to move within one of Hollendorfer through eight races on Saturday’s card. Then Hollendorfer saddled Songbird to win the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante in the ninth to take a two-win advantage (22-20) into Sunday’s program.

           

Asked about the training race in the Debutante winner’s circle, Hollendorfer said “You know what, it’s not supposed to be easy, and it’s not.”

           

A year ago, Hollendorfer went into the penultimate day of the meeting with a 20-16 advantage. But Miller, who had a larger number of entries, won three on Labor Day and one on the Closing Day program two days later to forge the tie.

           

Miller has six entered Sunday. His lineup: 1^st race, My Silver Cat (9-2) and Gold’s Venice (10-1); 6^th race, Spindle (7-2); 8^th race Tribal Again (8-1) and Got Even (8-1), 10^th race Broadway Nika (6-1).

            

Hollendorfer has three entered Sunday. His lineup: 6^th, Lemon Drop Sis (9-2), 8^th, Skip Tony (3-1) and 9^th, Thegirlinthatsong (12-1).

           

“It’s fun,” Miller said. “All you get is a trophy and some bragging rights, but we work hard for it. Jerry and I are good friends so it’s always good competition. We root for each other when we’re not in the same race.”          

 

 

 

The Triple Crown champion jogged the perimeter of the track solo under exercise rider George Alvarez. American Pharoah will parade through the walking ring and in front of the grandstand after Sunday’s fourth race.

 

CLOSERS – Three-time defending riding champion Rafael Bejarano kept his  pursuers  at bay with one win yesterday and, with 37 wins, is up by nine. Flavien Prat notched one win to maintain solo second with a two-win advantage (28-26) over Tyler Baze (two wins Saturday) and Joe Talamo … Selected works from 140 officially timed Sunday: Silentio (6f, 1:13.00), Dortmund (5f, 1:00.00), Wild Dude (4f, :50.00), Sharla Rae (4f, :51.20), Avanzare (4f, :50.60).

 

 

DEL MAR STATISTICS

 

Jockey Standings
(Current Through Saturday, September 5, 2015 Inclusive)
Jockey	Mts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	Money Won
Rafael Bejarano	208	37	41	27	18%	$2,376,138
Flavien Prat	179	28	27	26	16%	$2,045,744
Tyler Baze	203	26	27	30	13%	$1,628,500
Joseph Talamo	181	26	16	16	14%	$1,543,648
Santiago Gonzalez	171	23	17	22	13%	$1,306,546
Mario Gutierrez	131	23	15	12	18%	$1,313,156
Kent Desormeaux	99	19	12	12	19%	$959,904
Martin Garcia	136	18	14	16	13%	$1,279,790
Corey Nakatani	87	16	11	4	18%	$767,246
Victor Espinoza	96	13	15	13	14%	$992,856

 

Trainer Standings
(Current Through Saturday, September 5, 2015 Inclusive)
Trainer	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	Money Won
Jerry Hollendorfer	96	22	12	13	23%	$1,506,762
Peter Miller	134	20	21	17	15%	$1,339,990
Doug F. O'Neill	102	14	20	12	14%	$1,171,760
Richard Baltas	73	14	7	14	19%	$745,296
Philip D'Amato	81	13	10	13	16%	$987,102
Bob Baffert	62	12	11	8	19%	$1,006,520
Mike Puype	74	12	4	9	16%	$660,090
John W. Sadler	57	11	4	5	19%	$589,134
Robert B. Hess, Jr.	57	11	3	9	19%	$379,202
Mark Glatt	60	8	6	7	13%	$414,040

 

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Saturday, September 5, 2015 Inclusive)
Winning favorites	102	334	30.54%
Wining favorites on dirt	74	226	32.74%
Winning favorites on turf	28	108	25.93%
Winning odds-on favorites	20	40	50.00%
In-the-Money favorites	193	334	57.78%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites	34	40	85.00%

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793