By Hank Wesch

 HOLLENDORFER, SADLER HAVE NUMBERS FOR THE HIRSCH

Mathematically, there’s an 86 percent chance that the winner of Saturday’s  Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes will come from a stall in barns J-K in the Del Mar stable area.

That’s because trainers Jerry Hollendorfer and John Sadler, who occupy opposite ends of the parallel barns, have entered three horses each for the 1 1/8-mile event, a “Win And You’re In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on November 1 at Santa Anita. The only Hirsch entrant not trained by Hollendorfer or Sadler is Bob Baffert-conditioned Fiftyshadesofhay.

The lineup could change via scratches before race time. But what’s up with entering a trio of horses, for three different owners, in the same race? Let Hall of Famer Hollendorfer explain.

“The hardest thing trainers do is look for races for their horses,” he said.  “If you have three horses that are all doing well and they all need to run in the same race, that’s what you do.

“This is a Grade I and if they’re all doing well and ready for it then you have to be in there. That’s probably why John’s running three and why I’m running three. We want to give them all a chance for a Grade I placing.”

A rundown of the J-K Six.

Broken Sword (Hollendorfer )— “She’s a nice filly doing very well. She had an extremely good work over the track here (4f, :46.20, July 28, fastest of 60 at the distance that day). It was a little faster than I wanted but she’s a very good filly with a lot of tactical speed.”

Doinghardtimeagain (Hollendorfer) – “Another horse doing very well right now. Mike Smith wanted to ride her in this race so he didn’t go back east to ride the Jim Dandy and stayed here instead.”

Parranda (Hollendorfer) – “We’re trying her on the synthetic. She’s done everything that we’ve asked of her on turf. She’s doing very well and she’s a happy horse right now.”

With Sadler off to Charlestown, W. Va. , on Friday morning to saddle Candy Boy in the West Virginia Derby, assistant Larry Benavidez deputized with comments.

Iotapa – “She’s ready to go and the post position (No. 2) is a good one. We’re looking for a big effort.”

More Chocolate – “We’ll make a decision on her Saturday, but she’s been training very well here.”

Legacy – “Will probably only run if a couple of other horses scratch.”

BAZE WATCH: ONE AWAY FROM 2,000

Jockey Tyler Baze needs one more victory to reach the 2,000-win milestone for his career. His scheduled mounts today are: She’s a Given (1^st, 12-1), Superboot (3^rd, 5-2), Price of Glory (4^th, 6-1), Princess Genevieve (6^th, 15-1), Alert Bay (7^th, 7-2), Home Run Prize (8^th, 8-1).

Baze is in a three-way tie atop the rider standings with Kent Desormeaux and Elvis Trujillo. They have 10 wins each.

ALERT BAY OPENS AS 7-2 FAVORITE FOR REAL GOOD DEAL

Alert Bay, a son of City Zip owned by Peter Redekop B.C., Ltd.,  and trained by Blaine Wright, is the 7-2 opening line favorite in a field of 12 for Friday’s $200,000 Real Good Deal Stakes. It’s a 7-furlong sprint for California-bred 3-year-olds.

Alert Bay has three wins and only one off-the-board finish in eight career starts and earnings of $234,300. Tyler Baze has been aboard for the last three, a win in the Echo Eddie Stakes on April 5 at Santa Anita, a third in the Snow Chief Stakes and a second in the Silky Sullivan at Golden Gate Fields. The last two were on turf.

“I’ve never ridden him on synthetics but he has handled it at Golden Gate Fields in the past,” Baze said. “I’m expecting a pretty good pace and he came from off of it winning (the Echo Eddie) at Santa Anita.

“He’s a special horse. He tries real hard every time and he’s still learning. I think he’ll get the job done.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME – The Real Good Deal Stakes is named for the California-bred stakes star who won the 1963 Graduation Stakes in the colors of E.B. (Pie Man) Johnston’s Old English Rancho.

FAVORED STORY TO TELL HAS INSIDE FOR BEST PAL

Story to Tell, a Kentucky-bred son of Bluegrass Cat, drew the inside post and is the 5-2 opening line favorite for Sunday’s $200,000 Best Pal Stakes, a traditional stepping stone for 2-year-olds to the Del Mar Futurity.

Owned by Cecil N. Peacock and trained by Dan Hendricks, Story to Tell has two wins in three starts and enters off a runner-up effort in the Santa Anita Juvenile on June 22 and a win in the Willard Proctor Memorial on July 13 at Los Alamitos.

The field of eight from the rail out: Story to Tell (Joe Talamo, 5-2), Conquest Bigluck E (Mike Smith, 5-1), Two Six Wins (Martin Pedroza, 20-1), Bad Reach Sanchez (Mario Gutierrez, 3-1), Rowdy Dylan (Edwin Maldonado, 7-2), Henry’s Holiday (Tyler Baze, 10-1), Skyway (Stewart Elliott, 5-1), Highway Boss (Tiago Pereira, 12-1),

DESIREE STRA JOINS SISTER KAYLA IN JOCKEY COLONY

Following the trail older sister Kayla blazed seven years earlier, Desiree Stra has ventured from Australia to America to  ride as an apprentice on the Southern California circuit with Del Mar being the first stop.

Desiree, 27, is three years younger than Kayla and the daughter of Alex Stra, a trainer in Australia. Like Kayla, she learned to ride and started her professional career there, getting on her first horse at age seven and first thoroughbred at 14. She rode her first winner as a professional, a horse named Young Tearaway in the Hawker Cup in 2012. Punting Form statistics show her with 23 career wins from 310 starts.

She’s been here only three weeks and has ridden three races without a win.

“I did fairly well down there and I thought it would be pretty cool to follow in my sister’s footsteps and give it a try,” Stra said. “It’s a working holiday, but I’ve got a one-way ticket so I plan to stay awhile and see what happens. I want to get to know my little nephew, he’s growing up pretty quickly.”

Kayla is the mother of Brys Baldwin, nearly two years old.

POKER TOURNAMENT FUNDRAISER SUNDAY AT HARRAH’S 

Racing fans are invited to join jockeys and trainers Sunday night at Harrah’s Resort in Valley Center for a no limit, hold ‘em poker tournament that will raise funds for the Relay for Life’s fight against cancer.

There is a $40 buy-in for the tournament with $20 going into the prize pool and $20 toward a tax-deductible donation. The buy-in gives each player $5,000 in chips. There will be a celebrity bounty arrangement in place where anyone who knocks out the celeb at their table wins a special prize.

Busses will leave the track following the races at 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. from the Valet Parking area across from the Clubhouse/Turf Club gates. They will return from the resort at 10:30 p.m. and midnight.

Those who stay the night – and Harrah’s will offer a 30% room discount to those who do – will have bus transportation back to Del Mar at 10 a.m. Monday morning.

CLOSERS – While Fiftyshadesofhay fits the profile for perennially-creative horse owner/namer Mike Pegram, that’s not the case. “The horse was named by my partner Karl Watson’s wife Kathy,” Pegram said … Ship And Win eligible horses on Friday’s program are Dixie Deville (5^th, Val Brinkerhoff trainer) and Stormy Janet (5^th, Sal Gonzalez)…Selected workouts from 123 timed Friday: Beholder (3f, :39.60), Diversy Harbor (4f, :49.80) Secret Circle (4f, :48.20), Jojo Warrior (5f, :59.80).

DEL MAR STATISTICS

 Jockey Standings

(Current Through Thursday, July 31, 2014 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Thursday, July 31, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Thursday, July 31, 2014 Inclusive)

 Winning favorites -- 27 out of 102 -- 26.47%

 Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 21 out of 72 -- 29.17%

 Winning favorites on turf -- 6 out of 30 -- 20.00%

 Winning odds-on favorites -- 5 out of 9 -- 55.56%

 In-the-Money favorites -- 62 out of 102 -- 60.78%

 In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 9 -- 88.89%

Friday, August 1, 2014 Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793