By Hank Wesch

IS FUTURITY IN FUTURE FOR SORRENTO CHAMP SUNSET GLOW?

Ten Broeck Farm, Inc.’s Sunset Glow, a 3 ¼-length winner of Wednesday’s  Grade II $200,000 Sorrento Stakes, was comfortable in her stall at Blake Heap’s barn in the Del Mar stable area Thursday morning.

And Heap, who handles the West Coast shippers for trainer Wesley Ward, was comfortable with an idea Ward put forth in a phone conversation Wednesday night.

“He said ‘Don’t be afraid to think about the Futurity,’ ” Heap said. “We’re going to give her a few days (to recover) then see how she trains and let her tell us what to do. Wesley’s got a lot of horses, he runs all over the world. He knows that, especially as 2-year-olds, fillies can be as good as colts and beat them. We’re about the only country where (females against males) isn’t done very often.”

Sunset Glow, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Exchange Rate, was purchased for $140,000 at the Keeneland September sale. Her four starts, producing two wins and earnings of $197,645, have been at Presque Isle Downs, Pennsylvania on May 13, Belmont Park, New York on June 6, Ascot, England on June 20 and Del Mar on Wednesday.

The Sorrento victory stamps her among the favorites for the $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Debutante on August 30. The $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity is four days later, on the closing day of the meeting, Wednesday, September 3.

Sunset Glow’s time for 6 ½ furlongs in the Sorrento was 1:16.61. On Sunday, 2-year-old colt Skyway won the Best Pal over the same course in 1:16.67.

While fillies have competed in the Futurity in recent years, the race hasn’t been won by a female runner since Lost Kitty completed a Debutante-Futurity double for co-owner/trainer D. Wayne Lukas and Eugene Klein in 1987.

Sorrento runner-up La Grange was “a little sore” Thursday morning, possibly from stumbling badly out of the gate, reported Julie Clark, assistant to trainer J. Keith Desormeaux. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Curlin was bright and eating well and remains a strong possibility for the Debutante.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said that Heart of Paradise, third in the Sorrento, and Caval, last as the even-money favorite, both came out of the race fine. He offered no explanation regarding the performance of Caval, who was eased in the final furlong.

BEJARANO MOVES TO WITHIN ONE OF JOCKEY STANDINGS LEADERS

Rafael Bejarano’s victory on Brilliant Melody in Wednesday’s second race extended a streak of at least one win per card to five and moved the two-time defending meet riding champion to within one of the lead in the jockey standings. Bejarano made his comeback on opening day from two months away while healing a fractured clavicle and four broken ribs from a spill at Santa Anita. He has 12 wins, seven of them in the last five racing days. Kent Desormeaux and Elvis Trujillo are co-leaders with 13 each.

“I’m surprised that he’s having such a good meet,” Joe Ferrer, Bejarano’s agent said. “When you’re off two months, you lose so much business. I don’t care who you are or how many titles you’ve won.

“You’re out a month, the horses run once. You’re off two months, they run twice and usually if they run twice you lose them. If they don’t win the first time, the live horses are going to win the second time and those riders get to get on them one more time. Plus it’s a short meet here, so the riders that won on them the last time get the call again. If I’m lucky, I might get to pick up the second time they run here.

“So I’m pleasantly surprised at how he’s done.”       

BAZE WATCH: ONE AWAY FROM 2,000

Jockey Tyler Baze, whose next victory will be career milestone No. 2000, has five scheduled mounts on Thursday’s card. They are: City Ride (1st, 5-2), Cousin Ricky (4th, 6-1), Uncle Dave (6th, 20-1), Tribal Gal (7th, 5-1), Onebadshenanigan (8th, 12-1).

NOT TURF? NO PROBLEM FOR DAISYCUTTER FAVORITE

Precautionary measures that have taken races off the turf course and moved them to Polytrack until Saturday have made Friday’s Daisycutter Handicap something of a misnomer. A “daisycutter” being a racetrack term for a horse with a low running motion especially suited to turf racing.

But with Tribal Spy, the 3-1 opening line favorite, having shown ability on both turf (3-1-1 record in eight starts) and synthetic (3-1-0 in four), trainer Adam Kitchingman is unfazed by the situation. The $90,000 Daisycutter, which drew a field of six, is a 5-furlong sprint.

“She’s worked absolutely awesome on the Polytrack down here and she’s actually better on synthetics than grass, so it didn’t bother me at all,” Kitchingman said.

Owned by Triple B Farms, the 4-year-old California-bred daughter of Tribal Rule has six wins in 16 lifetime starts, the most recent in the Grade III Las Cienegas down the hill at Santa Anita in April. She has been off since a fourth in the Mizdirection over the same course in May.

“There weren’t any races for her so we’ve given her a break. She runs well fresh,” Kitchingman said. “She’s as honest as they come and she’s the most proven sprinter of the (Daisycutter) bunch, so she certainly deserves to be the favorite.”

FIELD OF NINE FOR JOHN C. MABEE

Nine older fillies and mares were entered Thursday for Sunday’s Grade II $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes.

The field for the 1 1/8-mile turf race, from the rail out is: Charlie Em (Martin Garcia), Every Way (Joe Talamo), Wishing Gate (Drayden Van Dyke), Miss Ellany (Edwin Maldonado), Moulin de Mougin (Mike Smith), Miss Serendipity (Rafael Bejarano), Queen of The Sand (Martin Pedroza), Stormy Lucy (Corey Nakatani) and Cozzie Up Lady (Kent Desormeaux).

TRAKUS FACTS OF THE DAY FOR WEDNESDAY

Rovenna, favored in Wednesday’s second race, could not catch Brilliant Melody, who raced inside throughout. At the finish, Rovenna covered 31 feet more than Brilliant Melody, a distance which translates to roughly 3 ½ lengths. Brilliant Melody’s winning margin was just 0.75 lengths.

CLOSERS – Trainer John Sadler said that Candy Boy, runner-up in last Saturday’s West Virginia Derby, should remain on the “possible” list for the TVG Pacific Classic … Lexie Lou, who provided trainer Mark Casse with a victory in the Queen’s Plate, first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown series, is entered Sunday in the $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes at Woodbine. Casse said he’ll remain at Del Mar and have his aides in Canada take care of the race… Jockey Victor Espinoza will be at Woodbine on Sunday to ride Winning Prize for Neil Drysdale in the $200,000 Grade II Play The King Stakes … Ship And Win eligible horses on Thursday’s card are:  Spreckles (2nd, Jeff Bonde, trainer), Slewbie Doo (2nd, Tim McCanna), Foolhardy (6th, Peter Eurton), Uncle Dave (6th, Manny Ortiz), Shun (6th, R.B. Hess, Jr.), Living The Life (7th, Gary Mandella), Pretty Hot Princess (7th, Hector Palma), Tribal Gal (7th, R. Kory Owens), Blame It On Tekela (8th, Jeff Metz) … Selected workouts from 126 timed Thursday: Bayern (4f, :48.60), Big Macher (4f, :48.60), Declassify (4f, :47.80), Secret Circle (4f, :47.80), Jojo Warrior (5f, :59.60), Miss Serendipity (5f, 1:01.40).

DEL MAR STATISTICS 

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Inclusive)

 Winning favorites -- 36 out of 137 -- 26.28%

 Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 30 out of 107 -- 28.04%

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

 Winning odds-on favorites -- 5 out of 10 -- 50.00%

 In-the-Money favorites -- 83 out of 137 -- 60.58%

 In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 10 -- 80.00%

Thursday, August 7, 2014 Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793