Mel Stute © Benoit Photo

DEL MAR REMEMBERS TRAINER MEL STUTE, 1927-2020

Mel Stute, whose training skill, racing stories, good will and very presence were treasured here for seven decades of summers, died Wednesday at the Del Mar rental residence he shared with his wife, Annabelle, and son, Gary. He was 93.

Gary, who followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle Warren into the training business, returned to the residence from morning duties at the track and found that his father had passed away in the night.

“He was like no other person I ever met,” Gary Stute told the Paulick Report. “He saw the good in everyone. He woke up every day thinking he was going to win, cashing a bet or winning a race. He loved life and he loved racing, everything about it.”

Joe Harper, Del Mar’s CEO, came to work for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in 1977 and was named general manager by one of its founders, Clement L. Hirsch, in 1978:

“Forty years ago I started having coffee with Mel and his brother Warren,” Harper recalled. “Every morning we’d meet in the stable kitchen along with Clement Hirsch and just yak about anything that came to mind.

“About 10 years into this folly, Mel says to Clement that he picked a great general manager because Joe is the only management guy that listens to us. Warren agreed. I thanked them and for the next 30 years I listened. Then one morning Mel says to me: ‘You know, I gotta thank you for listening to all our gripes and suggestions, but I just realized you never did one (blankety blank) thing we wanted.’ And that was true.”

Stute saddled 26 stakes winners at Del Mar over a 40-year period. The first was Mary Mel in a division of the 1963 Osunitas Stakes. The last was with Perfect Moon in the 2003 Best Pal.

Among those in between were the 1969 Del Mar Oaks (Commissary), 1975 Del Mar Futurity (Telly’s Pop), 1985 Rancho Santa Fe (Snow Chief), 1986 Sorrento (Brave Raj) and the 2002 Sorrento (Buffythecenterfold).

Buffythecenterfold was named after Buffy Tyler, Playboy centerfold for the November, 2000 issue. An inconsequential detail to Stute, then 75, who was focused on the feeling that “Buffy” was more precocious at age 2 than his Juvenile Filly Eclipse winner Brave Raj and Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Very Subtle.

Stute did concede to the younger owners’ request to put up Tyler’s picture in the stable office – “With clothes on.”

A perennial Top 10 trainer at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Pomona during the glory days of the Southern California circuit, Stute retired in 2011 with 292 wins in 57 seasons at Del Mar, 10^th on the all-time list.

His best year was 1986 when he handled Eclipse Award winners Snow Chief (top 3-year-old male), and Brave Raj (top 2-yer-old filly). Snow Chief won the Florida Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Preakness and Jersey Derby that year. Brave Raj won the Del Mar Debutante and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in a year in which Stute horses topped $4.8 million in earnings.

On a personal note …

The 1986 Kentucky Derby, the entire Triple Crown series actually, was the first for a rookie turf writer for the San Diego Union named Hank Wesch. Stute-trained Snow Chief, owned by Chula Vistan Carl Grinstead, provided the local connection that made it a must-cover for the paper.

Oh what a ride it was. Oh what an education in horse management and personal class from Stute. Working with Grinstead, a knowledgeable horseman himself, Stute supervised a 2-to-3-year-old campaign of 13 races in 11 months for the California bred with an undistinguished pedigree and won nine of them. Five in stakes, spaced about one month apart, leading up to the Derby.

When the bubble burst with an 11^th-place finish in Kentucky, and 22-year-old jockey Alex Solis came under heavy criticism for his ride, Stute never waivered. “If you’ve got to blame somebody, you don’t want it to be the trainer,” Stute joked before the Preakness. “But I know Alex. He’s anxious to ride him again, and I’m not going to worry about the ride I’m going to get from him.”

Snow Chief won the Preakness by four lengths and came back nine days later to win the New Jersey Derby, preferring that – and the bonus it offered – to the more traditional 1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes 12 days later.

At Del Mar, Mel and his brother Warren were known for holding court in the mornings after training in “Breakfast Club” gatherings at the track kitchen. I sat in on a couple and sometime in the 1990s asked Mel about the favorite horses he had trained.

A pen poised to write “Snow Chief” stopped in its tracks when Stute brought up a name I’d never heard before. It was a low-level claimer, Stute said, he had during the  early years of his marriage to Annabelle.

“The rent would come due the first of the month and I’d always find a race the week before, get a check and be able to pay it,” Stute said. “Never won any big races or anything. But you never forget a horse like that.”

And you never forget a man like Mel Stute.

YAKTEEN DOUBLES DOWN ON CHANCES IN SATURDAY’S SOLANA BEACH

Trainer Tim Yakteen will saddle the top two choices on John Lies’ morning line for Saturday’s featured $125,000 Solana Beach Stakes.

But while Yakteen has doubled down on his chances, he’s not all in on the thought that he has the competition over a barrel in the one-mile turf event for California-bred older fillies and mares.

