Glen Hill Farm’s Enterprising, the 5-2 favorite ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, rallied from last place to win the featured $$116,700 Oceanside Stakes on opening day of the 2014 Del Mar summer racing season before a crowd of 42,021 Thursday.
Enterprising, a classy son Elusive Quality trained by Tom Proctor, was taken back to tenth and last in the early stages of the one-mile race over the infield grass course, was cut loose by Smith on the far turn to move into contention from the outside and collared Argyle Cut in the final strides to score by a neck.
According to Trakus, Enterprising blistered his final quarter in :22.65 to claim the victory. Time for the one-mile was 1:33.89. The stakes record of 1:33.54 was set by Blackdoun in 2004.
Argyle Cut, piloted by Corey Nakatani, appeared a winner in midstretch but was unable to hold off Enterprising while finishing 1 ¼ lengths ahead of third-place Home School. Sammy Mandeville was fourth. Withdrawn from the original field were Diamond Bachelor and Yard Line.
Scoring his fourth triumph in eight starts, Enterprising paid $7.80, $4.20 and $3.80 while earning $69,120 to increase his career bankroll to $244,650. .
Argyle Cut returned $4.60 and $3 while Home School returned $6.20 to show.
With no perfect tickets in the Pick Six, Friday’s program which begins at 4 p.m. will feature a carryover of $106,931.
Talented apprentice Drayden Van Dyke and Martin Garcia had doubles on the ten-race card. Van Dyke won the second race on Bird in Love and the fourth aboard Aftermarketslam while Garcia’s winners were Kinz Funky Monkey in the third and Super Ability in the sixth.
Rafael Bejarano, Del Mar’s leading rider for the past two summers, returned to action Thursday after being sidelined since May while recovering from injuries incurred in a spill at Santa Anita and averted a blank by winning the tenth and final race on Affretando.
-30-