Dandy Man Shines © Benoit Photo
Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal’s Dandy Man Shines bided his time until the final three eighths of a mile, then sped past his five rivals and drew well clear at the finish of the one-mile Let It Ride Stakes on opening day of the 10th Bing Crosby Season Friday at Del Mar.
The gelding by the Irish stallion Dandy Man was clear by two and a quarter lengths at the end of the $75,000 overnight stakes, running the mile on grass in 1:34.88. It was his second victory in his ninth start and with the winner’s share of $48,240 he boosted his purse total to $152,674. Umberto Rispoli handled the victor for trainer Jeff Mullins. The winner, the 4/5 favorite, paid $3.60 to win.
The Let It Ride, limited to 3-year-olds, was the kick-off stakes race for the 13-day fall season that goes through Sunday, December 3.
Finishing second in the Let It Ride was Great Friends Stables and Mark Davis’ Ah Jeez, who had a length and a quarter on R3 Racing’s Sharp Aza Tack.
Racing resumes at Del Mar Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. first post. The day’s feature race is the $75,000 Kathryn Crosby Stakes at a mile on the grass for fillies and mares.
UMBERTO RISPOLI (Dandy Man Shines, winner) – “Good trip today; nothing special. I’ve been working this horse for the past month and I’ve got a good feel for him. He can be a little funny at times; he’ll go left or go right when you don’t suspect it. But we were fine today. He’s a nice horse. I think he’s a very good miler.”
JEFF MULLINS (Dandy Man Shines, winner) – “We didn’t know how it was going to set up because there wasn’t a lot of speed in here. I think Umberto (Rispoli) was just waiting to see how the race unfolded. The horse is very good right now. There just wasn’t anywhere we really wanted to run him so we trained him straight into this race. Umberto’s been working him.”
FRACTIONS: :23.08 :47.33 1:11.72 1:23.52 1:34.88
The stakes win was the first of the meet for both jockey and trainers. Neither had won the Let It Ride before.
Jockey Rispoli now has 25 stakes wins at Del Mar.
Trainer Mullins now has 23 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owner is Tim Cohen of Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal.