First Peace © Benoit Photo
Rancho Temescal, Red Baron’s Barn or Orr’s First Peace sat in the garden behind three frontrunners for the mile trip of the $103,000 Wickerr Stakes Sunday, then pounced on the far turn and came away smartly in the lane under Hall of Famer Mike Smith to take honors in the turfer by a length and a quarter.
Earlier on the card, Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s Ag Bullet sped to a wire-to-wire triumph in the $101,500 Osunitas Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on the Del Mar turf course. The gray 4-year-old miss by Twirling Candy raced a mile in 1:34.73 and returned $4.80 as the favorite in the field of eight.
First Peace, a 4-year-old gray son of Funtastic, paid $9.60 to his backers in the crowd as the third choice in a field of 11 4-year-olds and up.
In the Osunitas, CJ Thoroughbreds Hang the Moon finished second, three and a half lengths behind winner Ag Bullet. Running third Jauregui Racing Stables, Barrett and partners’ Ascendancy, a length and a half farther back.
Ag Bullet was winning her fifth race in her eighth start, each of those victories coming on turf. She picked up a check for $60,000 and pushed her lifetime earnings to $297,200. Rispoli has won three times on her.
Del Mar will go dark for the next three days, then return to racing on Thursday with a first post of 2 p.m.
MIKE SMITH (First Peace, Winner) – “You know if you notice his last two sprints, he was acting like he wanted to rate himself a little. I think he is telling us he wants to go farther! He was great, and that was the key. Other than that I put the weight on him. This is my fourth mount on him, but we are learning a lot about him as he is getting older; he is getting more mature and he is learning how to relax. He was very aggressive as a 2- and 3-year-old, now at four he is really growing up. The sky is the limit for him.”
MARK GLATT (First Peace, winner) – “He got a perfect set up today. No doubt about it. It helps when three horses blast-off away from you. They got away from him enough to where it probably helped Mike (Smith) settle him back a little. That was extremely impressive. I’m looking forward to what the future holds for him going a little farther”.
FRACTIONS: :22.16 :45.04 1:09.59 1:21.84 1:33.81
The stakes win was the first of the meet for rider Smith. It was also his first victory in the Wickerr. He now has 81 stakes wins at Del Mar, 11th most among all rider.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Glatt. He previously had won the Wickerr with Blackjackcat in 2017. He now has 15 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owners are Rancho Temescal, Red Baron’s Barn and Orr. Rancho Temescal is the nom du course of Tim Cohen of Del Mar.