By Hank Wesch

RENEESGOTZIP LOOKS REVVED UP FOR RANCHO BERNARDO

Reneesgotzip will put a perfect record at Del Mar on the line when she defends her title in the $150,000 Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Sunday.

The 5-year-old daughter of City Zip, owned by the Lanni Family Trust and trained by Peter Miller, has three wins in as many starts over the Polytrack main course with the narrowest margin of victory being 3 ½ lengths. Reneesgotzip won the CERF Stakes in 2012 by the 3 ¼ margin, took an allowance event in July of last year by 5 ¼ lengths and then dominated four rivals in the Rancho Bernardo wire-to-wire by 4 ¼ lengths, covering the 6 ½ furlongs in a track record 1:14.48.

Reneesgotzip followed up the 2013 Rancho Bernardo by dead-heating for second, a half-length beind Mizdirection,  in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita but has gone unraced since then. The earner of $795,460 lifetime has had knee problems and bone chips removed in the past, a possible consequence of her natural speed.

“We’re very happy to have her back and she’s training like her old self,” Miller said.  “We’ll let her bounce out of there and do her thing. She’s awful fast.”

An indication that the layoff had not diminished the zip of Reneesgotzip was a  1:10.20 workout for six furlongs on August 2 at San Luis Rey Downs.

“I did a double take on my watch,” Miller said. “But she did it very easily. She was breezing, in hand, and she galloped out strongly so we’re ready.

“If she runs her race, she’ll be very tough to beat.”

The field, from the rail out: Judy the Beauty (Mike Smith, 7-5), Fashion Plate (Rafael Bejarano, 4-1), Reneesgotzip  (Corey Nakatani, 8-5), Sagebrush Queen (Edwin Maldonado, 15-1), Amaranth (Dennis Carr, 10-1) and Madame Cactus (Joe Talamo, 10-1).

CLUBHOUSE RIDE TURNS IN SHARP FINAL WORK FOR PACIFIC CLASSIC

A seven-furlong work by Gold Cup at Santa Anita runner-up Clubhouse Ride, his final serious exercise before the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on Sunday, August 24, had trainer Craig Lewis smiling and clockers enthusing Saturday morning.

“A very strong move,” Lewis said. “Now all he has to do is the simple little thing of being good enough on game day. It’s a very good group of horses and we hope we can join in the fun.”

Under exercise rider Manny Rotela, the 6-year-old son of 2003 Pacific Classic winner Candy Ride went seven furlongs in 1:24.20.

“The best work of his life,” clocker Toby Turrell said. “He never slowed down, going :36.60 early and :23.60 late and looked strong all the way.”

JOCKEY’S RACE: LESS COULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH

With Kent Desormeaux, Elvis Trujillo and Rafael Bejarano recording one win each yesterday the order atop the jockey standings remained unchanged. Desormeaux and Trujillo have 19 wins each and Bejarano 17 with Mike Smith in fourth with 16.

The evident parity through 22 racing days, with 14 remaining, suggests that the lowest victory total in the last 42 years might prove good enough to win the riding championship.

John Ramirez won the  1972 title  with 36 wins and Alex Solis took the  2001 crown with the same number. The record for fewest wins in a title-winning season is 24 by Tim Gray in 1938. Ralph Neves won with 26 the following year. There have only been four seasons in 74 at the track  in which  30-something wins  topped the list.

Bejarano averaged  48 wins a year in prevailing in 2012-13. Joel Rosario averaged  54 wins in a three-year reign from 2009-2011. Bill Shoemaker holds the unapproachable record for victories in a season, 94 in 1954.

TRAINER’S RACE: COULD IT BE MILLER TIME AGAIN?

Peter Miller, whose 12 wins top Jerry Hollendorfer by two, won the 2012 training title with 21 wins. Miller has finished in the top seven in the standings for five years in a row while averaging nearly 14 wins per season.

The 47-year-old Carlsbad resident is optimistic about his chances for title No. 2.

“It’s a tough meeting. It’s very hard to win races here,” Miller said. “But we’re having a good meeting and we’ve got some live horses still to run. So, hopefully, we can hold off the challengers.

“We’ve got more horses than we’ve had in the past, so we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.

Bob Hess, Jr., who won back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992, with 18 and 22 wins respectively, is third in the standings with nine wins, all of them ridden by Kent Desormeaux. It’s a throwback of more than 20 years when the Hess-Desormeaux combination clicked with regularity, Desormeaux winning riding titles in 1992 and ’93.

“It’s all good,” Hess said. “It’s great to see Kent back in top form. We always gear up for Del Mar every year but this year it seems to be working a little better  for  us. Hopefully we can continue.”