“It’s a horserace, so you never know what can happen,” Yakteen said this morning. “But they’re doing great and we’re hoping to see a big effort out of them both.”

Mucho Unusual, a 4-year-old daughter of Mucho Macho Man out of the Unusual Heat mare Not Unusual, owned and bred by George Krikorian, is the 8-5 favorite. Cordiality, a 7-year-old daughter of Papa Clem out of the Unusual Heat mare Warmth, owned by Donnie Crevier, is the 3-1 second choice.

“They have different running styles, so they shouldn’t work against each other,” Yakteen said.

Cordiality comes in off wire-to-wire victory in the Osunitas Stakes on July 12. It was the 11^th in 31 career starts and the $52,800 winner’s share of the purse boosted her career earnings to $557,635.

Cordiality won the 2018 running of the Solana Beach, but has changed ownership via the claim route twice since then.

Mucho Unusual also has a mile win over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. It came in the Grade II San Clemente in July of 2019, rallying from last in a field of 10. She is winless, but has hit the board four times, in seven starts since, all of them at graded stakes levels.

“Mucho Unusual has a class edge,” Yakteen said. “From a selfish standpoint I hate to run them against each other, but that’s the way it is. Fingers crossed they both have good trips and it all works out.”

The field from the rail: Sedamar (Brice Blance, 5-1); Cordiality (Umberto Rispoli); Big Sweep (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Mucho Unusual (Flavien Prat); Pulpit Rider (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Smiling Shirlee (Victor Espinoza, 12-1), and Kitty Boom Boom (Mike Smith, 12-1).

SIBERIAN IRIS GETS MORNING LINE NOD FOR SUNDAY STAKES

Calumet Farm’s Siberian Iris, a 6-year-old Irish-bred mare trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, was accorded 3-1 morning line favoritism in a field of 10 for Sunday’s $75,000 CTT and TOC Stakes.

Siberian Iris, with a career record of three victories in 21 races and earnings of $267,227,  will be stepping down from graded stakes assignments in her last three starts.

The field from the rail: Meal Ticket (Aaron Gryder, 12-1); Maxim Rate (Umberto Rispoli, 7-2); Don’t Blame Judy (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Quick (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 6-1); Siberian Iris (Flavien Prat); Catch the Eye (J.C. Diaz, Jr., 20-1); Imperial Creed (Juan Hernandez, 15-1); Over Thinking (Victor Espinoza, 12-1); Ms Peintour (Brice Blanc, 10-1), and Pretty Point (Mike Smith, 6-1).

KINCHEN IS CELEBRITY CHALLENGER FOR PAULICK IN ‘BEACH BOSS’

Jonathon Kinchen, the 2015 National Handicapping Championship winner and Fox Sports racing expert analyst/selection provider, will be the celebrity challenger for Ray Paulick in the “Beach Boss” handicapping contest on Saturday. The show starts at 11 a.m. and is available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. For further information the access link is: https://www.dmtc.com/contest.

The Beach Boss contest is free to everyone and works like this: Sign up to undertake the task of betting mythical money on one designated race each day. Participants get $100 of the imaginary cash for win, place or show wagering. The grand prize at the conclusion of the meeting is two VIP Breeders’ Cup tickets when the annual championship event returns to Del Mar in 2021.

CLOSERS – Workouts have been authorized this afternoon for Warren’s Showtime, Del Mar Oaks-targeted by trainer Craig Lewis and Saturday for trainer John Shirreff’s Kentucky Derby contender Honor A.P. Both are scheduled for five-furlong drills at 12:45 p.m. Mike Smith will be aboard both … Haskell Stakes winner Authentic worked six furlongs Thursday morning in a bullet 1:12.60 for trainer Bob Baffert. Clocker Toby Turrell had interim splits of :24.60 and :59.80 as Authentic made up ground on workmate Bronn (a 3-year-old winner) and went past at the wire. Other notable works: Thursday, dirt – Speech (5f, 1:00.40), Rushie (5f, :59.60); turf – Bob and Jackie (5f, 1:01.80), Combatant (6f, 1:15.20); Today, dirt only – Gift Box (3f, :37.00), Sneaking Out  (4f, :48.80), Donna Veloce (5f, 1:00.80), Jolie Olimpica (5f, 1:01.00), Ultimate Bango (1:02.00). 

Del Mar Statistics

Presented by Torrey Hollistics

Jockey Standings

(Current Through August 9, 2020 Inclusive)  

Trainer Standings

(Current Through August 9, 2020 Inclusive) 

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through August 9, 2020 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 42 out of 137 -- 30.66%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 27 out of 76 -- 35.53%
Winning favorites on turf -- 15 out of 61 -- 24.59%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 10 out of 19 -- 52.63%
In-the-Money favorites -- 86 out of 137 -- 62.77%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 18 out of 19 -- 94.74%