Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally marked his 84^th birthday on Monday. In a day or two, he is expected to be found at his usual post on the upper-level porch of Barn I in the Del Mar stable area which commands a good view of the track and the horses going through morning workouts.

 

McAnally has been coming to Del Mar since 1946, is headed for his 57^th season as a trainer here, and has been headquartered at the same barn for all of them.

 

The native of Covington, Ky., inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990, was passed by Mike Mitchell as Del Mar’s all-time leader for training wins and remains third on the list with 442 wins coming into Friday’s opening day of the 77^th summer season.

 

Seventy-seven is, coincidentally, the number of stakes wins for McAnally at Del Mar, second only to Bob Baffert (113).

 

Longtime assistant Dan Landers was on site Monday, setting up the office and stables for a dozen horses planned to be campaigned here this summer. Del Mar has also been the summer home for Landers, 66, the son of trainer Dale Landers, who recorded nine Del Mar stakes wins from 1959-1974.

 

“This is where I grew up and I love it down here,” Landers said.

 

In April, Chilean-bred Quick Casablanca provided McAnally with his fourth victory in the San Juan Capistrano, Santa Anita’s grass marathon. A surface switch to the dirt and a start in the Grade III $100,000 Cougar II Handicap at 1 ½ miles on Sunday, July  24, is a possibility for Quick Casablanca.

 

“He won some big races on dirt in South America and the longer the better for him,” Landers said.

 

\Rafael Bejarano, who will be seeking his fifth straight Del Mar summer riding title, and sixth overall, won the crown for the Santa Anita spring meeting, completed Sunday, with 46 victories, six more than Flavien Prat.

 

It was the 15^th title at Santa Anita, 27^th in Southern California and 32^nd overall for Bejarano, a 34-year-old native of Peru. Bejarano won his first Del Mar championship in 2008, notching 45 victories. His string of titles here starting in 2012 were accomplished with win totals of 52, 46, 42 and 39. Bejarano prevailed by nine over Prat at the 2015 summer meeting and won by two, 20-18, over Santiago Gonzalez at the 2015 Bing Crosby fall session.

 

D’Amato, who took over the stable of Del Mar’s all-time leading trainer Mike Mitchell two years ago, won both the winter and spring meet training titles at Santa Anita. He saddled 41 winners in the  winter and 25 in the shorter spring session, topping Bob Baffert by seven in the most recent.

 

D’Amato finished fifth with 14 wins, eight behind Jerry Hollendorfer, for the 2015 summer Del Mar season and second with 13 victories, two behind Doug O’Neill at the Bing Crosby fall meeting.

 

 

 

The close of entries and post position draws for Friday’s  Opening Day card will be conducted Tuesday morning at the backside stable office.

 

The 71^st running of the traditional Opening Day featured Oceanside Stakes drew 34 nominees. It remains to be seen whether the $100,000 one mile turf run for 3-year-olds will be split into divisions – as it was  20 straight times from 1987-2008 – or run as a single entity, as it has been five of the last seven years.

 

Vice President of Racing Tom Robbins and Racing Secretary David Jerkens both consider a split unlikely, there being alternative races for 3-year-olds on Saturday and other days early in the  meeting.

 

With the Friday opener, Tuesday will be the first day for workouts on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. In subsequent weeks, turf workouts will be held on Thursdays and Sundays. The paddock will be open for schooling on Tuesday from 11-11:45 a.m.

 

 

 

Undefeated (8-for-8) 3-year-old filly Songbird and defending TVG Pacific Classic champion Beholder, the reigning Eclipse Award Juvenile Filly and Older Female champions respectively, are both settled in here to prepare for rapidly-approaching major stakes.

 

Songbird, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, dominated a field of five in the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita on June 18, and is headed for the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24 at Saratoga. The purse was raised from $300,000 to $500,000 as incentive for the standout filly’s participation.

 

Songbird worked six furlongs on Saturday at Santa Anita in 1:13.40 and shipped south that evening. She walked the shedrow here on Sunday and was back to the track Monday morning for light exercise.

 

Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward said Songbird would work once here, a day before travelling east. Transportation arrangements are still pending but the trip could be on Tuesday, July 19.

 

“She’s doing great,” Ward said.

 

Beholder journeyed here Monday morning after working seven furlongs on Saturday at Santa Anita in 1:26.20. Her Hall of Fame connections, trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Gary Stevens, were both on hand for her re-acclimation to accustomed Del Mar surroundings. The next serious exercise for the 6-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes, a three-time Eclipse champion, will come either Saturday or Sunday, Mandella said.

 

Beholder is slated for the Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch here on July 30, with Eclipse 3-year-old filly champion Stellar Wind a potential rival. Beholder is being pointed toward a TVG Pacific Classic defense on August 20 which could be a showdown with California Chrome.

 

California Chrome worked seven furlongs at Los Alamitos on Saturday and is scheduled to travel here Wednesday morning. The reigning Dubai World Cup winner and No. 1 ranked in North American polls, California Chrome will stretch his legs over the Del Mar track Thursday morning before trainer Art Sherman and other connections meet the San Diego press. California Chrome will work five furlongs Saturday morning in a special time frame when the track will be cleared for candidates to the $200,000 San Diego Handicap, Chrome’s target race.

 

Sherman heads a Chrome contingent to be guest panelists in the popular Donuts Day event on Saturday morning. Track announcer Trevor Denman will, as usual, emcee.

  

 

CLOSERS – Stellar Wind worked 6 furlongs in 1:14.20 Sunday at Santa Anita with jockey Victor Espinoza up. Stellar Wind was second to Beholder in the Vanity Mile on June 4 at Santa Anita … For the fifth summer in a row, Barretts Sales will conduct a “race ready” racehorse sale at Del Mar, providing opportunities for any and all – from first-time buyers to seasoned horsemen – to be involved in instant ownership and racing action during the summer of 2016. The sale, which will be held on the second Saturday of the meeting – July 23 – will take place in the track’s paddock beginning approximately 20 minutes after the day’s final race. A still-to-be determined number – estimated to be between 35 and 40 -- of runners of all ages will be offered during the session.

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793