Jerry Hollendorfer is on a roll here. The Hall of Famer shared the Del Mar summer training title with Peter Miller in 2014 and edged Miller, 22 wins to 20, to claim it outright last year.

 

Phil D’Amato is on a roll in 2016. The 40-year-old who took over the stable of Del Mar’s all-time leader Mike Mitchell in 2014, won the training titles at both the winter and spring Santa Anita meetings. D’Amato saddled 41 winners there for the winter meet; his 25 for the spring meeting, which ended Sunday, was seven more than Bob Baffert.

 

And while past success isn’t necessarily a reliable predictor of the future, it does raise expectations -- which both camps willingly and readily embrace.

 

“We’ve got 50 stalls and they’ll all be running at some point,” Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward said earlier this week. “And some will ship in (from other facilities) and run. We’re looking to have another good meeting here.”

 

Hollendorfer’s stable produced four stakes winners at the Santa Anita Spring meeting – Stays In Vegas (Senorita), I Will Score (Laz Barrera), Wild Dude (Kona Gold) and Songbird (Summertime Oaks).

 

Songbird, the undefeated (8-for-8) Eclipse Award winning 3-year-old filly, will train here for the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24 at Saratoga, an event in which the purse was raised from $300,000 contingent upon her participation. Hollendorfer’s other Santa Anita stakes winners are expected to campaign here.

 

“I’m looking for all my horses to get acclimated and run well down here,” D’Amato said. “If the training title comes, it’s great but that’s not the main thing we’re looking to accomplish.”

 

D’Amato saddled four stakes winners at the Santa Anita spring meeting – Bellamentary (Angels Flight), Enola Gray (Melair), Midnight Storm (Shoemaker Mile) and Hunt (Siren Lure). Midnight Storm is probable for Sunday’s Grade II $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes, which often determines the top turf horse of the meeting.

 

Santa Anita’s turf course was closed while new grass was installed with an eye to the Breeders’ Cup there in the fall. Turf racing will be a prominent feature early in the Del Mar season.

 

“A lot of my turf horses have been sitting on go,” D’Amato said.

 

 

 

When the Southern California thoroughbred racing circuit hits closest to his Carlsbad home – meaning Del Mar in the summer – trainer Peter Miller makes it a point to be ready.

 

“I definitely gear up for this meet,” Miller said Wednesday morning by phone from his nearby San Luis Rey Downs training center headquarters. “Del Mar is the highlight of our racing calendar. It has the best purses, the best racing, the best cachet. “

 

And Del Mar has been a landmark spot for Miller’s continuing success as his runners have racked up more than $1 million in earnings every year since 1966 with a high of just under $6 million in 2015. He claimed the first training title of his career at Del Mar in 2012, swept the 2014 meetings as co-winner with Jerry Hollendorfer in the summer and solo in the inaugural fall season. He was a close-up second at both meetings in 2015.

 

“General prospects are good,” Miller said in a pre-meet assessment for his stable. “I don’t know if I’ll start as many as Phil (D’Amato), Doug (O’Neill) or Jerry (Hollendorfer). But I’ve got  a lot that are ready and hopefully we’ll win our share.”

 

Miller has six representatives on the Opening Day card for Friday, three of them in the featured $100,000 71^st running of the Oceanside Stakes. Miller’s trio is Tristan’s Trilogy, Hollywood Don and Monster Bea.

 

Hollywood Don has two wins in three tries over the Jimmy Durante turf course, the most recent coming in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf last September. The 3-year-old son of Tapit has been unraced since December.

 

“He has been training very well and he’s run well at Del Mar, but he might need a race,” Miller said. “The long term goal with him is the Del Mar Derby (Grade II, $250,000, September 4).

 

Monster Bea has been imported from the Midwest circuit where he was trained by Mark Casse for owner Gary Barber. Tristan’s Trilogy was second in the Singletary at Santa Anita on May 14.

 

 

 

Bob Baffert-trained Moonlight Drive was made the 7-2 favorite on the morning by track oddsmaker Russ Hudak for Friday’s $100,000 Oceanside Stakes at one mile for 3-year-olds on the turf.

 

An Italian-bred son of Red Rocks imported from France, Moonlight Drive was a 3 1/4-length winner in his U.S. debut on February 15 at Santa Anita at the same distance and surface as the Oceanside but has been unraced since.

 

The field, from the rail out: Diplodocus (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1), Moonlight Drive (Rafael Bejarano, 7-2), Imperious One (Jamie Theriot, 15-1), Path of David (Tyler Baze, 12-1), Mishegas (Stewart Elliott, 30-1), Tristan’s Trilogy (Norberto Arroyo Jr.), Ebadan (Santiago Gonzalez, 8-1), Arcature (Flavien Prat, 8-1), Dressed In Hermes (Mike Smith, 9-2), Hollywood Don (Brice Blanc, 6-1), Blackjackcat (Giuseppe Ercegovic, 30-1), Monster Bea (Gary Stevens, 12-1), Mr. Roary (Edwin Maldonado, 15-1), Liam the Charmer (Victor Espinoza, 8-1). Also eligible are: Lauren’s Ladd (Joe Talamo, 15-1), an All the Marbles (Mike Smith, 20-1).

 

 

 

With the close of entries and post position draw still pending Wednesday afternoon, fields of 10 or more were anticipated for both the $75,000 Wickerr Stakes and the Grade II $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap on Saturday’s card.

 

Listed as probable by the Del Mar racing office for the Wickerr, at one mile on turf, were: A Red Tie Day, Cape Wolfe, El Huerfano, Forever Juanito, Itsinthepost, Little Curlin, Montego Bay, Power Ped, Prime Issue, Vyjack and Zinvor.

 

Probable for the Yellow Ribbon, at 1 1/16 miles on turf were: Elektrum, Evo Campo, Fanticola, Finest City, Her Emmynency, Keri Belle, Majestic Heat, Nancy From Nairobi, Prize Exhibit and She’s Not Here.

 

 

CLOSERS – California Chrome’s ETA at Del Mar on the trip down from Los Alamitos was 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Plans are for ‘Chrome to make his first trip around the oval Thursday morning and put in a workout Saturday morning preparatory to the San Diego Handicap on July 23 … Trainer John Sadler said he might “call an audible” and run Hard Aces in the Cougar II Handicap on July 24, but planned to work the San Diego Handicap nominee on Saturday morning in the 7:45-8 time frame when the track will be cleared for California Chrome and other San Diego Handicap horses … Trainer Bob Hess on Del Mar’s status with horsemen: “One win here is worth three anywhere else.” … Through a pretty good connection, former Yankee and Dodger manager turned major league administrator Joe Torre, trainer Bob Baffert was able to attend the Home Run Derby on Monday at Petco Park but passed on the All Star game itself. Torre was a part owner of Game On Dude who was runner-up in the 2012 TVG Pacific Classic and won it in 2013 among many major race victories … Beholder galloped around the track Wednesday morning and will work a mile Sunday, trainer Richard Mandella said.

 

 

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