By Hank Wesch

 

 

On August 2, the stable of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert completed a transcontinental stakes double when Gimme Da Lute won the Real Good Deal Stakes here hours after Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah took the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth.

 

Don’t look now, but Baffert and Co. are at it again.

 

Coincidentally, the same horses are going for stakes wins again on Saturday, American Pharoah for No. 9 in a row in the $1.6 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga, Gimme Da Lute for No. 4 in a row in the $100,000 El Cajon Stakes here.

 

And while Baffert assistant Pascual Rivera concedes that what’s going on back east is “very exciting,” it’s not going to distract him from the task at hand.

 

“I’m in charge here and my focus will be here,” Rivera said Thursday morning. “We’re all excited for both horses. If I get a chance to watch the other race, of course I will. But the race here is first on my mind.”

 

If the stakes double is pulled off, it could be done in relatively quick order.

 

The Travers, which will be shown live on TV screens and the large infield board here, is scheduled for a 2:46 p.m.  Pacific post time. The El Cajon is the third on a 10-race card that begins at 2 p.m. with an approximate post time of 3:10.

 

Gimme Da Lute, a 3-year-old California-bred son of Midnight Lute owned by the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, was a travelling companion for American Pharaoh on the first two legs of his Triple Crown journey. Gimme Da Lute finished third in undercard events of both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes programs.

 

Returned to California,  Gimme Da Lute won the Grade III Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in June, the Grade II Los Alamitos Derby in July and the Real Good Deal here, the latter by a whopping 12 ¼ lengths.

 

“He’s worked very well since then, he’s ready,” Rivera said.

 

The field from the rail: Fame and Power (Rafael Bejarano, 5-1), Iron Fist (Mike Smith, 3-1), Desert Dynamo (Flavien Prat, 8-1), Verraco (James Graham, 15-1), Thanksgiving Day (Santiago Gonzalez, 20-1), Gimme Da Lute (Martin Garcia, 4-5) and Rocco’s Wheel (Joe Talamo, 10-1).

 

Rozamund Barclay’s homebred Swiss Affair steps up to stakes level competition on a two-race winning streak in Friday’s $150,000 Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares.

 

The 2-year-old daughter of Swiss Yodeler, trained by Mike Harrington, has two wins from three career starts, the most recent on August 13 here when she pulled off a 26-1 upset.

 

Swiss Affair had two workouts at Harrington’s Los Alamitos base before her most recent race and was returned there afterward. She had one work (four furlongs, :49.00) there last Sunday as a tune-up for the Generous Portion.

 

“We just brought her down this morning. She’ll jog a little just to get used to the track again,” Harrington assistant John Cisneros said Thursday morning.

 

Progeny of Swiss Yodeler often fit an “early win” profile, so her two victories weren’t considered stunning to veteran handicappers. But there may be another factor.

 

“They love dirt tracks more than synthetic, I think,” Cisneros said. “She was training beautifully (before the last race) and she’s had a good work since.”

 

The field from the rail: Swiss Affair (Tyler Baze, 8-1), Just Google Me (Edwin Maldonado, 8-1), Later My Love (Fernando Perez, 5-1), Obey (Tiago Pereira, 3-1), Cajun Cookin (Mario Gutierrez, 8-1), Run for Retts (Corey Nakatani, 8-1), Sambamzajammin (Alonso Quinonez, 15-1), My Palmilla (Joe Talamo, 6-1) and Patriotic Diamond (Rafael Bejarano, 7-2).

 

 

 

Stellar Wind, winner of the Santa Anita Oaks and the Summer Oaks at Los Alamitos, heads a field of six for Sunday’s featured Grade III $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes.

 

Trained by John Sadler for Hronis Racing LLC, Stellar Wind has four wins in six lifetime starts, four of them in 2015, with earnings of $466,000. The 3-year-old Virginia-bred daughter of Curlin went favored in both her Oaks victories in California and was also the 3-1 favorite in the $1 million Kentucky Oaks before finishing fourth in a troubled trip.

 

The Torrey Pines field in alphabetical order: Big Book, Hone In, Rattataptap, Roksana, Stellar Wind and Ultimate Holiday.

 

 

 

Smokey Image, an unbeaten juvenile from the barn of Greg James, worked four furlongs in :48 2/5 seconds under assistant trainer and exercise rider Mary Panian on Thursday at Golden Gate Fields.

