My Italian Babbo © Benoit Photo

COREY NAKATANI (My Italian Babbo, winner) -- “I knew it was close, but I thought I got there. We put a lot of time in with him (winner). He’s been doing well and I knew he’d run good here. I told Richie (trainer Richard Baltas) I was just going to let him get comfortable, then let him do his thing. He did just that today. I know how to ride this course and I always feel comfortable on it. You can’t make any mistakes riding the turf here. And you’ve got to be well aware of the pace. Those are the keys to getting it done.”

MIKE SMITH (He Will, second) – “He ran well. Maybe if the race set up a little different, the outcome is different. But it is what it is.”

KENT DESORMEAUX (Soi Phet, third) -- “Terrific try for him. That’s the fastest he’s ever run for me. We just had two others in there who ran faster. Those two ran really fast.”

RICHARD BALTAS (My Italian Babbo, winner) – “He ran good last time from behind on the turf so we didn’t want to change tactics. He was usually up close on the dirt but he’s better, obviously, on the turf. He’s two-for-two on it. And he’s still developing. It’s a sweet win for Nick Cafarchia; I think it’s been a while since he’s been in the winner’s circle with a stakes horse. He gave me his best horse and I’m just glad I could do the best- I could with it.”  

FRACTIONS: :23.46 :48.34 1:12.81 1:36.26 1:41.91

The stakes win was the first of the meet for rider Nakatani, but his second in the California Dreamin’[ (Rock Me Baby 2014). He now has 105 stakes wins at Del Mar, second most all time to Chris McCarron (134).

The stakes win was the second of the meet for trainer Baltas, but his first in the California Dreamin’. He now has 10 stakes wins at Del Mar.