Good With People © Benoit Photo

Eight older horses will run for an $84,000 purse Thursday at Del Mar in a five-furlong turf dash that appears to be highly competitive. In addition to those already in the lineup, there are three more runners in racing answer to the waiting room called the Also-Eligible List. Should one of the original eight withdraw from the race for whatever reason, one of the three “alsos” will get a chance to compete.

It is noted that the Thursday card will have a first post of 1 p.m. All September racing at Del Mar will start at 1 p.m. instead of the usual 2 p.m. The lone exceptions are the two remaining Friday cards which will begin at 3 p.m.

Picking a favorite Thursday in a heat like this allowance/optional claiming affair is difficult at best, but there appears to be two of the runners who deserve an extra look. They would be Rockingham Ranch’s Gypsy King and Downstream Racing’s Good With People.

The former is a 4-year-old gelding by the War Front stallion Summer Front bred in Kentucky. He’ll be making his first start in a year, but showed a real touch of class as a 2- and 3-year-old and is in the hands of a conditioner – Phil D’Amato – who can absolutely get one ready. He’s put a series of nice, steady works into the bay and might have him ready to rock ‘n roll first time out of the box. Turf rider deluxe Umberto Rispoli has signed on for the dash and that can only help.

Good With People is a California-bred colt by the Curlin sire Curlin to Mischief who has one race under his belt – a fourth-place finish in a Cal-bred stakes at Santa Anita on May 22 – after being away from the races for more than a year. He’s got some serious speed and trainer Peter Miller has secured the saddle services of old pro Ramon Vazquez for Thursday’s test after putting his charge through a string of solid works leading up to the dash.

Here’s the full field for the feature from the rail out with riders:

Jeff Ganje’s Hot Box (Ricky Gonzalez up); Gypsy King; Good With People; Castrellon, Montano or Royalty Stable’s Commander (Victor Espinoza); R3 Racing’s Appreciated (Ryan Curatolo); Flurry Racing Stables’ Whooping Jay (Tyler Baze); Red Barons Barn or Rancho Temescal’s Zoffarelli (Hector Berrios), and Gelfenstein Farm’s Sigiloso (J.D. Lopez).  The also-eligible list consists of Little Red Feather Racing and Veranda Stable’s Yes He Can (Kyle Frey); Hailey or Wood’s Chasin Munny (Mike Smith), and Hogan or Hogan’s Give Me the Lute (Joe Bravo).

The conditions of the race allow runners to go as allowance stock and be untouchable, or be offered for a claiming price of $80,000. From the original field both Commander and Whooping Jay are “in for the tag.” Among the also-eligibles, all three are available to be claimed for $80,000.