CASSE, PROCTOR STABLES TAKE DOUBLE SHOTS AT OAKS

Trainers Mark Casse and Tom Proctor will send out two fillies each in Saturday’s Grade I $300,000, Del Mar Oaks. And, by coincidence the  stablemates drew side-by-side post positions.

Proctor’s Diversy Harbor and Famous Alice will break from the two inside gates while Casse’s My Conquestadory and Tepin go from posts Nos. 6 and 7.

Tepin, a daughter of Bernstein,and My Conquestadory, an Artie Schiller filly, finished 2-3 in the one-mile Grade II San Clemente Handicap on July 19. The Oaks is 1 1/8 miles.

“They both ran well in the  (San Clemente) and hopefully they’ll improve and run even better this time,” Casse said. “It looks like there’ll be some pace in this race, which there wasn’t a whole lot  of last time, and that will give them something to run down.”

Diversy Harbor  was fourth as the favorite in the San Clemente. Famous Alice has  been given a respite since finishing second in the Grade III Seniorita at Santa Anita on June 28.

“They’re both training well and they both deserve a shot in this (Grade I) race,” said Aimee Dollase, in charge of the preparation with Proctor back in Chicago for Arlington Million Day.

WHAT’S IN A NAME – The Grade I Del Mar Oaks is the championship race of the season for three year old fillies. Oaks is a traditional term indicating a title deciding race for fillies, just as the term Derby is for three year old males.

ISTANFORD IN THE PINK FOLLOWING SANDY BLUE

Istanford, whose wire-to-wire 3 ¼-length victory in Friday’s Sandy Blue Handicap allowed her to join Enterprising as a winner of two stakes at the meeting, was fine in the aftermath,  trainer Michael Stidham reported Saturday morning.

“She came out in good shape and we’re, of course, pleased with the effort,” Stidham said. “She’ll stay here for now, but we’re looking at a Grade I at Keeneland, the First Lady, or there’s a race at Santa Anita called the Autumn Mist.”

Double-entered in the Sandy Blue and Saturday’s Grade I Oaks, the  decision to go in the shorter (one-mile) of the two races was made after given lengthy consideration by Stidham and the 3-year-old filly’s co-owner, Ike Thrash.

“Ike and I hashed it over pretty hard and just decided that the mile was better for her,” Stidham said. “I’m not going to say I’ll never go longer than a mile with her – she beat boys going 1 1/16 miles at Arlington Park – but  a mile is a good distance for her.”

CALIFORNIA CHROME WORK SHOWS PROGRESS

A half-mile work in :50.40 on Friday by Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome may have been 14^th of 15 at the distance Friday at Los Alamitos. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story, trainer Art Sherman said here Saturday.

“He went slow at first, but he was kickin’ it in pretty damn good the last quarter,” Sherman said. “I thought he went really nice. I’ll probably have Victor (Espinoza) come over and work him next week.

CLOSERS – Equibase statistics show trainer J. Keith Desormeaux at 499 career wins. Desormeaux has one scheduled starter Saturday, Silent Ruler in the tenth race …Valet Michel Poincelet, kicked in the chest by Lizzy’s Tizzy following Friday’s seventh race, was examined and released from Scripps  La Jolla Hospital. Poincelet,  sore from the incident, took Saturday off  from work, but is expected to be fine … Ship And Win eligible horses on Saturday’s card are: Sistas Stroll (2^nd, Tom Proctor, trainer), Miceli (4^th, Adam Kitchingman), Stellaris (8^th, Michael Stidham, no bonus, stakes), Odisseia (8^th, Philip  D’Amato, no  bonus, stakes),  Sea Queen (8^th, Christophe Clement, no bonus, stakes), Royal Tale (10^th, Troy Taylor), Silent Ruler (10^th, J. Keith Desormeaux) … Selected workouts from 175 timed Saturday: Fiftyshadesofhay (4f, :47.40), Iotapa (4f, :48.60), Declassify (5f, :59.20), Mark of a Gem (5f, :58.60), Private Zone (6f, 1:13.40), Clubhouse Ride (7f, 1:24.20).  

DEL MAR STATISTICS 

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Friday, August 15, 2014 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Friday, August 15, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Friday, August 15, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 53 out of 194 -- 27.32%

Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 43 out of 153 -- 28.10%

Winning favorites on turf -- 10 out of 41 -- 24.39% 

Winning odds-on favorites -- 5 out of 12 -- 41.67%

In-the-Money favorites -- 116 out of 194 -- 59.79% 

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 12 -- 66.67%

Saturday, August 16, 2014 Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793