By Hank Wesch

HER EMMYNENCY COULD CAP SOLID DEBUT SUMMER FOR STIDHAM

Her Emmynency produced a 2 ¾ length victory under Joe Talamo in a 5 ½ furlong maiden special race on August 2 in her racing debut in good, but not outstanding time of 1:04.00.

In most circumstances it would have earned the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Successful Appeal trained by Mike Stidham an assignment one step up the condition ladder for her next start. But there she is, one of nine entered in Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante, the event that determines the meeting’s juvenile filly championship.

And Her Emmynency is the second choice, at 7-2, in oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line behind only 5-2 Sunset Glow, the Sorrento Stakes winner.

“We wouldn’t do it very often  (maiden to Grade I), but there are only a few Grade I’s (in the division) and most of the horses we’re up against are in the same boat, coming off maiden wins,” Stidham assistant Chris Davis said Friday morning. “She’s very precocious, she was very impressive, so we thought we’d give it a shot.”

From the No. 8 post of 10 in the maiden race, Her Emmynency was beaten by only one horse out of the gate, was third for the first half-mile, then moved to the lead and pulled away.

“She ran as good as we thought she would. She did everything very professional,” Davis said. “She broke well, settled in and finished well all by herself. Hopefully we can get that again or maybe even improve on it.”

A win by Her Emmynency would be the third stakes of the summer for the 14-horse string at Del Mar that Davis has overseen for much of the summer while Stidham has focused on business at the base at Arlington Park in Chicago. The first two stakes victories were provided by the 3-year-old filly Istanford in the San Clemente on July 19 and Sandy Blue on August 15. 

Another 3-year-old filly from the Stidham stable, Stellaris, was second to Personal Diary in the Grade I Del Mar Oaks on August 16.

“We’re pleased with our meeting and glad we came out here,” Stidham, at Del Mar for the upcoming big stakes weekend, said Friday.

The field, from the rail out: Seduire (Elvis Trujillo, 8-1), Manahatta (Rafael Bejarano, 5-1), Starlet O’Hara (Martin Garcia, 5-1), Dad’s Princess (Mike Smith, 12-1), Sunset Glow (Victor Espinoza, 5-2), Her Emmynency (Joe Talamo, 7-2), Stealth Drone (Tyler Baze, 20-1), Conquest Eclipse (Corey Nakatani, 6-1) and Windy Forecast (Kent Desormeaux, 12-1).

ENTERPRISING GOES FOR 3-YEAR-OLD STAKES SWEEP IN DEL MAR DERBY

Enterprising, owned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor, is the 9-5 morning line favorite as he tries to become the fourth horse in history to sweep the meeting’s stakes series for 3-year-olds in Sunday’s Grade II $300,000 Del Mar Derby.

Ridden by Mike Smith, Enterprising rallied from eighth entering the stretch for a neck victory over Argyle Cut in the opening-day, one-mile Oceanside Stakes and came back three weeks later for a late-charging 1 ¼-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile La Jolla Handicap.

A win in the 1 1/8-mile Derby would place the son of Elusive Quality with Lightning Mandate (1974), Ladies Din (1998) and Blackdoun (2004) to complete the stakes sweep.

The field for the Del Mar Derby, which goes as the ninth on an 11-race card,  from the rail out is: Home Run Kitten (Joe Talamo, 6-1), Sawyer’s Hill (Martin Garcia, 8-1), Midnight Storm (Tyler Baze, 12-1), Talco (Corey Nakatani, 8-1), Enterprising (Mike Smith, 9-5), Aventador (Elvis Trujillo, 8-1), Flamboyant (Joel Rosario, 5-2) and Sammy Mandeville (Rafael Bejarano, 10-1).

The other graded stakes on the Sunday program, the Grade III Torrey Pines will go as the fifth event. The one-mile trip on the Polytrack surface for 3-year-old fillies will feature Jojo Warrior, winner of the Grade II Summer Oaks at Santa Anita on June 21 in her most recent start.

The field for the Torrey Pines from the rail out is: Delta Flower (Rafael Bejarano, 4-1), Tiz Kissable (Tyler Baze, 8-1), Fashion Plate (Mike Smith, 5-2), Jojo Warrior (Martin Garcia, 2-1), Thegirlinthatsong (Joe Talamo, 10-1), Margot Machance (Kent Desormeaux, 5-1) and More Complexity (Mario Gutierrez, 10-1).

