Shared Belief © Benoit
HOLLENDORFER HAS FAVORITE IN RACE RENAMED FOR ONE OF HIS OWN
Jerry Hollendorfer trained and was part owner of Shared Belief.
The Hall of Fame conditioner charted a campaign in which the son of Candy Ride, bred by Pam and Marty Wygod of Rancho Santa Fe, won the first seven starts of his career, five of them graded stakes and three of those being Grade I events.
Hollendorfer oversaw a three-race 2013 season that garnered the Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old male and four straight wins in 2014, among them the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic. A nightmare trip in the Breeders’ Cup Classic resulted in a fourth place finish that ended the perfect career start, but he came back to win three straight stakes from late December of 2014 to March of 2015, among them a victory over California Chrome in the San Antonio Invitational and a 4 ½-length triumph in the Santa Anita Handicap.
Tragedy struck twice after that. First with a leg injury in the Charles Town Classic that resulted in Shared Belief being vanned off the track and then, after months of rehabilitation, a bout of colic that took his life in December.
On Friday, what was for the past 41 years the El Cajon Stakes will be run for the first time as the Shared Belief Stakes.
“We wanted to honor Shared Belief, and felt that this was the best way to do it,” said Del Mar President and CEO Joe Harper.
And, as fate would have it, Hollendorfer has the 3-1 morning line favorite in Who’s Out.
“We’re happy that somebody wanted to name a race after Shared Belief,” Hollendorfer said Thursday morning at his stable here. “Who’s Out is doing real good right now. Been training very forwardly and this is the race we’ve pointed him to.”
Not because of the name change. Because the one-mile $100,000 event for 3-year-olds on the main track fits for both distance and timing for the Tale of Ekati colt who has two wins and two runner-up finishes from five career starts.
Ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Shared Belief’s regular pilot, and owned by Hollendorfer and M Racing Group LLC, Who’s Out finished second here in a 7-furlong sprint on July 30 breaking from the unfavorable rail post in a field of seven. He’s drawn the No. 9 in a field of 11 for the Shared Belief.
Hollendorfer also trains Taman Guard, the 4-1 morning line third choice, behind John Sadler’s 7-2 Accelerate, who broke his maiden by 8 ¾ lengths here on July 28.
“He broke his maiden impressively, so we’re skipping a condition and trying a stakes,” Sadler said. “I’m a little bit concerned about the post (No. 10) but we’re probably going to try it.”
Trainer Craig Lewis has Knight of Drama (6-1), a $50,000 claim at Santa Anita in July who won an allowance mile here two weeks ago by 5 ¼ lengths.
“Whenever they win with authority like that, it’s very encouraging and you never know what they can do until you try,” Lewis said. “We had another race in mind for him when we came here, but he got sick and missed it. Thankfully he recovered and we thought it might be interesting to stretch him out (from 5 ½ furlongs to a mile) and it worked out.”
MASOCHISTIC 4-5 FOR O’BRIEN; BONDE PAIR TOP GENEROUS PORTION
Ron Ellis-trained Masochistic drew the outside post in a field of five and was established as the 4-5 favorite on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes.
The seven-furlong event, being run for the 31st time, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on November 4 at Santa Anita.
The field from the rail for the O’Brien, which will be run as the third on a 10-race program.
Outside Nashville (Martin Garcia, 10-1), Cautious Giant (Santiago Gonzalez, 6-1), Vyjack (Flavien Prat, 3-1), Indexical (Mario Gutierrez, 4-1) and Masochistic (Tyler Baze, 4-5).
Trainer Jeff Bonde’s duo of You’re Late (9-5) and Miss Sunset (8-5) head a field of six in Saturday’s other feature, the $150,000 Generous Portion Stakes at six furlongs for California-bred or sired 2-year-old fillies.
Bonde won the Generous Portion in 2005 with Sierra Sweetie.
The field from the rail for the race, which goes as the eighth on the program.
