Enola Gray © Zoe Metz for Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
ENOLA GRAY AIMS TO STAY PERFECT AND WIN SECOND STAKE HERE
The phrase that trainer Phil D’Amato often uses to describe 3-year-old filly Enola Gray’s running action is “Poetry in motion.”
Del Mar fans will get to see for themselves what D’Amato means in Sunday’s featured Grade III $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes.
Undefeated in three starts, with a combined victory margin of 26 ¼ lengths, the California-bred daughter of Grazen will seek to tack a second stakes victory of the summer meeting on to the 7 ¾-length romp in the Fleet Treat Stakes on July 22. The Fleet Treat was seven furlongs, the Torrey Pines a mile.
Bred and owned by Nick Alexander, Enola Gray has already proven herself around two turns, taking the 1 1/16-mile Melair Stakes at Santa Anita on May 28.
“She’s ultra special and we’re taking it step by step with her,” D’Amato said.
Enola Gray made her initial start on April 10 at Santa Anita and left the closest pursuer in a field of five 16 ¼ lengths behind when she crossed under the wire. Enola Gray covered 6 ½ furlongs on the dirt in 1:13.71 with no urging. The momentum of her early speed carried her wide turning into the stretch, but her final time was just a half-second off the track record.
“Wow is all I can say,” jockey Tyler Baze said then. “What an unbelievable filly.”
The two-turn success in the Melair added to the growing impression as did the Fleet Treat.
“I’ve never won a race any easier,” Baze said after the Fleet Treat. “She’s just unbelievable. She’s so special. I’d say the race was probably over by the half-mile pole. She just goes so easy. All I’ve got to do is keep her happy. She handles all the rest.”
“She’s learning to relax in her races and flash a turn of foot,” D’Amato added after the Fleet Treat. “She’s slowly coming around. She showed a new dimension today, she sat off the pace and kicked home and did it the right way. There’s still a lot of room for improvement and development in her.”
Alexander has named several horses for famous baseball players. Pee Wee Reese was a recent Del Mar winner. Preacher Roe is entered in Sunday’s ninth race, the one following the Torrey Pines.
One doesn’t need to be much of a history buff, however, to realize that Enola Gray is named for the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
The field from the rail: Enola Gray (Tyler Baze, 4-5), Uptown Twirl (Victor Espinoza, 15-1), Kay Kay (Alonso Quinonez, 8-1), Nine Point Nine (Fernando Perez, 20-1), She’s a Warrior (Mario Gutierrez, 6-1), Dreamarcher (Santiago Gonzalez, 15-1), Bellamentary (Martin Garcia, 4-1) and Belvoir Bay (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 10-1).
TWO SCRATCHES LEAVE O’BRIEN WITH ONLY THREE TO GO
Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Outside Nashville and Kristin Mulhall’s Cautious Giant, who had drawn posts Nos. 1-2, were scratched Saturday morning from the $200,000 Grade II Pat O’Brien Stakes.
The defections left a field of the top three morning line choices. From the inside out: Vyjack (Flavien Prat, 3-1), Indexical (Mario Gutierrez, 4-1) and Masochistic (4-5).
There will be no place or show wagering.
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.
SPOILER ALERT! SADLER DOESN’T MIND BEING ONE IN STAKES EVENTS
The victory by Accelerate in Friday’s $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes was the third stakes victory of the meeting for trainer John Sadler and his 55th at Del Mar in nearly three decades of summers here.
Sadler’s first stakes victory of 2016 came with favored Hard Aces in the Cougar II Handicap on July 24. But he’s unrepentantly played the upsetter role in the last two.
Stellar Wind outdueled Beholder in the Clement L. Hirsch on July 30, snapping Beholder’s eight-race winning streak. And Friday evening, Accelerate took the Shared Belief Stakes, a race newly-named for the 2014 Pacific Classic champion trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and owned by a group that included nationally syndicated sports radio talk show host Jim Rome.
Friday morning, Rome broadcast his show live from Del Mar. He was presented with a portrait of Shared Belief in a pre-race ceremony and addressed the crowd over the P.A. system. Rome is a part-owner of Taman Guard, trained by Hollendorfer, who went off as the 4-1 third choice in the betting and finished third. Hollendorfer also saddled the 6-5 race favorite Who’s Out.
Afterward, Sadler was asked if he didn’t feel “a little bit bad,” about ruining the party for Hollendorfer, a trainer whom Sadler has expressed great respect and admiration for in the past.
“No,” Sadler said, bursting out laughing. “He would ruin mine.”
Sadler said Saturday morning that Accelerate had exited the race in good shape.
SEVEN ENTERED FOR WEDNESDAY’S TRANQUILITY LAKE STAKES
A field of seven was entered Saturday in the $75,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes on Wednesday. The one-mile test for older fillies and mares is the first of nine stakes during the final week of the meeting which ends on Labor Day Monday.
