Doug O'Neill © Benoit Photo
DAY 2
O’NEILL, HOLLENDORFER, HARPER AGREE: NOT BAD FOR OPENERS
Del Mar’s 79th summer season opening day was a very good one on the track for trainers Doug O’Neill and Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and on-track, for Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper.
O’Neill won four of the first five races, to move within one of the track single-day record he set on July 29, 2015. And off-the-board results with six runners in the next four races did not, of course, affect O’Neill’s unfailing enthusiasm.
“Just an incredible feeling,” O’Neill texted Wednesday night. “The energy was so high at Del Mar and our barn got some really great rides and lucky trips in some compact, large fields.
“I feel very grateful to have had four wins on such an amazing day!”
Hollendorfer saddled three winners. Seventy-five percent of the number O’Neill recorded on the day and 60 percent of the stable’s win total during the entire 2017 summer meeting.
“We do the same amount of work whether we’re 5-for-75 or 3-for-6,” said Hollendorfer’s assistant trainer Dan Ward. “So things are looking up. If we can win two this weekend, we’ll have won as many as we did all last year.”
Harper, who has experienced opening days since becoming a DMTC executive in 1977, expressed delight Thursday morning with the latest one. “Manageable crowd (33,112), amazing handle ($16,131,880 all-sources, up 14 percent from 2017) and a wonderful card put together by the racing office,” Harper said.
The handle was the second highest for an opening day behind the $16,500,914 of 2016. The 2016 opener was on a Friday.
“All in all, an excellent day,” Harper said.
A CLOSER LOOK FROM AN INSIDER: TEAM O’NEILL
Trainer Doug O’Neill’s four victories on Wednesday were produced by Popular Kid ($8.20) in the first race, Jimmy Chila ($7.00) in the second, Dichotomy ($5.40) in the fourth and Ann Arbor Eddie ($20.00) in the fifth.
Rafael Bejarano got the ball rolling aboard Popular Kid in the first, Mario Gutierrez kept it going for the next three, with the most surprising being Ann Arbor Eddie (9-1), a 4-year-old gelding who hadn’t won in over a year and was 0-for-9 with two third-place finishes in that stretch. Runner-up efforts at Santa Anita in May and early June led to a fourth-place finish, albeit with an improved Beyer speed figure, a month ago that made Wednesday’s effort somewhat less surprising to Team O’Neill than it was to the bettors.
“We’ve been waiting for him to give us one good race like yesterday,” O’Neill assistant Leandro Mora said. “The last race he ran we were a little bit disappointed because we expected the type of race he ran yesterday.
“He’s been working well, he’s a good horse, and he finally got his way. And it was a great ride by Mario (Gutierrez). He rode three winners yesterday and he was all smiles, just like the rest of us.”
A CLOSER LOOK FROM AN INSIDER: TEAM HOLLENDORFER
Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s three opening-day wins came with Eighty Three ($10.60), Shivermetimbers ($4.40) and Brill ($3.40), the latter as the 7-10 favorite making her racing debut in an event for 2-year-old fillies with a field rife with candidates for juvenile stakes in the near future.
A $1 million purchase at the Fasig-Tipton July sale last year, Brill came from off the pace to win by 1 ¼ lengths going away in a time of :57.86 for five furlongs, nearly two seconds faster than a similar event three races earlier.
Brill is short for brilliant.
“That’s what the owner (Lawrence Best) said a long time ago before we knew she could run,” Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward said Thursday morning. “The thing about her is you could see in the paddock that she’s very classy. Nothing bothers her and that’s a big plus…
“When the bigger races, the stakes, come up, usually you’ve got a lot of horses that have gone wire-to-wire. You’re looking for one that can set off the pace and she’s already done that.
“She’s really classy and nice to work with. Kind of reminds you of Songbird. She was the same way.”
Hollendorfer-trained Eclipse Award winner Unique Bella worked six furlongs Thursday morning in a bullet 1:11.80. Battle of Midway went five furlongs in :48.40 in his first work since returning to training after an unsuccessful career as a stallion.
Unique Bella is being targeted for the $300,000 Grade I Clement L. Hirsch on July 29. Being as early as he is in his racing return, Battle of Midway is unlikely to be ready to run during the meeting.
Brill may next be seen in the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on September 1. Two-year-old colt Instagrand, an impressive recent debut winner, is being aimed for the $200,000 Grade II Best Pal on August 11.
ACCELERATE A STRONG FAVORITE IN SAN DIEGO HANDICAP
Defending race champion Accelerate was made the 8-5 favorite in a field of 10 for Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 San Diego Handicap on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for the major prep for the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on Saturday, August 18.
Bob Baffert’s Dr. Dorr is the second choice at 5-1 and the competitive nature of the event beyond Accelerate, who has Grade I wins in the Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup at Santa Anita this year, is two horses listed at 6-1 and three at 8-1 on the morning line.
Trainer Richard Baltas’ Two Thirty Five is one of those at 6-1.
“He’s a rapidally improving horse,” Baltas said Thursday morning. “He got a 104 Beyer his last time out. He’s 3-for-4 going long, so we’ll give it a shot. Hopefully he’ll be able to sit right behind the speed and then make a run.”
The field from the rail: Catalina Cruiser (Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1), Dr. Dorr (Joe Talamo, 5-1), Sharp Samurai (Gary Stevens, 6-1), Two Thirty Five (Franklin Ceballos, 6-1), Curlin Rules (Tyler Baze, 20-1), