First Peace © Benoit Photo

The popular Jimmy Durante Turf Course will be put to good use Sunday at Del Mar as six of the 11 events on the second day of the summer meet will be contested on the greensward. Among that half dozen are the day’s two features – the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes and the $100,000 Wickerr Stakes.

Both overnight stakes are at a mile and both serve as preps for bigger things further along in the meet. In the case of the Osunitas, it is the stepping stone leading to $250,000, Grade II John C. Mabee Stakes at nine furlongs on grass on Saturday, September 7. The Wickerr leads to one of the top turf stakes at the session, the $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Mile, one of the featured tests on the rich FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic card on Saturday, August 31.

The Osunitas, which will go as Race 7, has drawn a field of nine fillies and mares and is headed by the Chilean miss Richi, a daughter of Practical Joke who was a good second in a dirt stakes at Santa Anita in her U.S. bow on June 2. The 4-year-old, owned by Hill ‘n Dale Equine Holdings or Stud Vendaval, was a multiple-stakes winner in her native land last year and morning line maker Jeff Siegel has hung her the 2-1 favorite for the feature. She’ll break from Post 7 and have the saddle services of Del Mar’s four-time leading rider Juan Hernandez

In the Wickerr, which will be Race 9 on the afternoon, 11 runners will line up and 10 of them will try to outdo the 5/2 favorite in Rancho Temescal, Red Baron’s Barn or Rodney Orr’s First Peace, a Kentucky-bred son of Funtastic who rarely runs a bad race. The gray 4-year-old has been handled by Hall of Famer Mike Smith in all but one of his dozen starts and they’ve teamed up to bank $268,020 along the way. They’ll break from Post 4.

First post Sunday will be the usual 2 p.m. The Osunitas should go off at approximately 5 p.m., while the Wickerr is earmarked for 6 p.m.

Racing then will resume at Del Mar on Thursday, once more with a 2 p.m. post.