ACCELERATE SET TO RAMP UP FOR CLASSIC WITH SAN DIEGO PREP
Remember Accelerate?
How could any Del Mar follower forget?
The now 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky, trained by John Sadler for Hronis Racing LLC, shocked the racing world a year ago, winning the San Diego Handicap by 8 ½ lengths while super horse (to that point) Arrogate struggled home fourth at odds of 1-9. A month later, Accelerate pressed the pace of wire-to-wire winner Collected in the Pacific Classic before being passed late by Arrogate.
Accelerate is back to defend his title in the Grade II $200,000 San Diego on Saturday to continue a 2018 campaign which has already produced victories in the Santa Anita Handicap in March and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in May.
There was a lot of buzz about Lava Man in 2006 when he arrived with victories in the Big Cap and then-Hollywood Gold Cup. The 5-year-old former claimer created quite a sensation winning the Pacific Classic to complete the sweep of California’s biggest handicaps in one year.
Times have changed, however. The $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap gets passed over frequently by horses headed to the $6 million Dubai World Cup. The $500,000 Gold Cup can get lost in the wake of the Triple Crown series with its spot nearing the end of the long Santa Anita meeting. The TVG Pacific Classic is now the only $1 million race of the three major Southern California circuit handicap events.
`It’s the way of the world,” Sadler said Tuesday when asked if he felt Accelerate was underappreciated. “But he’s doing great and we’ve got a lot more planned for him in the second half of the year. From the Pacific Classic to all the way into the fall.”
Accelerate has seven wins, five seconds and five thirds in 19 career starts and earnings of more than $1.7 million. He carried 117 in the San Diego in 2017 but is high-weighted at 125 this year.
“He’s been rock solid, he hasn’t run a bad race, going against the tough guys in Grade I and Grade II stakes,” Sadler said. “So we’re looking forward to the San Diego.”
In addition to the Big ‘Cap and Gold Cup, Accelerate has a win in the Grade II San Pasqual at Santa Anita and a second in the Grade II Oaklawn Handicap in 2018. He’s finished off the board only once in his last nine starts, all at the Grade Stakes level. Victor Espinoza has been aboard for seven of his last eight starts.
Entries will close and post positions will be drawn on Wednesday for the 77th running of the San Diego.
AND THE RACING SECRETARY AWARD OF APPRECIATION GOES TO …
Trainer Doug O’Neill has entered 12 horses on the 10-race card for Opening Day on Wednesday.
“I don’t know for sure if it’s a record for us, but if it isn’t, it’s very close,” O’Neill said Tuesday morning. “There were times at Hollywood Park when we entered, or ran close to that many.
“We’re excited. We’ve got a lot of horses ready and the right kind of races came up at the right time. I hope there’s a couple winners in there. I think there are a few live ones of the 12 we have in there.”
O’Neill set the Del Mar single-day training record on July 29, 2015 when he saddled five winners, bettering the previous four-win efforts of Red McDaniel, Farrell Jones, Ron McAnally, Jack Van Berg and John Sadler.
Of the 12, three are owned in partnerships by San Diego-based Great Friends Stable, headed by sports radio hosts Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith and Del Mar Chief Marketing Officer Craig Dado.
The horses are Popular Kid (3-1) and Preacher Roe (9-2) in the first race and Lucky Staxx (15-1) in the third.
“We’ve got 10 overall,” Dado said of Great Friends. “We’ve got the three on opening day. We’ve got a 2-year-old named Mason Dixon we’re hoping will develop and a couple of others that are at the allowance/stakes level.
“Six weeks ago we had zero horses and now we’ve got 10. So we’ve been pretty active at the claim box and sales. It should be a fun year.”
BAFFERT (WHO ELSE?) DOMINATES FUTURITY NOMINATIONS
Under the premise that it’s never too early to think about the season-ending Del Mar Futurity ($300,000, Grade I, September 3), the initial nominations list was perused recently. With the possibility of a few mailed in nominations arriving after the June 15 deadline, the names of 210 two-year-olds were on the list at a cost of $300 each.
And, by unofficial count, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert was the trainer of record for 50 of them.
The next-highest number of nominees went to Doug O’Neill (26), who was followed by Richard Mandella (17), Jerry Hollendorfer (15) and Peter Miller (10) among those hitting double figures in prospects.
