By Hank Wesch

MISS SERENDIPITY COULD ADD TO McANALLY’S MASTER LIST

A victory by Miss Serendipity, the 5-2 favorite in a field of seven for Sunday’s 57^th running of the John C. Mabee, would be the 77^th  stakes win at Del Mar for Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally.

McAnally, 82, has been coming to Del Mar for 66 years – the same number Vin Scully will have as Dodgers announcer when he calls games next season – and has saddled multiple stakes winners every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s. He’s second all-time on both the track’s stakes and overall trainer win standings and had one stakes win a year for three years in a row, the most recent with Charm the Maker in last year’s Adoration Stakes.

Miss Serendipity, a 6-year-old mare imported from her native Argentina last year, has the credentials to extend McAnally’s string. In her last start, her fifth in a U.S. campaign begun in January, all at stakes level, she nosed out Juddmonte Farms standout Emollient to take the Grade I Gamely Handicap on May 26 at Santa Anita.

“She’s a lovely filly, she’s got a lot of class and she does everything right,” McAnally said recently from his upper-level porch perch at Barn I. “I’ve always said if you can beat a Juddmonte horse you’ve got a pretty good horse.

“She beat a Juddmonte in the Grade I (Gamely) and she hasn’t missed a beat since.”

With Brice Blanc, aboard for her last three starts, out with an injury, Miss Serendipity will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano, who has ridden her once before. That resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Grade II Buena Vista Stakes in February at Santa Anita.

“I talked to him after he worked her the other day and he said he realized what he did wrong and he’s going to correct it,” McAnally said. “He went to the front with her and she doesn’t want to run that way.

“I don’t know what speed is in there (Mabee), but she likes to have something to run at.”

The group for the 1 1/8-mile turf event from the rail out is: Charlie Em (Martin Garcia, 15-1), Every Way (Joe Talamo, 6-1), Wishing Gate (Drayden Van Dyke, 7-2), Moulin de Mougin (Mike Smith, 8-1), Miss Serendipity (Rafael Bejarano, 5-2), Stormy Lucy (Corey Nakatani, 6-1), Cozze Up Lady (Kent Desormeaux (9-2). Miss Ellany and Queen of The Sand were scratched on Saturday.

ARGYLE CUT LOOKS TO TAKE ONE STEP UP IN LA JOLLA

Trainer William Morey brought Argyle Cut south from his San Francisco Bay Area base with turf stakes races in mind. And in two starts, the Singletary on June 21 at Santa Anita and the opening-day Oceanside here on July 17, Argyle Cut has validated the decision.

The 3-year-old son of Harlington was second to Home Run Kitten in the Singletary and a fast-closing runner-up to even faster-closing Enterprising in the Oceanside. A rematch between Argyle Cut and Enterprising is part of the scenario for Saturday’s  74^th running of the $150,000 Grade II La Jolla Handicap.

“Mostly the reason we brought him down was for the turf races. He’s got a really good turn of foot on the grass,” Morey said Saturday.

As he did in the Oceanside, Argyle Cut will break from the No. 1 post. Enterprising is on the outside in the field of six. The La Jolla, at 1 1/16 miles, is 110 yards longer than the Oceanside.

“I don’t think the extra sixteenth is a big plus,” Morey said. “We’ll be closing but I expect Enterprising will be too.  I kind of like the (No. 1) post. Corey (Nakatani) rides the turf course well and handles him well. He’ll know what to do. “

WHAT’S IN A NAME – The La Jolla Handicap is the second of three in the meeting’s turf series for 3-year-olds, between the Oceanside Stakes and Del Mar Derby. The series has been swept twice in the past 15 years – by Ladies Din in 1998 and Blackdoun in 2004.

HESS, DESORMEAUX ROLL A SEVEN IN DAISYCUTTER

Trainer R.B. (Bob) Hess, Jr. and jockey Kent Desormeaux combined for a victory with Master the Blues in Friday’s $96,560 Daisycutter Handicap. It was the seventh win of the meeting for Hess, fourth in the trainer standings, all of them with his longtime friend and business partner Desormeaux in the irons.

