Quip Schooling with Trainer Rodolphe Brisset © Del Mar Photo

FOUR EASTERN INVADERS EYE TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC LOOT

They’ve come from the East in numbers unprecedented in TVG Pacific Classic history. Four horses in a field of 10, with highly-regarded connections, have shipped in for the $1 million, 1 ¼-mile signature event of the Del Mar summer meeting.

The group is sufficiently impressive to track oddsmaker Russ Hudak that he made Seeking the Soul, the 3-1 favorite, Quip the 9-2 third choice, Tenfold and War Story a shared No. 5 at 8-1 on his morning line.

While the sun, the nearby beaches, the ambiance and amenities of Del Mar are nice, they’ve all come seeking a share – preferably the winner’s $600,000 – of the purse, and the “Win and You’re In” qualification for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic that comes with victory.

And, let’s be candid, they’ve come to test a West Coast-based handicap division that hasn’t produced a horse that would strike fear in the hearts of those watching from afar.

“It makes sense,” Quip’s trainer Rodolphe Brisset said Friday morning of the Eastern influx. “The division around here was kind of light and got lighter with McKinzie going back to the Whitney and then with Catalina Cruiser staying at one turn. It’s easy to ship now anyway, so you just have to do it.”

Quip, a 4-year-old Distorted Humor colt with more than $1 million in career earnings, has been freshened since a neck loss to Seeking the Soul in the 1 1/8-mile Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 15. Quip had a narrow lead into the stretch only to see Seeking the Soul make up a length and a half to claim the victory and a “Win and You’re In” place in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Asked if he was surprised to see Seeking the Soul, trained by Dallas Stewart,  travel for the Classic, Brisset shook his head. “I’m not surprised at all,” he said, “I think he’s doing the best thing for his horse.”

The timing of the Pacific Classic, eight weeks after the Foster – in which Tenfold also ran – and 10 weeks out from the Breeders’ Cup was cited as a factor by connections for all four of the horses.

“The spacing is good,” said Scott Blasi, chief assistant to Tenfold trainer Steve Asmussen. Tenfold, a 4-year-old son of Curlin, went over $900,000 in earnings with a win in the 1 ¼-mile Pimlico Special on May 17, then bombed in the Stephen Foster.

“We might have brought him back a little too soon after the Pimlico Special,” Blasi said. “And we were looking for a mile-and-a quarter (race), which is a good distance for him.”

Seeking the Soul has more than $3.3 million in career earnings after topping the $1 million mark in 2018 and once again this year in four starts. Only one of the seven victories for the 4-year-old Charles Fipke homebred has been achieved outside Kentucky and that was in an allowance at Saratoga more than two years ago.

The spot on the calendar, and a desire for a change of scenery for Seeking the Soul, are factors in the decision to come West, Stewart said.

“He’s ready, so we need to run him,” Stewart said.  “Last summer I took him to Saratoga and he ran terrible,” Stewart said. “I don’t know why, maybe he just didn’t like the track. Hopefully he’ll like the track here and he’ll run a good race.”

War Story will be making his third start at Del Mar in a 35-race career. The first was in the 2016 Pacific Classic when the first three finishers were California Chrome, Beholder and Dortmund. The second was in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic when the top three were Gun Runner, Collected and West Coast.

The latter experience, when War Story was fourth, beaten only four lengths at odds of 56-1, prompted trainer Jorge Navarro and owner Glenn Ellis to follow up a victory in the Monmouth Cup on July 20 with the TVG Pacific Classic venture.

“He likes this track,” Navarro said. “We’ll let him run his race and see what happens.”

BALTAS HAS A BUNCH FOR STAKES-LOADED SATURDAY

Trainer Richard Baltas will be a busy man Saturday afternoon.

The 58-year-old Indiana-born California transplant has representatives entered in eight of the 11 races and has five horses to saddle in three of the Graded Stakes races on the program. Baltas’ stakes bunch, in order of Saturday appearance, consists of: Oscar Dominguez and Marckie’s Water in the Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Handicap presented by the Japan Racing Association; Colonial Creed in the Grade III $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes; Strike At Dawn, Raymundos Secret and Lady Prancealot in the $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Oaks presented by the Jockey Club.

Baltas ranks 16^th in North America in 2019 purse earnings with $4,197,299 and is on pace to top  2018’s career best $5,530,034. His assessment of the Saturday crew:

Del Mar Handicap, 1 3/8 miles, turf --  “They’re both training great. For Marckie’s Water, I thought the Eddie Read was too short (1 1/8 miles, second place). He needs a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half.

“Oscar Dominguez has been training so well up at San Luis Rey Downs that we thought we’d take a shot.”

Torrey Pines, One Mile – “I actually could have run Colonial Creed in the Del Mar Oaks on the turf, but she ran well on the dirt (third last out in the Grade II Summertime Oaks)

Del Mar Oaks, 1 1/8 miles, turf – “Strike at Dawn ran big last time in a mile and a sixteenth allowance and I think she’ll like the mile and an eighth. Raymundos Secret, I’m kind of taking a shot with her but she’s 2-for-2 lifetime so we’ll see what happens.

“Lady Prancealot is probably my best chance. She just won a stake (Grade III Honeymoon), she’s had some time off, so she’s fresh.

“All different owners, we don’t have anywhere else to run, so this is a good spot. For a Grade I it doesn’t look all that tough and the ones to beat are all coming from out of town.”

The Del Mar Handicap, Torrey Pines and Del Mar Oaks, are the seventh-through-ninth on an 11-race card.

BOWIES HERO SEEKS STAKES DOUBLE IN SUNDAY’S DEL MAR MILE

Phil D’Amato-trained Bowies Hero takes a step back in distance for the opportunity to become a double stakes winner at the meeting in Sunday’s Grade II $200,000 Del Mar Mile Handicap.

Bowies Hero, a 5-year-old son of Artie Schiller, took the lead at the top of the stretch and drew away to a 2 ¼-length victory in the Grade II $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on July 21. A victory in the Mile would match the Read-Mile double accomplished last year by Catapult en route to being voted the Top Grass Horse of the summer meeting.

The field from the rail: Prince Earl (Geovanni Franco, 12-1), El Picaro (Drayden Van Dyke, 15-1), Majestic Eagle (Rafael Bejarano, 12-1), Bombard (Mike Smith, 6-1), Bowies Hero (Flavien Prat, 5-2), Double Touch (Abel Cedillo, 30-1), Grecian Fire (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1), What a View (Martin Garcia, 6-1), Bolo (Florent Geroux, 5-1), Sharp Samurai (Joe Talamo, 6-1) and Ohio (John Velazquez, 15-1).

CLOSERS –All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees and 30 of his New Orleans Saints teammates will spend a day at the races at Del Mar today. The Saints are out west to play the L.A. Chargers in their Carson stadium on Sunday in a pre-season game and Brees, a Rancho Santa Fe resident and annual Del Mar visitor, took the opportunity to entertain … Selected works from 143 officially timed Friday morning: Catapult (4f, :48.00), Chief Cicatriz (5f, 1:00.00), Dr. Dorr (5f, 1:00.80) and Ahimsa (6f, 1:15.00).  

DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Thursday, August 15, 2019 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Thursday, August 15, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Thursday, August 15, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 67 out of 175 -- 38.29%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 43 out of 103 -- 41.75%

Winning favorites on turf -- 24 out of 72 -- 33.33%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 19 out of 35 -- 54.29%

In-the-Money favorites -- 127 out of 175 -- 72.57%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 33 out of 35 -- 94.29%