Baffert has won the Futurity a record 13 times, stringing together seven in a row from 1996-2002 with the most famous being American Pharoah (2014), who went on to end a 37-year Triple Crown drought the following year.
There’s no telling which of the 50 will emerge as the best of the 2018 bunch, but Baffert has pointed out one recently. Ambushed by a TMZ reporter as he was entering a trendy Hollywood restaurant and asked about the next possible American Pharoah or Justify, he replied: “Roadster,” a roan colt owned by Speedway Stable who is, indeed, one of the 50 on the list.
Roadster has a string of 12 workouts toward his debut, the most recent this morning here when he went five furlongs in 1:01.00, sixth-best of 28 at the distance.
Of O’Neill’s 26, seven are owned outright and one in partnership by major client J. Paul Reddam. Mandella’s 17 come from clients like Don Alberto Racing, Wertheimer and Frere, Godolphin and Spendthrift Farm. Rockingham Ranch owns five of Miller’s 10, Kaleem Shah owns three of the seven nominees from Simon Callaghan and Hronis Racing is involved with four of five nominated by John Sadler.
San Diego native Mick Ruis, who won the 2017 Futurity with Bolt d’Oro, nominated five – C Falls, Drink To That, Kneedeepinsnow, Montana Moon and Popcorn For Eddie.
CALIFORNIA CHROME’S FULL BROTHER STEPS UP IN OCEANSIDE
Faversham comes into the traditional Opening Day featured Oceanside Stakes after breaking his maiden in his seventh career start on June 21 at Santa Anita. The victory came at the Oceanside distance of one mile on the grass.
Not bad by most standards. But Faversham also carries the burden of expectations inherent as a full brother (Lucky Pulpit-Love the Chase) of California Chrome.
“A lot of weight on him,” said trainer Art Sherman, not in reference to the 118 Faversham will carry in the Oceanside.
“He was a late foal and he’s maturing and getting a little weight on him and getting a lot better. I’ve noticed that he’s training a lot stronger and I think the second half of the year he’s going to be a stronger horse.”
Faversham, bred by Chrome connections Perry Martin and Steve Coburn and owned by Martin, made his racing debut in January and has raced once a month since then. Prior to the win at Santa Anita, his best results had been runner-up efforts in his debut and in a maiden race in March, the latter via disqualification.
“His last race at Santa Anita was really good and he really brought it down the lane,” Sherman said. “He comes from behind. He doesn’t have the speed to lay up close like his brother and with 14 head in the race, he’s going to have to get lucky to get through the traffic.
“But he’s training very well and I think he’ll do well if he has a clean trip.”
The only time California Chrome ran on the grass was in the 2014 Hollywood Derby here during the inaugural Bing Crosby Fall meeting. He defeated the standout filly Lexie Lou in a race that proved decisive to Eclipse Award voters who made ‘Chrome the 2014 Horse of the Year.
The Oceanside from the rail out: Arawak (Gary Stevens, 6-1), Texas Wedge (Flavien Prat, 9-2), Pepe Tono (Alonso Quinonez, 20-1), Artie B Good (Stewart Elliott, 20-1), Desert Stone (Corey Nakatani, 4-1), Shane Zain (Mario Gutierrez, 20-1), Restrainedvengence (Evin Roman, 20-1), Faversham (Joe Talamo, 15-1), MoveOver (Tyler Baze, 6-1), Calexman (Geovanni Franco, 12-1), Heartfullofstars (Santiago Gonzalez, 20-1), Afleet Ascent (Kent Desormeaux, 8-1), Respect the Hustle (Tyler Conner, 30-1) and More Honor (Tiago Pereira, 20-1). Also eligible: Risky Proposition (Joe Talamo, 20-1). Scratched to run Thursday was Soltero.
CLOSERS – Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, who turned 86 on July 11, was at his familiar spot on the balcony of Barn I in the stable area with a good view of the workouts. McAnally has been coming to Del Mar since 1948 – 70 years, but who’s counting. McAnally, second in stakes wins at Del Mar with 77 to Bob Baffert’s 124, and third for total wins with 445, recently recovered from surgery for a broken ankle … The number of daily workouts compared to the equivalent morning in 2017 continues to be on the plus side. On the eve of the 2017 meeting, 78 horses worked. Tuesday the total was 102.