RED OUTLAW LOOKS LIKE SPEED TO CATCH IN EL CAJON

Peter Miller-trained Red Outlaw, the 9-2 third choice on the morning line, would figure to be the one to catch in Friday’s featured $100,000 El Cajon Stakes.

A 3-year-old California-bred son of Tribal Rule, Red Outlaw was a wire-to-wire winner of the Real Good Deal Stakes on August 1, coming off a nearly six-month layoff.

“He’s pretty quick,” Miller said. “We have to send from the outside, so we’ll see what happens.”

Red Outlaw drew the No. 10 post, but with three scratches from the race will break from the No. 7.

WHAT’S IN A NAME -- The El Cajon Stakes, a nod to the city bordering San Diego to the east, has been since 1973 the major main track stakes for 3-year-olds of the meeting. In 1986, Tasso added an El Cajon victory to 1985 Del Mar Futurity and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile wins that produced an Eclipse Award.

TWO RACES, TWO WINS, TWO RECORDS FOR BIG CAZANOVA

Argentine-bred Big Cazanova was sent postward twice in the meeting by trainer  Peter Miller and won both assignments wire-to-wire in track record time.

The latest came in Thursday’s second race, an $80,000 allowance optional claiming 1 1/8-mile test on Polytrack. Ridden by Elvis Trujillo, taking over for the suspended Corey Nakatani, Big Cazanova won breezing home by six lengths in a record 1:48.85, easily bettering the mark of 1:50.03 set a month ago by Friendly Banter.

On July 26, Big Cazanova, owned by Dona Licha,set a new standard for one mile on the main track of 1:34.74 in winning by 3 ½ lengths. The former mile mark was 1:34.86 set by Potesta on September 2, 2012.

JOCKEY, TRAINER RACES TIGHT ENTERING FINAL WEEKEND

Both the jockey and trainer races are tight enough that one flurry of wins could prove decisive. And, from a numbers standpoint, it would seem that there would be a chance of flurries in the storm of 29 races coming Friday through Sunday, for any of the top four in either category.

Rafael Bejarano, seeking a third consecutive riding title, is in the lead with 29 wins. He has 22 mounts scheduled – five of seven races Friday, eight of 11 Saturday and nine of 11 Sunday. For Kent Desormeaux, second with 27, the numbers are 20 total mounts on a 3-8-9 daily basis. Elvis Trujillo (26) is booked on a 6-8-6 basis and Mike Smith (25) will be given a leg up on 3, 7 and 5 horses the next three days.

Jerry Hollendorfer, who tops the trainer standings with 16, will saddle 10 in the coming days – one on Friday, four on Saturday and five on Sunday. Peter Miller, two behind Hollendorfer, will be represented in 14 races (5-5-4), Doug O’Neill in 12 (5-4-3) and defending champion John Sadler 13 (2-6-5).

CLOSERS –Joel Rosario, leading rider at Del Mar from 2009-2011 before moving his tack to the East Coast, will be back for a one-day stand on Sunday. He is booked on four mounts, the main one being Flamboyant for Patrick Gallagher in the Del Mar Derby … Sean McCarthy, trainer of Gold Cup at Santa Anita winner Majestic Harbor, sixth in Sunday’s Pacific Classic, said the horse came out of the race in excellent shape and is headed for the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita with “possibly” one start, in the Awesome Again, the stepping stone to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic … Trainer A.C. Avila said that Masochistic, an impressive two-race winner during the meeting, would go next in the $200,000 Los Alamitos Mile on September 6 … Ship And Win eligible horses on Friday’s program are: Knock Em Flat (6^th, Jeff Mullins trainer, no bonus, stakes) and Daraybi (6^th, Darrell Vienna, no bonus, stakes) …

DEL MAR STATISTICS 

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Thursday, August 28, 2014 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Thursday, August 28, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Thursday, August 28, 2014 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 80 out of 275 -- 29.09% 

Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 65 out of 217 -- 29.95%

Winning favorites on turf -- 15 out of 58 -- 25.86%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 9 out of 18 -- 50.00%

In-the-Money favorites -- 172 out of 275 -- 62.55%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 13 out of 18 -- 72.22%

Friday, August 29, 2014 Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793

Note: An Earlier Version of this story mistakenly said Masochistic would next run in the Los Alamitos Derby.