Maximum Security © Zoe Metz Photography
MAXIMUM SECURITY WORKS FOR SAN DIEGO HANDICAP; RIDER NEEDED
In his final work before next Saturday’s $150,000 Grade II San Diego Handicap, Eclipse Award winner and presumptive race favorite Maximum Security went five furlongs in :59.60 Saturday morning for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and owners Gary and Mary West of Rancho Santa Fe.
It was the second-fastest of 86 works officially timed at the distance. United, nominated to and the likely favorite for next Sunday’s $200,000 Grade II Eddie Read Stakes, went five furlongs in :58.80 for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and owners LNJ Foxwoods.
Arriving at the track for the 6:30 a.m. session, with exercise rider Juan Ochoa in the irons, Maximum Security spotted workmate Dark Prince several lengths at the start and made up the difference efficiently, finishing just before a fog bank settled to obscure visibility for a while.
“He worked very nice,” Baffert said. “He looks great and I’m very happy with him. He’s such a class horse. Now I have to find a jockey because my guy tested positive. That’s the next deal.”
Baffert, and the rest of the racing world, learned Friday that jockey Luis Saez, aboard for the son of New Year’s Day’s last seven starts, had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Saez was informed of the result after riding the second race at Keeneland. Saez, Martin Garcia and Victor Espinoza had been in close proximity at Los Alamitos and now have all tested positive. Espinoza took off three scheduled mounts here on the opening day card Friday.
Also working Saturday morning for Baffert was Kentucky Derby candidate Authentic. With Ochoa aboard, the son of Into Mischief owned by Spendthrift Farm and Starlight Racing went five furlongs in :59.80, third fastest at the distance, in preparation for shipping to Monmouth Park in New Jersey for next Saturday’s $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes.
“He worked well, looks very strong,” Baffert said of the colt who’s only blemish in four career starts was a runner-up to Honor A.P. in the Santa Anita Derby. “I am set (for Saturday on two coasts),” Baffert said.
RISPOLI TAKES TO DEL MAR LIKE MICHAELANGELO TO CEILING PAINTING
The saying goes that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
So Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli made the most of the opportunity provided by his racing debut at Del Mar on Friday, winning three races on the opening day card. The 31-year-old international veteran won the first race of the meeting aboard Secret Touch ($6.00), scored again with Maxim Rate ($8.40) in the seventh, and then capped the day with a masterful ride on Hit the Road ($5.20) in the featured $100,000 Runhappy Oceanside Stakes.
In a phone conversation Saturday morning Rispoli estimated, probably conservatively, that he’d raced at around 50 tracks in his career, on nearly every continent. He’d had some good openers before, most notably January of 2011 in Japan. But Del Mar ranks with any. After the race he said California in general, and Del Mar specifically, “Feels like home.”
As in San Sevarino, Marche, Italy? Rispoli laughed.
“People ask me where’s home and I say, ‘All around the world.’ I’ve been a globe trotter my whole life.”
Rispoli had experienced tracks hard by the sea before in Italy and France. At one, “We could stay at the beach all day because we raced at night.” But he did get a good feeling about Del Mar during an introductory riding session Thursday and was, literally, off and running when the meeting started.
“I was lucky to ride what I knew was a very good horse in the first race,” Rispoli said. “You try your best every race, but you win the first one and then you have more focus, more concentration the rest of the day.”
He’d heard a lot about Del Mar and especially opening day here. His first opportunity to impress came before an empty grandstand but thousands watching on televisions, computers and phones. He made the most of it.
“It’s a good day for me,” Rispoli said.
RUIS RELISHES OPPORTUNITY FOR A REMATCH IN SUNDAY’S OSUNITAS
There are five other entrants, but also no denying that one interesting aspect of Sunday’s featured $65,000 Osunitas Stakes is the rematch of Super Patriot and Sedamar.
They finished 1-2 in the $100,000 Fran’s Valentine, a similar one mile turf test, on June 6 at Santa Anita with Super Patriot, trained by Richard Baltas, passing Shelbe Ruis-trained Sedamar in the stretch to win by 1 ¾ lengths.
“Super Patriot beat us pretty easily,” Ruis said. “But we were coming off a (five-month) layoff, and she was maybe one work short. She’s a lot fitter now.”
The 5-year-old mare Super Patriot and 4-year-old filly Sedamar are both California breds with commendable records on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Super Patriot has a 3-1-2 record from seven starts, Sedamar 3-1-1 from five.
The field from the rail: Super Patriot (Flavien Prat, 8-5); Don’t Blame Judy (Abel Cedillo, 8-1); Ziarah (Frank Alvarado, 4-1); Meal Ticket (Tiago Pereira, 12-1), Desert Oasis (TBD, 8-1); Cordiality (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1), and Sedamar (Brice Blanc, 7-2).
NOMINATIONS CLOSE FOR MAJOR STAKES NEXT WEEKEND
Nominations closed Thursday for the first graded stakes of the meeting, the $150,000 Grade II San Diego Handicap a week from today and the $200,000 Grade II Eddie Read on Sunday, July 19.
The San Diego, a 1 1/16-mile main track test that often serves as a prep for the TVG Pacific Classic, attracted nine nominees, among them defending Pacific Classic champion Higher Power and Eclipse Award winning Maximum Security.
The Eddie Read, a 1 1/8-mile turf event that often determines the top grass horse of the meeting, also attracted nine, among them defending race champion Bowie’s Hero.
Two horses – Combatant and Sharp Samurai – were nominated to both races, leaving the connections for both with decisions to make regarding the best day and surface for their runners. Combatant is owned by Hronis Racing and trained by Juan Leyva. Mark Glatt trains Sharp Samurai and is part owner with Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal.
Combatant won the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap in March but was a no-factor 10th of 13 with a wide trip in the Oaklawn Handicap in May. The 5-year-old son of Scat Daddy is winless in eight races on the turf, but has four wins in 17 starts on dirt and career earnings of $1,033,998.
Sharp Samurai has accounted for all but $20,000 of his $841,270 career earnings via seven wins in 16 turf starts. The 6-year-old son of First Samurai finished second in the 2018 Eddie Read and fourth, beaten 2 ½ lengths by Bowie’s Hero last year.
The San Diego Handicap nominees in alphabetical order with weights in parenthesis : Ax Man (118), Combatant (121), Dark Vader (118), Higher Power (122), Improbable (123), Maximum Security (127), Midcourt (122), Restrainedvengence (118) and Sharp Samurai (119).
CLOSERS – Selected works from 203 officially timed Saturday morning: Cezanne (4f, :47.80), Collusion Illusion (4f, :49.40), Smooth Like Strait (4f, :48.40), Ce Ce (5f, 1:00.00), Combatant (5f, 1:00.00), Higher Power (6f, 1:12.20). Clocker Toby Turrell’s comment on reigning TVG Pacific Classic champion Higher Power: “Clicked off 12-second quarters all the way and looked comfortable doing it.”