Encumbered © Benoit Photo

MARIO GUTIERREZ (Encumbered, winner) – “(Trainer Simon Callaghan) said there were a lot of maidens in the race, a lot of green horses. He said just don’t get in trouble. Find a spot and stay out of trouble. We were able to do that and got a good trip. He likes running on the grass. And I like riding him.”

COREY NAKATANI (My Boy Jack, second) – “I had a pretty good trip. The winner is a nice horse, but my horse ran well, too. He’s still a little green; I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of him yet. I told (trainer Keith Desormeaux) that I think he might do well with blinkers. He’s going to think it over.” 

MARTIN GARCIA (Kazan, third) – “This is the first time I’ve ridden him. I found out he doesn’t like to go between horses. When I swung him outside, he took off.”

SIMON CALLAGHAN (Encumbered, winner) – “He broke well and Mario (Gutierrez) did a super good job of getting him over (towards the rail). Sometimes you can get hung out wide in these sort of big field turf races. But Mario got him over, got him relaxed and the race worked out for us. This has been a really good meet for us. The team has done a great job, we’ve had some momentum and things have worked out for the best.”  

FRACTIONS: :22.91 :46.23 1:10.81 1:23.61 1:35.90

The stakes win was the first of the meet for rider Gutierrez and his first victory in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He now has 13 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The stakes victory was the third of the meet for trainer Callaghan, but his first in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He now has six stakes wins at Del Mar.

The winner is owned by Reddam Racing, which is J. Paul Reddam of Laguna Beach, CA.