Bowies Hero © Benoit Photo
Bowies Hero, winner of the closing day Del Mar Juvenile Turf last summer, returned to the scene of his first important victory to win the $117,900 Oceanside Stakes Wednesday on the first day of the 2017 Del Mar racing season.
With Tiago Pereira in the saddle, Bowies Hero sliced between horses at the top of the stretch to secure running room, wore down 21-1 longshot Pioneer Lad in the final sixteenth and won clear by a length and one-half in 1:36.01 for the mile on the infield grass course.
Pioneer Lad, with Tyler Baze up, held on well in the stretch to be a length and one-half in front of Caribou Club who nosed out Grecian Fire for third place. Arms Runner, the 8-5 favorite, was seventh in the field of 13 three-year-olds. Withdrawn from the original field were Placido, Monster Man and Reign On.
Bowies Hero, a son of Artie Schiller owned by the partnership of Agave Racing and Hebert Bloodstock and trained by Phil D’Amato, was scoring his fourth triumph in seven starts. As the 3-1 second choice, the bay colt returned $8.80, $4.80 and $3.40. Pioneer Lad paid $14 and $9.40, while Caribou Club paid $9.60 to show.
First money of $70,740 increased Bowies Hero’s total earnings to $201,325. Previously, he accounted for the Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita in early May.
Flavien Prat and Rafael Bejarano, who deadheated for the Del Mar riding title with 38 winners last summer, continued their duel as they each won three races prior to the Oceanside. Prat accounted for races one, three and four, while Bejarano had a consecutive triple, sweeping the fifth, sixth and seventh. Bejarano made it four for the afternoon by winning the tenth and final race.
TIAGO PEREIRA (Bowies Hero, winner) – “I was there with a lot of horse all the way around. I had a big hold; he was strong. Tyler’s horse (Tyler Baze on second-place finisher Pioneer Lad) made that run, but my horse went to him, then went right on by. He was very strong. And he’ll run on.”
TYLER BAZE (Pioneer Lad, second) – “This was his first time on grass; it was also the first time he was asked to run through a hole. He did both well. A good race for him. He’s learning. He’s just going to get better.”
DRAYDEN VAN DYKE (Caribou Club, third) – “I didn’t like being stuck out there three-wide all the way around, but I didn’t have any choice. He tried hard and he ran well. We’ll have to see if he wants to go further.”
PHIL D’AMATO (Bowies Hero, winner) – “Tiago (Pereira) said we were lucky to get through right in front of the five-sixteenth. (Joe) Talamo was out of horse and kind of let him through. (Pereira) let him run through the stretch and he said he had a ton of horse on the gallop-out. So we’ll just play it by ear and see if we’ll just sit and wait for the Del Mar Derby or roll into the La Jolla. He loves this track, he got his first win for me on this track. The weather’s cooler here at Del Mar and he just thrives in it.”
FRACTIONS: :22.80 :46.75 1:11.46 1:23.98 1:36.01
The stakes win was the fourth ever at Del Mar for rider Pereira and his first in the Oceanside.
The stakes win was the 14th at Del Mar for trainer D’Amato and his first in the Oceanside.
The winner is owned by Mark Martinez of San Antonio, TX and A.C. Hebert of Vinton, LA.