Dixie Chick Rocks (Joe Talamo, 3-1), You’re Late (Stewart Elliott, 9-5), Miss Sunset (Fernando Perez, 8-5), I’ll Be Around (Tyler Baze, 12-1), How About Zero (Mario Gutierrez, 6-1) and Rocketann (Tiago Pereira, 15-1).
EIGHT ENTERED FOR SUNDAY’S TORREY PINES
Sunday’s Grade III $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes at one mile for 3-year-olds drew a field of eight Wednesday morning.
With the post position draw scheduled later in the day the lineup, in alphabetical order with trainers/jockeys is: Bellamentary (Phil D’Amato/Martin Garcia), Belvoir Bay (Peter Miller/Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Dreamarcher (Jerry Hollendorfer/Santiago Gonzalez), Enola Gray (Phil D’Amato/Tyler Baze), Kay Kay (Vladimir Cerin/Alonso Quinonez), Nine Point Nine (Vladimir Cerin/Rafael Bejarano), She’s A Warrior (Peter Eurton/Mario Gutierrez) and Uptown Twirl (John Sadler/No Rider).
FIRST POST SHIFTS TO 3:30 P.M. FOR FINAL TWO FRIDAY’S OF MEET
First post will shift to 3:30 p.m. for the upcoming final two Fridays of the meeting. Each day will feature an eight-race card.
The key to the earlier starts is that sunset falls sooner as the summer moves along and daylight is needed to properly conduct the races. This Friday’s sunset in San Diego comes at 7:20 p.m. Next Friday’s (September 2) is at 7:11 p.m. By way of comparison, sunset on the first Friday of the meeting this year (July 15) was at 7:57 p.m.
Normally the track’s Friday cards begin at 4 p.m., which have been dubbed “Four O’Clock Fridays.” The later Friday posts (normal first post at Del Mar is 2 p.m.) allow the track to race until sunset, followed by the appearance of a popular band at the track’s Seaside Stage and a big kick off to the weekend. This Friday’s band is “Pepper,” while next Friday’s group will be “The Wailers.”
BARRETTS SELECT YEARLING SALE SCHEDULED TUESDAY AT DEL MAR
Barretts August Select Yearling Sale is scheduled to auction 72 yearlings this coming Tuesday starting at 2 p.m. at Surfside Race Place adjacent to the Del Mar racetack.
Barretts online website ( http://www.barretts.com ) features all the details on the session, including an interactive, sortable and searchable catalog of all the horses offered.
The yearlings will be stabled at the Del Mar Horse Show Arena next to the sales pavilion. They will be able to be viewed starting this Saturday.
The yearlings are offspring of more than 50 stallions including Ghostzapper, Into Mischief, Lemon Drop Kid, Lucky Pulpit, Pioneerof the Nile, Square Eddie, Twirling Candy and Unusual Heat.
JIM ROME RADIO SHOW BROADCASTS LIVE FROM DEL MAR FRIDAY
Jim Rome’s nationally syndicated radio show on the CBS Sports Network will be broadcast live from Del Mar Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. The show airs in the San Diego area on The Mighty 1090.
The popular sports guest/talk/call-in program, known to many as “The Jungle,” will be set up in the track’s Plaza de Mexico area around its large fountain.
Fans are invited to attend the broadcast and be part of the studio audience. There will be no charge for admission at the track that morning up until 1 p.m. and parking will be free until 11:30 a.m. Those coming through the track’s main parking lot off of Jimmy Durante Blvd should follow the signs for “Jim Rome Live Broadcast.”
Rome is planning on finishing up his show that morning by doing “cross talk” with The Mighty 1090 daytime host Darren Smith, whose show follows Rome’s from noon to 3 p.m. and also will be broadcast live from Del Mar that day.
Racing will begin at 3:30 Friday afternoon featuring an eight-race card topped by the newly named Shared Belief Stakes. Rome was the primary owner of the multiple-stakes winning Shared Belief and rooted him home in an impressive victory in the 2014 TVG Pacific Classic. The radio/TV star will present the trophy to the winner of the stakes that afternoon.
