Raging Torrent © Benoit Photo
TOP PLAYERS IN G2 PAT O’BRIEN LOOK AHEAD TO THE FALL
Every once in a while a much-anticipated race lives up to its expectations and Saturday’s G2 Pat O’Brien was right on the mark. It was assumed The Chosen Vron was going to run well and he did not disappoint. It was just a question of who was going to test him and it turned out to be the 3-year-old colt Raging Torrent.
Sunday morning all parties report coming out of the race in good order.
“He looks phenomenal,” trainer Doug O’Neill says of Raging Torrent. “He ate up everything, his legs look great, jogging sound, happy horse.”
It took everything Raging Torrent had to defeat The Chosen Vron who actually put a head in front momentarily at the top of the lane. But Raging Torrent would have none of that, bulling his way on the rail and poking his head back in front by the sixteenth pole, then holding on in a driving finish.
“I’m not sure,” O’Neill said when asked about what’s next for Raging Torrent. “I have to talk to the main owner, Mark Davis, and we’ll put our heads together. He does seem like he appreciates good spacing so we’ll take that into consideration.”
The Pat O’Brien was a “Win & You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and O’Neill says that will be the goal.
The Chosen Vron proved that he looks good even in defeat. The odds-on favorite battled every step of the way, missing by a neck.
“He seems to be a hundred percent,” trainer J. Eric Kruljac said of The Chosen Vron this morning. “The O’Neill horse just ran lights out. We made a valiant move at him, got up to him and the horse had something left.”
While Kruljac would have loved to have won the race, there was another objective in mind in running him in the Pat O’Brien. Keeping The Chosen Vron tight for the ultimate goal, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November at Del Mar and Kruljac feels they met that objective.
“I believe so,” Kruljac states. “We just thank our lucky stars we’re a hundred percent. We’ll give him a couple of easy weeks and go from there.”
The loss snaps The Chosen Vron’s six-race win streak. It’s only his second setback in his past 17 races dating back to September of 2022.
Senor Buscador finished a closing fourth, three lengths behind third-place finisher Big City Lights, who was another 3 ½ lengths back of The Chosen Vron. It was ‘Buscador’s’ first race in four and a half months.
“He looks good so far,” trainer Todd Fincher said Sunday morning. “He ran the same numbers he always runs on a speed bias track with no pace. He took himself to the back and had just an impossible mission. He galloped out great; just the circumstances weren’t in his favor.”
Like Kruljac and The Chosen Vron, Fincher believes Senor Buscador got out of the race what he hoped he would.
“Got some air, got a race,” Fincher notes. “We’ll point him to the California Crown.”
Happy Jack, See Through It, Moose Mitchell and Arrowthegreat rounded out the order of finish. Raging Torrent stopped the clock at 1:21.17 and paid $10.80 to win.
PACIFIC CLASSIC HIGHLIGHTS LABOR DAY WEEKEND STAKES ACTION
Hold on to your hats. Del Mar is about to step up the stakes action.
Nine stakes races are on tap over the three-day holiday weekend, beginning Saturday with five graded stakes on the card, highlighted by the 34th running of the G1 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic. The 1 ¼ mile test is a ‘Win & You’re In’ for the Breeders’ Cup Classic which will be run at Del Mar on November 2.
On the Pacific Classic undercard is the 85th edition of the G2 Del Mar Handicap, a “Win & You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Gold Phoenix is expected back to try to win the 1 3/8’s mile turf event for the third year in a row.
There is also the 38th running of the G2 Del Mar Mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. It’s another “Win & You’re In”, this one for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Bob Baffert’s Du Jour will be out to defend his title.
The G3 Green Flash will highlight some of the quickest grass horses on the grounds. It’s five furlongs on the lawn. Motorious won the race last year and has been nominated again this time around.
Also on Saturday, 3-year-old fillies will line up in the 47th running of the G3 Torrey Pines, a one-mile contest on the main track. Baffert is thinking of running his Santa Anita Oaks winner Nothing Like You.
