Free Rose © Benoit Photo
BALTAS COULD BE WEST COAST’S BIG HOPE IN WEEKEND GRADE I STAKES
Southern California racing fans who prefer to be somewhat parochial in their picks will likely be looking to Richard Baltas’ horses as the West Coast hopes against a horde of eastern invaders in Saturday’s Hollywood Derby and Sunday’s Matriarch.
Both are $300,000 Grade I turf events, the Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds, the Matriarch at one mile for fillies and mares.
Baltas will send out Free Rose (5-1) and Diplodocus (20-1) in the Hollywood Derby and Tiz a Kiss (12-1) in the Matriarch. Free Rose is the lowest price on the morning line of any Southern California-based Derby horse, behind Chad Brown shippers Camelot Kitten (7-2) and Beach Patrol (9-2).
Tiz a Kiss is lumped, at 12-1, with fellow West Coast campaigners Stays in Vegas and Nancy From Nairobi behind five shippers for the Matriarch.
Free Rose won the La Jolla Handicap and Del Mar Derby during the summer and was named the top 3-year-old of the meeting.
The Kentucky-bred son of Munnings was second, beaten a half-length by Frank Conversation in the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on November 4 to conclude the first day of the Breeders’ Cup event and has had training runs there and over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course since.
Tiz a Kiss was beaten by only a nose in the Solana Beach Stakes at Del Mar on August 14 and came back on September 1 for a victory in an optional claimer, both over the one-mile turf course on which the Matriarch will be run.
The field for the Hollywood Derby from the rail: Beach Patrol (Florent Geroux, 9-2), Camelot Kitten (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 7-2), Frank Conversation (Mario Gutierrez, 8-1), Diplodocus (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1), Free Rose (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 5-1), Isotherm (John Velazquez, 12-1), Blackjackcat (Mike Smith, 8-1), Hayabusa One (Victor Espinoza, 6-1), Revved Up (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1), Defiantly (Gary Stevens, 30-1), Annals of Time (Javier Castellano, 6-1) and Path of David (Joe Talamo, 30-1).
FAVORED MISS TEMPLE CITY DRAWS OUTSIDE FOR MATRIARCH
Miss Temple City drew the outside post in a field of 12 and was established as the 3-1 favorite on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for Sunday’s $300,000 Grade I Matriarch Stakes.
A 4-year-old daughter of Temple City trained by H. Graham Motion for The Club LLC and partners, Miss Temple City could top $1 million in earnings for the year with a victory in the one-mile turf run for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.
Keyed by Grade I victories in the Grade I Maker’s 46 Mile and the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, Miss Temple City has accrued $890,239 in 2016 earnings. The winner’s share of the Matriarch purse is $180,000.
Miss Temple City has career earnings of $1,273,038 from five wins and as many in-the-money finishes from 15 career starts.
The Matriarch field, from the rail: Tiz a Kiss (Kent Desormeaux), Stays in Vegas (Drayden Van Dyke), Kitcat (Tiago Pereira), Zindaya (Javier Castellano), Sobradora Inc (Martin Garcia), Mexican Gold (Irad Ortiz, Jr.,), Roca Rojo (Florent Geroux, ), Nancy From Nairobi (Tyler Baze), Decked Out (Victor Espinoza), Prize Exhibit (Mike Smith), Time and Motion (John Velazquez) and Miss Temple City (Edgar Prado).
NUMBERS PUT FOUR IN VANGUARD OF BATTLE FOR RIDING TITLE
With a victory aboard Annie’s Candy in Thursday’s sixth race, Norberto Arroyo, Jr., moved within one win of injury-sidelined Flavien Prat atop the jockey standings.
Prat has 11 wins and Arroyo 10, with Drayden Van Dyke (9), Victor Espinoza (8), Santiago Gonzalez (7) and the quartet at six of Tyler Baze, Mike Smith, Joe Talamo and Martin Pedroza comprising the crowd in the hunt with three days remaining in the Bing Crosby meeting.
The number of mounts, and therefore win opportunities, in the closing days make the foursome of Arroyo, Van Dyke, Baze and Talamo the most likely to succeed in quest of a first Del Mar riding championship for any of them.
