Listing © Benoit Photo
Winning a stakes in his career debut, Listing scored a one and one-quarter length upset victory in the $100,690 I’m Smokin Stakes for California bred two-year-olds on Friday at Del Mar. The unexpected win provided a fourth straight victory for jockey Mario Gutierrez and the third in a row for owners Reddam Racing LLC.
Listing, a son of Square Eddie trained by Ben Cecil, inched away between foes midstretch and prevailed to win at 22-1 odds in a field of eight. Silken Prince, a homebred son of Kafwain trained by William Morey, was favored at 8-5 odds under Flavien Prat and was fourth behind second-place Policy and third-place Oliver.
Timed in 1:11.63 for six furlongs on the main track, Listing returned $46.40, $17.40 and $7.80 while earning $57,000 as first place finisher.
Policy returned $3.80 and $3, and Oliver returned $3.20 to show.
Gutierrez has 15 wins this meet, solidifying his place among the top 10 in the jockey standings heading into Del Mar’s closing weekend. He won the final two races on Thursday’s card and kept up the momentum to win the first and second races Friday afternoon.
MARIO GUTIERREZ (Listing, winner) – “They said he’d been doing good. They said to stay back with him and let him get some experience. (This was the winner’s first start.) He responded perfectly. He relaxed and was running great. When I got to the quarter pole, I started to get excited. Then when we turned for home a hole opened and he went right through it. I thought he might run well, but this was a surprise. A very pleasant surprise.”
DRAYDEN VAN DYKE (Policy, second) – “My horse ran good. The winner got a hole inside and slipped right on through.”
JOSEPH TALAMO (Oliver, third) – “I had a perfect trip and my horse ran well. We made the lead, but the winner ran real well, too.”
FLAVIEN PRAT (Silken Prince, fourth) – “He always breaks slow. He just didn’t have any (real) pace to run at today.”
ED FREEMAN, deputizing for Ben Cecil (Listing, winner) – “I do know a bit about the horse because he was with us here at Del Mar after the (San Luis Rey) fire before he went to Ben. He’s always been really special and talented. I wasn’t surprised (a first-time starter winning a stakes). Mr. Reddam (owner J. Paul) is never shy about giving it a shot and that’s why you give it a shot – you sit in the barn you never win, that’s for sure. Listing was perfect; he was a bit green but he handled being in among horses and when Mario (Gutierrez) asked him he responded. That’s impressive.“
FRACTIONS: :22.39 :46.02 :58.70 1:11.63
The stakes win was the first of the meet, but second in the I’m Smokin (Wake Up Nick, 2014) for rider Gutierrez. He now has 14 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet and first in the I’m Smokin for trainer Cecil. He now has 15 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning horse is owned and was bred by Reddam Racing, the nom du course of J. Paul Reddam of Laguna Beach, CA.
The win was the fourth in a row (two to close out the Thursday card, the first two on Friday at Del Mar) for rider Gutierrez. It was the third straight for owner Reddam and the second straight for trainer Cecil.