Clock Tower © Benoit Photo
Mrs. Fitriani Hay’s Clock Tower, who had the good luck to have Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the saddle as they “walked the dog” through the early part of the one-mile Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, scored a two and a half-length victory in the juvenile turf test Sunday.
The gelding by Not This Time “got away with” a :25.13 second quarter in the race and was full of pep when the real running began. He drew away from his six rivals and scored his first stakes triumph in his fifth career start under the guidance of trainer Wesley Ward. Final time for the race was 1:36.78.
The Grade III DeMille carried a pure of $101,000 and rewarded the winner with a purse of $60,000, which increased his earnings to $225,938.
Finishing second in the grass offering was Nguyen and Tran’s Scipio, who had a length and a quarter on third-place finisher Origami, who races in the silks of Grund, Berk or Oster, et al.
Earlier on the card, the Irish-bred gelding Unconquerable Keen allowed trainer Phil D’Amato to keep his record intact by winning the third of three runnings of the $102,000 Stormy Liberal Stakes by half a length. It was the 5-year-old’s second straight tally in the five-panel sprint stakes on Del Mar’s lawn.
Umberto Rispoli rode the winner who came from off a fast pace to click for his seventh victory in his 20th start. The veteran is a son of the Danehill stallion Clodovil and he earned a check for $60,000 for his work to push his bankroll to $333,089. He’s owned by the partnership of CYBT, Aldabbagh or Nentwig.
Finishing second was the same ownership group’s Sorrento Sky, who had a length on Brown, Klein or Lebherz’s Boss Sully.
D’Amato saddled the 2022 winner of the Stormy Liberal – Turn On The Jets – and then Unconquerable Keen last year.
Final time for the dash was :56.32. The winner returned $13.60 to his backers in the final-day crowd.
The two stakes were part of the closing day card at the seaside oval.
JOHN VELAZQUEZ (Clock Tower, winner) – “I rode this horse for his first two starts back east and you can see what a good job Wesley (trainer Ward) has done with him. He’s grown up; he’s matured. Today when I got away with that second quarter (:25.13), I knew they were going to have a tough time catching us. Then, when I asked him, he went. He’s turning into a good one.”
BLAKE HEAP, assistant to Wesley Ward (Clock Tower, winner) – “Beautiful, perfect trip. Kind of what we were hoping. There was really no speed, on paper anyway. When I saw the fractions, he almost went :49 for the half and he’s been running :47 and still hanging pretty hard. He’d been training here so good, I really liked him. He’s (John Velazquez) a good speed rider. He knows the pace.”
FRACTIONS: :23.62 :48.75 1:13.72 1:25.42 1:36.78
The stakes win was the second of the meet for rider Velazquez, but his first in the Cecil B. DeMille. He now has 11 sakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Ward and his first in the Cecil B. DeMille. He now has 13 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owner is Mrs. Fitriani Hay of West Sussex, United Kingdom.