Arroyo is scheduled for five mounts Friday, five Saturday and six on Sunday for a total of 16. Van Dyke has 19, with six on each of the first two days and seven on Sunday. Baze’s 18 break down with five on Friday, seven on Saturday and six on Sunday. Talamo has a dozen spread out with four each day.
Smith and Pedroza have eight mounts apiece to close the meet, Gonzalez seven and Espinoza five.
RACING SECRETARY CLOSES BOOK ON A SOLID MEET
Late scratches the last three days will determine the final average field size number for the third Bing Crosby meeting.
But entering the final four-day week, Racing Secretary David Jerkens projected it would be around 8.5, a slight increase from the 8.13 of 2015.
“Field size is just a number,” Jerkens said Thursday. “In terms of quality, we have a responsibility to the bettors and fans. That’s always my goal and I think we’ve done well in that regard.
“I think we’ve utilized our resources and utilized the turf course as best we can and we’ve had good cooperation from the horsemen throughout the meeting.”
When the Grade I $300,000 Matriarch Stakes is run on Sunday, the Jimmy Durante Turf Course will have been the site of eight of 14 stakes races during the meeting. Another that was scheduled for the turf, last Sunday’s Cecil B. De Mille, was switched to the main track due to rain.
Saturday’s Hollywood Derby and Sunday’s Matriarch both attracted fields of 12. Six in the Derby and five in the Matriarch shipped in from the East Coast.
“That shows progress,” Jerkens said. “We’re in the third year now and people understand that the meet is here to stay. It’s been embraced by more horsemen and it’s being included in their plans, both here and on the East Coast.”
CLOSERS – The victory aboard Rally Back in Thursday’s nightcap was No. 992 in the career of Chantal Sutherland, who has five opportunities to add to it on the Friday card. Mario Gutierrez, with 991 career wins, has two mounts on Friday. Brice Blanc (991 career) has one more scheduled mount during the meeting on Saturday.
DEL MAR STATISTICS
| Jockey Standings | |||||||
| (Current Through Thursday, December 1, 2016 Inclusive) | |||||||
| Jockey | Mts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Win% | In-money% | Money Won |
| Flavien Prat | 55 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 20% | 58% | $446,287 |
| Norberto Arroyo, Jr. | 65 | 10 | 14 | 6 | 15% | 46% | $430,015 |
| Drayden Van Dyke | 36 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 25% | 42% | $447,573 |
| Victor Espinoza | 25 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 32% | 52% | $343,504 |
| Santiago Gonzalez | 55 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 13% | 40% | $321,255 |
| Tyler Baze | 58 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10% | 36% | $338,519 |
| Joseph Talamo | 41 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 15% | 37% | $324,635 |
| Martin Pedroza | 33 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 18% | 36% | $191,200 |
| Mike Smith | 27 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 22% | 44% | $336,397 |
| Fernando Perez | 47 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 11% | 38% | $213,085 |
| Trainer Standings | |||||||
| (Current Through Thursday, December 1, 2016 Inclusive) | |||||||
| Trainer | Sts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Win% | In-money% | Money Won |
| Peter Miller | 39 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 36% | 62% | $499,213 |
| Doug F. O'Neill | 40 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 18% | 48% | $375,650 |
| Mark Glatt | 22 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 27% | 50% | $198,740 |
| Mike Puype | 24 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 21% | 50% | $144,525 |
| Richard Baltas | 31 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 16% | 35% | $215,725 |
| Jerry Hollendorfer | 23 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 22% | 43% | $212,253 |
| Steven Miyadi | 16 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 25% | 44% | $91,149 |
| Philip D'Amato | 23 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 13% | 35% | $220,440 |
| Bob Baffert | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 22% | 56% | $127,530 |
| Robert B. Hess, Jr. | 18 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11% | 39% | $98,930 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Thursday, December 1, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 34 out of 103 -- 33.01%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 24 out of 67 -- 35.82%
Winning favorites on turf -- 10 out of 36 -- 27.78%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 11 out of 16 -- 68.75%
In-the-Money favorites -- 69 out of 103 -- 66.99%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 15 out of 16 -- 93.75%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793