The post position draw for Wednesday program was scheduled later Saturday. The Tranquility Lake entrants, in alphabetical order, with trainer/jockey in parentheses: Jolene (John Shirreffs/no rider), Makena (Scott Hansen/Drayden Van Dyke), Moyo Honey (Patrick Gallagher/Gary Stevens), She’s A Big Winner (Peter Eurton/Mario Gutierrez), The Dream (Jerry Hollendorfer/Tiago Pereira), Vale Dori (Bob Baffert/Rafael Bejarano) and West Mid (John Cortez/No Rider).
Trainer Phil D’Amato nominated Gloryzapper for the Tranquility Lake but is opting for the Grade II $200,000 John C. Mabee on Sunday, September 4. The Mabee is one of four graded stakes over the last three days of the meeting. The others are: Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante, Saturday, September 3; Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Derby, Sunday, September 4, and the $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity, Monday, September 5.
JOCKEY AND TRAINER RACES STILL UP FOR GRABS
Flavien Prat enters the final nine days of the meeting with a two-win lead (29-27) over four-time defending champion Rafael Bejarano and onrushing Santiago Gonzalez atop the jockey standings.
Prat and Gonzalez, have an opportunity to create space from Bejarano, who is away at Saratoga to ride American Freedom for Bob Baffert in the Travers Stakes. Prat and Gonzalez are booked on seven mounts each here today.
Gonzalez had two wins Friday, Perfect Pic ($12.20) in the fifth and Buzzer Beater ($4.20) in the nightcap while Prat and Bejarano blanked.
Norberto Arroyo, Jr., notched consecutive wins from the second through fourth races with Red Tie Day ($8.40), Oopper Wallah ($48.20) and Pedro Cerrano ($29.00) to advance to seventh in the standings.
Phil D’Amato remains atop the trainer standings with 16 wins, but Richard Baltas (14) and Peter Miller (13) made progress Friday. Baltas gave Arroyo a leg up on Red Tie Day and Miller did the honors with the longshots Oopper Wallah and Pedro Cerrano.
CLOSERS -- Mavourneen O’Brien, the daughter of Pat O’Brien, will be handing out the trophy following the stakes named for her father for the 31st time this afternoon, every year it has been run. Checking her scrapbook, she passed on the information that she “crowned my first winner” here in 1941 … Selected works from 148 officially timed Saturday: Prospect Park (3f, :39.80), Champagne Room (4f, :46.20), Stellar Wind (4f, 48.60), Miss Southern Miss (5f, :59.20) and Staight Fire (5f, :59.60).
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
158 |
29 |
22 |
18 |
18% |
44% |
$1,832,040 |
|
Rafael Bejarano |
135 |
27 |
29 |
21 |
20% |
57% |
$1,875,487 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
172 |
27 |
27 |
19 |
16% |
42% |
$1,283,476 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
113 |
19 |
19 |
15 |
17% |
47% |
$1,200,398 |
|
Tyler Baze |
149 |
18 |
21 |
26 |
12% |
44% |
$1,102,184 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
55 |
14 |
9 |
8 |
25% |
56% |
$1,524,833 |
|
Norberto Arroyo, Jr. |
86 |
13 |
11 |
10 |
15% |
40% |
$603,802 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
81 |
12 |
7 |
7 |
15% |
32% |
$446,150 |
|
Tiago Pereira |
85 |
10 |
11 |
6 |
12% |
32% |
$457,690 |
|
Mario Gutierrez |
84 |
10 |
10 |
12 |
12% |
38% |
$718,123 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Philip D'Amato |
74 |
16 |
8 |
10 |
22% |
46% |
$1,103,952 |
|
Richard Baltas |
66 |
14 |
14 |
8 |
21% |
55% |
$823,841 |
|
Peter Miller |
81 |
13 |
14 |
10 |
16% |
46% |
$728,221 |
|
Bob Baffert |
53 |
12 |
11 |
6 |
23% |
55% |
$1,145,665 |
|
John W. Sadler |
50 |
11 |
8 |
9 |
22% |
56% |
$765,495 |
|
Mark Glatt |
44 |
9 |
8 |
10 |
20% |
61% |
$363,449 |
|
James M. Cassidy |
38 |
9 |
3 |
6 |
24% |
47% |
$451,062 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
100 |
8 |
13 |
15 |
8% |
36% |
$589,210 |
|
Michael Machowsky |
19 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
42% |
47% |
$238,577 |
|
Chris A. Hartman |
28 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
21% |
50% |
$221,000 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Friday, August 26, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 95 out of 272 -- 34.93%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 67 out of 177 -- 37.85%
Winning favorites on turf -- 28 out of 95 -- 29.47%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 18 out of 38 -- 47.37%
In-the-Money favorites -- 191 out of 272 -- 70.22%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 30 out of 38 -- 78.95%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793