GULLICKSON, WILSON DEL MAR’S GUEST HANDICAPPERS THIS WEEKEND
Del Mar will feature Emily Gullikson and Art Wilson as its guest handicappers this weekend during its free handicapping seminars that are held from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. in the Seaside Terrace area near the head of the stretch.
Gullikson, who made a successful guest appearance earlier in the meet, is a partner and handicapper for Ottix.eq equine analytics. Her previous guest visit on July 31 was so well received that “she is back by popular demand.” She’ll be the Saturday guest.
Wilson is the veteran turf writer and handicapper for the Southern California News Group, which consists of 11 newspapers in the Los Angeles area. He’ll be the Sunday guest.
The following weekend, Del Mar will again have seminars on Saturday and Sunday, as well as one on closing day, Labor Day Monday.
CLOSERS – Santiago Gonzalez rode two winners Thursday to move into a tie for second with Rafael Bejarano, three wins behind leader Flavien Prat in the jockey standings. Gonzalez guided Vivacious Beauty ($9.80) in the sixth race and Avicii ($12.60) in the eighth to Thursday victories. Prat has 28 wins through the 29 days of the meeting, Bejarano and Gonzalez 25 each … Selected works from 112 on dirt and 14 on turf officially timed Thursday morning: Dirt – Cupid (4f, :47.00), Tara’s Tango (:49.60), Unique Bella (5f, :58.40); Turf – Tribal Fighter (6f, 1:15.40), Trojan Nation (6f, 1:14.40).
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 24, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
151 |
28 |
21 |
16 |
19% |
43% |
$1,770,670 |
|
Rafael Bejarano |
126 |
25 |
27 |
20 |
20% |
57% |
$1,780,881 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
164 |
25 |
27 |
19 |
15% |
43% |
$1,225,561 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
109 |
18 |
19 |
13 |
17% |
46% |
$1,147,898 |
|
Tyler Baze |
138 |
16 |
19 |
25 |
12% |
43% |
$970,883 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
55 |
14 |
9 |
8 |
25% |
56% |
$1,524,833 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
77 |
12 |
7 |
7 |
16% |
34% |
$437,480 |
|
Norberto Arroyo, Jr. |
77 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
13% |
38% |
$492,367 |
|
Tiago Pereira |
78 |
10 |
10 |
5 |
13% |
32% |
$436,443 |
|
Mario Gutierrez |
78 |
10 |
9 |
11 |
13% |
38% |
$686,033 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 24, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Philip D'Amato |
72 |
16 |
8 |
9 |
22% |
46% |
$1,095,567 |
|
Richard Baltas |
60 |
12 |
11 |
7 |
20% |
50% |
$714,441 |
|
Bob Baffert |
50 |
12 |
10 |
6 |
24% |
56% |
$1,131,340 |
|
Peter Miller |
75 |
10 |
14 |
10 |
13% |
45% |
$621,895 |
|
Mark Glatt |
40 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
23% |
63% |
$352,919 |
|
John W. Sadler |
45 |
9 |
6 |
8 |
20% |
51% |
$656,535 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
96 |
8 |
11 |
14 |
8% |
34% |
$549,665 |
|
James M. Cassidy |
37 |
8 |
3 |
6 |
22% |
46% |
$415,062 |
|
Michael Machowsky |
18 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
44% |
50% |
$236,965 |
|
Richard E. Mandella |
24 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
25% |
46% |
$623,022 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Wednesday, August 24, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 91 out of 256 -- 35.55%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 64 out of 166 -- 38.55%
Winning favorites on turf -- 27 out of 90 -- 30.00%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 17 out of 35 -- 48.57%
In-the-Money favorites -- 181 out of 256 -- 70.70%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 27 out of 35 -- 77.14%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793