Masochistic © Benoit
MASOCHISTIC CASTS BIG SHADOW OVER SMALL O’BRIEN FIELD
Masochistic, one of the top sprinters in the country in 2015, made a strong return to racing after a nine-month layoff in an allowance race at Santa Anita on July 8.
The 6-year-old California-bred son of Sought After led wire-to-wire and finished 6 ¼ lengths in front, covering 6 ½ furlongs in 1:13.74 under Mike Smith.
“Visually, it was very impressive, he looks like a different horse this year,” Ellis said. “He always used to be a bit of a run-off and it was nice to see how he settled for Mike. Even though they were going fast, (Masochistic) had his ears up in the air and was really relaxed, which was kind of a different thing for him.”
The result was vastly different from Masochistic’s previous start, when he finished a distant last of 14 in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
“He fractured a hind leg coming out of the gate,” Ellis said. “Mike said that his hind end gave way at the start, and that’s why he ran so poorly. It was a hairline fracture, he didn’t appear lame or anything. To find it, we had to run him through a nuclear scan and the hind leg lit up on X-rays.”
Time off and the healing process led to the strong comeback in July and Masochistic has been training forwardly for Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on the main track.
The post position draw was scheduled for later Wednesday, but the expected entries, in alphabetical order are Cautious Giant (Santiago Gonzalez), Indexical (Mario Gutierrez), Masochistic (Tyler Baze), Outside Nashville (Rafael Bejarano) and Vyjack (Flavien Prat) for the second leg of the summer graded sprint series here. Lord Nelson won the first, the Grade I $300,000 Bing Crosby on July 31.
“The smaller (field) the better for me,” Ellis said. “I know it doesn’t make for a very attractive betting race, but I don’t know if I’d be very excited about running against him right now.”
If all goes well on Saturday, Masochistic will be in for several weeks of training before being given the opportunity for redemption for 2015 when the Breeders’ Cup returns to his home track at Santa Anita.
“If he runs like I think he will (in the O’Brien), he won’t run again until the Breeders’ Cup,” Ellis said. “He won his Grade I last year (Triple Bend at Santa Anita) off a two-month layoff and this will be a couple months before the Breeders’ Cup. He’s not a very big horse and he likes his races spaced.”
The Pat O’Brien is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on November 4 at Santa Anita. The six-furlong $1.5 million Twin Spires Sprint is the following day.
“It’s kind of strange that this is for the Dirt Mile, but I don’t think he’ll have any trouble getting into the Sprint,” Ellis said. “It (Sprint) is more money and he’s never been around two turns. I think he could get a mile, but it’s more money and the way he’s run at Santa Anita, I’d prefer the Sprint.”
HOLLENDORFER’S WHO’S OUT FAVORED OF 11 IN FRIDAY’S STAKES
What was known as the El Cajon Stakes in the first 41 years of its existence will be run under a new name, the Shared Belief Stakes, as the highlight of Friday’s racing card.
The name change honors Shared Belief, the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old of 2013 and TVG Pacific Classic Champion of 2014, whose owning partnership included trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and nationally syndicated sports talk show host Jim Rome.
Rome will be at Del Mar to do his show on Friday, broadcasting live from the paddock area and is expected to have several racing-related guests on the day honoring the California-bred son of Candy Ride that provided him, and racing fans in general, many exciting and memorable moments.
Who’s Out, a Kentucky-bred son of Tale of Ekati trained and co-owned by Hall of Famer Hollendorfer, is the 3-1 favorite on the opening line of Del Mar oddsmaker Russ Hudak for the one-mile, main-track test for 3-year-olds.
The field, from the rail: Semper Fortis (Mario Gutierrez, 12-1), Taman Guard (Flavien Prat, 4-1), Touched by Autism (Tiago Pereira, 15-1), Spanish Hombre (Santiago Gonzalez, 12-1), Belvoir Bay (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 10-1), Iron Rob (Fernando Perez, 20-1), Arizona Moon (Gary Stevens, 20-1), Knight of Drama (Rafael Bejarano, 6-1), Who’s Out (Mike Smith, 3-1), Accelerate (Tyler Baze, 7-2) and Mishegas (Stewart Elliott, 10-1).
JOCKEY NEWS: NO JAPAN FOR ESPINOZA; TITLE RACE REMAINS TIGHT
The planned trip to Japan to participate in the World All Star jockey competition this week at Sapporo Race Course for jockey Victor Espinoza was cancelled when his passport turned up missing on departure day Monday.