It was the 15^th win of the meeting for Desormeaux, who is second in the rider standings, one behind Elvis Trujillo.

Hess said Saturday that Master the Blues came out of the race “really well,” but was uncertain if there would be an opportunity for a third start at the meeting for the 5-year-old Master Command mare.

LAST STRIKE PUTS TRUJILLO ATOP RIDER STANDINGS

The win by Elvis Trujillo aboard favored Super Reagan in Friday’s final race enabled the Panamanian-born jockey to break a tie with Kent Desormeaux and take a one-win lead over Desormeaux in the jockey standings.

Trujillo, who moved from Florida to the Southern California circuit in May, notched two wins Friday to raise his total to 16. Desormeaux had one win Friday to drop just behind Trujillo while Bejarano had a streak of six days with at least one win snapped to remain at 14.

Jockey Tyler Baze, one win away from the 2,000 career milestone, has four mounts on Saturday’s card. They are:  Pressure Time (3^rd, 3-1), Daddy D T (4^th, 5-1), Sweet Profit (7^th, 5-1) and Bailoutbobby (8^th, 6-1).

SERIOUS ‘DOING WELL’ AT LOS AL

Serious, the four-year-old filly trained by Vince Smith who suffered fractures of the left front sesamoid bones in the seventh race, a five-furlong turf sprint on Thursday, July 31, continues to recuperate at Los Alamitos.

California Horse Racing Board medical director Dr. Rick Arthur was in contact with Los Alamitos chief veterinarian Becky Fitzgerald and relayed her report Saturday morning.

“Serious has a brace on her leg but is eating, moving around, and doing well,” Arthur said he was told by Fitzgerald.

The injury to Serious prompted suspension of racing on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course for six racing days. Turf racing resumes Saturday with the second race on the program and continues with the featured La Jolla Handicap (the fifth) and eighth races.

 CLOSERS – Trainer A.C. Avila said that Masochistic was not, as some lists suggested,  a TVG Pacific Classic candidate. “I’m going to go step by step through his conditions,” Avila said, with an allowance level assignment next for the winner of two of three starts … Peter Miller, who tops the trainer standings with 11 wins, is still shaking his head over a sizzling,  6-furlong workout in 1:10.00 on Saturday, August 2, by Reneesgotzip at San Luis Rey Downs. “She did it very easy,” Miller said. Off since a runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last November at Santa Anita, Reneesgotzip is being pointed to a return, and title defense, in the Rancho Bernardo Handicap on August 17 …  Ship And Win eligible horses on Saturday’s card are: Thumamah (1^st, Charles Treece, trainer), Spring Action (2^nd, Mark Casse), Crissy Field (7^th, Philip Oliver), Ciddy’s Song (7^th, Bob Baffert), Play It Loud (8^th, Kristin Mulhall), Kulik Lodge (8^th, Tom Proctor), Miceli (8^th, Adam Kitchingman), Wholly Hughes (9^th, J. Keith Desormeaux),  Hojas (9^th, Charles Treece) … Selected works from 158 timed Saturday: Merit Man (3f, :38.00), Caracortado (4f, :49.80), Istanford (4f, :47.60), Kristo (4f, :47.60), Baruta  (5f, :59.60), Diversy Harbor (5f, 1:01.00), Mr. Commons (5f, 1:00.80), Private Zone (5f, :58.60), Quick Casablanca (5f, 1:01.40), Wonderfully (5f, 1:02.20), Clubhouse Ride (7f, 1:26.40).

DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Friday, August 8, 2014 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Friday, August 8, 2014 Inclusive)

 Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Friday, August 8, 2014 Inclusive)

 Winning favorites -- 40 out of 153 -- 26.14%

 Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 34 out of 123 -- 27.64%

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

 Winning odds-on favorites -- 5 out of 11 -- 45.45%

 In-the-Money favorites -- 94 out of 153 -- 61.44%

 In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 11 -- 72.73%

Saturday, August 9, 2014 Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793