 

Following the workout, James told Golden Gate officials that Smokey Image will make his next start in the $150,000 I’m Smokin’ Stakes on Sept. 4 at Del Mar. The I’m Smokin is a six-furlong race for California-bred 2-year-olds. James had also considered the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7 for the chestnut colt.

 

Smokey Image, a son of Southern Image, likely will ship to Del Mar on Sept. 2, James added.

 

After debuting as a five-length winner on June 21 at Pleasanton, Smokey Image added a 6 ½-length score in that venue’s Everett Nevin Stakes on July 5. In his most recent start, Smokey Image was caught behind a wall of horses before swinging out and finishing strongly en route to a two-length triumph.

 

“He had so much trouble in his last start,” said James. “He took dirt and was throwing his head. He tried to get through, but couldn’t get through. He came out and finished nicely. I think it was his best race [to date].”

 

 

Three new stakes races will be presented during Del Mar’s second fall racing season, which begins on October 29 and continues to November 29. The additional races – each with a value of $200,000 – mean that the stakes roster for the 20-day session will swell to $2,700,000.

 

The races – the Golden State Juvenile Fillies, the Golden State Juvenile and the Goldikova Stakes – are, in effect, being “borrowed” from Santa Anita for one season and allow Del Mar to offer 17 stakes during its five-week stand. The Los Angeles-area track has a shorter fall season this year and timing issues were not going to permit it to present the three named stakes. With encouragement from the California Horse Racing Board and the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Del Mar took on the races for 2015 to ensure that they’d continue to be offered to Southern California horsemen.

 

In 2014, when Del Mar presented 15 days of racing over four weeks, the track offered 14 stakes worth $2,250,000.

  

 

CLOSERS – Jockey Kerwin John, who just returned from his Virgin Islands homeland, was working horses and reintroducing himself to Southern California horsemen Thursday morning. John, a Southern California circuit and Del Mar regular from the early 2000s to 2013, was injured in a spill on December 8, 2013 and went home to St. Croix for some recuperation time. “I was only going planning on being there for a few weeks and wound up staying a year and a half,” John, 41, said. He has no mounts presently lined up for Del Mar, but is pursuing possibilities here and at the Los Alamitos meeting which follows the September 7 Closing Day here… Selected works from 112 officially timed on dirt and 17 on turf Thursday morning: Dirt – Uptown Twirl (5f, 1:00.20), Prize Exhibit (5f, 1:01.60), My Monet (5f, :59.40), Undisputed (4f, :47.00), Turnover (4f, :48.00), Normandy Invasion (4f, :48.20); Turf – Om (6f, 1:16.40), Customer Base (5f, 1:00.60), Fanticola (4f, :52.80).  

 

 

 

Jockey Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 26, 2015 Inclusive)
Jockey	Mts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	Money Won
Rafael Bejarano	161	30	32	23	19%	$1,935,874
Tyler Baze	164	21	24	25	13%	$1,318,110
Joseph Talamo	141	21	12	12	15%	$1,295,728
Santiago Gonzalez	131	19	12	14	15%	$1,068,736
Flavien Prat	136	18	21	20	13%	$1,575,374
Mario Gutierrez	98	17	9	9	17%	$1,001,276
Kent Desormeaux	81	14	10	11	17%	$733,874
Martin Garcia	106	14	9	13	13%	$950,110
Corey Nakatani	67	13	8	4	19%	$626,576
Tiago Pereira	79	11	7	5	14%	$458,570

 

Trainer Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 26, 2015 Inclusive)
Trainer	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	Money Won
Jerry Hollendorfer	69	16	8	8	23%	$1,044,572
Peter Miller	101	14	15	14	14%	$1,016,640
Doug F. O'Neill	82	13	16	9	16%	$1,022,350
Philip D'Amato	64	12	9	9	19%	$870,232
Richard Baltas	57	11	6	12	19%	$578,772
John W. Sadler	43	10	4	5	23%	$520,834
Robert B. Hess, Jr.	45	10	1	6	22%	$291,822
Bob Baffert	46	8	6	7	17%	$710,540
Mike Puype	58	8	4	7	14%	$501,380
Richard E. Mandella	31	6	6	8	19%	$1,492,476

 

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Wednesday, August 26, 2015 Inclusive)
Winning favorites	76	264	28.79%
Winning favorites on dirt	57	181	31.49%
Winning favorites on turf	19	83	22.89%
Winning odds-on favorites	15	30	50.00%
In-the-Money favorites	154	264	58.33%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites	27	30	90.00%

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793