The document had been pre-checked by the TSA and all appeared to be in readiness late last week, said Brian Beach, Espinoza’s agent. But without it in hand, travel was impossible.
“I feel bad for Victor and for the Japanese Racing Association, which is handling everything,” Beach said. “But even if it’s found, the draw (for horses) and everything was Tuesday and it’s too quick a turnaround to make it.”
With the trip cancelled, Beach is working on booking mounts on the weekend for the jockey who rode California Chrome to Kentucky Derby and Preakness victories in 2014, American Pharoah to the first Triple Crown championship in 37 years in 2015 and, more recently, California Chrome in his TVG Pacific Classic tour de force last Saturday.
Espinoza has 14 wins, nine seconds and eight third-place finishes from 55 starts here this summer to post the highest win (25) and in-the-money (56) percentages of any Top 10 rider while ranking sixth overall for wins.
Flavien Prat enters the penultimate week of the meeting with 28 wins, three more than four-time defending champion Rafael Bejarano and five ahead of Santiago Gonzalez.
Bejarano will be out of town on Saturday to ride American Freedom for Bob Baffert in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
BAFFERT SETS TENTATIVE LINEUP FOR UPCOMING JUVENILE STAKES
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Del Mar Futurity 12 times and the Del Mar Debutante seven, said Wednesday that he expects to run Klimt in the Futurity and the trio of American Gal, American Cleopatra and Noted and Quoted in the Debutante.
The $300,000 Grade I Debutante is Saturday, September 3. The $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity is on Labor Day Monday, September 5, the closing day of the meeting.
CLOSERS – Undefeated (10-for-10) Songbird returned to Del Mar from Saturday’s victory in the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, arriving at around 9 a.m. on Monday. The 3-year-old filly walked around trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s barn area Wednesday morning and is expected to return to the track to jog on Thursday … Selected works from 269 officially timed over the last three days: Monday – Nine Point Nine (4f, :46.20), Vyjack (4f, :48.40), Lord Nelson (5f, :1:02.40), American Cleopatra (6f, 1:12.80), Enola Gray (6f, 1:12.80), Paquita Coqueta (6f, 1:12.20); Wednesday – Klimt (4f, :49.20), Point Piper (4f, :49.60), Prize Exhibit (5f, 1:03.20).
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Sunday, August 21, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
146 |
28 |
21 |
15 |
19% |
44% |
$1,750,480 |
|
Rafael Bejarano |
122 |
25 |
24 |
20 |
20% |
57% |
$1,755,136 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
160 |
23 |
27 |
19 |
14% |
43% |
$1,162,859 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
105 |
17 |
19 |
13 |
16% |
47% |
$1,086,168 |
|
Tyler Baze |
134 |
15 |
19 |
24 |
11% |
43% |
$940,673 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
55 |
14 |
9 |
8 |
25% |
56% |
$1,524,833 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
76 |
12 |
7 |
7 |
16% |
34% |
$437,135 |
|
Norberto Arroyo, Jr. |
74 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
14% |
39% |
$491,332 |
|
Mario Gutierrez |
76 |
9 |
9 |
11 |
12% |
38% |
$663,347 |
|
Gary Stevens |
45 |
9 |
7 |
1 |
20% |
38% |
$905,924 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Sunday, August 21, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Philip D'Amato |
71 |
16 |
8 |
9 |
23% |
46% |
$1,093,527 |
|
Richard Baltas |
59 |
12 |
10 |
7 |
20% |
49% |
$708,241 |
|
Bob Baffert |
50 |
12 |
10 |
6 |
24% |
56% |
$1,131,340 |
|
Peter Miller |
73 |
10 |
12 |
10 |
14% |
44% |
$594,975 |
|
Mark Glatt |
38 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
24% |
63% |
$340,574 |
|
John W. Sadler |
44 |
9 |
6 |
8 |
20% |
52% |
$656,190 |
|
Michael Machowsky |
18 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
44% |
50% |
$236,965 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
94 |
7 |
11 |
13 |
7% |
33% |
$519,485 |
|
James M. Cassidy |
36 |
7 |
3 |
6 |
19% |
44% |
$379,062 |
|
Richard E. Mandella |
23 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
26% |
48% |
$619,422 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Sunday, August 21, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 87 out of 248 -- 35.08%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 60 out of 159 -- 37.74%
Winning favorites on turf -- 27 out of 89 -- 30.34%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 17 out of 34 -- 50.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 175 out of 248 -- 70.56%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 27 out of 34 -- 79.41%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793