On Sunday the graded stakes action continues with the 80th edition of the G2 Caesar’s Sportsbook Del Mar Derby. Three-year olds will go 1 1/8 mile on the turf. La Jolla Handicap winner Stay Hot is one of 12 nominees for the race.
Three-year-olds also get their shot on the dirt in the 50th running of the $125,000 Shared Belief, a one mile test. Arkansas Derby winner Muth is expected to make his comeback to the races in this one and trainer Phil D’Amato has nominated his Derby horse Stronghold.
Then on Monday, Labor Day, the 2-year-olds get their shot in the 32nd edition of the $100,000 Generous Portion, a six-furlong sprint. CTBA Stakes winner In the Air Tonight is expected to run.
Monday’s co-feature is the $100,000 Tranquility Lake. Fillies and mares will battle in the one-mile event.
WORLD CHAMPION CHARIOT RACER NOW TRAINING AT DEL MAR
You won’t find much chariot racing at Del Mar, but go up into the inter-mountain region of Idaho, Wyoming or Colorado during the winter time and there’s a good chance you will.
Trainer Ryan Hanson spends his time these days training horses at Del Mar and raising a family with his wife, racing analyst Michelle Yu. But there was a time when Hanson was the champion of chariot racing.
“It’s two Quarter horses hooked together going a quarter mile,” Hanson says. “They leave from a starting gate and you’re standing in a chariot. We start from a standstill and only go a quarter mile. Sort of like a drag race.”
For most people, chariot racing conjures up images of “Ben Hur.”
“Very similar except no one is trying to kill someone,” Hanson jokes. “Just racing. The chariot you’re in is very small, just enough for your feet to stand in. They weigh anywhere from 60-to-100 pounds. It’s like a barrel cut out in the back with wheels on it.”
Chariot racing typically runs from mid-December through the end of March, when the world championships are run in Ogden, Utah.
“It’s not dangerous at all,” Hanson contends. “My dad was a world champion and my grandpa was a world champion.”
Hanson was world champion in 2006. Chariot racing is centered in the inter-mountain region of the United States. That’s where Hanson grew up and learned what he knows today about training Thoroughbreds.
“When I was younger it was a little more competitive,” Hanson says about the Thoroughbred racing in the region. “The racing has dwindled down in Idaho and Utah. Wyoming has some slots so they’re starting to pick up steam and get going again but Idaho and Utah struggle.
“There are a lot of good horseman up there,” Hanson continues, “because you have to do everything yourself. You break them, you gallop them, clean stalls, you do it all. You’re the groom, the trainer, you’re the owner a lot of the time.”
Hanson first came to Southern California in 2015 working for Robert Diodoro. When Diodoro moved to the midwest in 2017, Hanson stayed and opened his own barn. He’s enjoyed some success and has had his share of tough sledding.
“This is a completely different deal down here.” Hanson states. “You can work hard but you have to have contacts. You have to have the guys who will send you horses and believe in you. It’s hard to get that here.”
COOLING OUT: Jockey Jeremy Laprida scored his first victory of the 2024 summer meet and first ever at Del Mar Saturday. He rode Chase’n Kota to victory in the seventh race. Laprida was 0-for 37 before crossing onto the win column…Midnight Mammoth put in his final work Sunday before next weekend’s G1 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic. The winner of last month’s G3 Cougar II breezed four furlongs in :47.40. He was the last of the 11 nominees to the Classic to put in a work this weekend…Notable works on Sunday: Dirt – Straight No Chaser (3f, :38.20); Getaway Car (4f, :49.60); In the Air Tonight (4f, :48.20); Stay Hot (4f, :48.20); Formidable Man (5f, 1:00.80); Johannes (5f, 1:01.40), and R Heisman (5f, 1:01.40). Turf – Ag Bullet (4f, :49.00); Connie Swingle (4f, 48.20); Johnny Podres (4f, :52.40); King of Gosford (4f, :51.00); Master Piece (4f, :49.80); Conclude (5f, 1:00.20), and Gold Phoenix (5f, 1:02.80). A total of 282 horses put in official works at Del Mar on Sunday, 251 on the main track and 31 on the turf course.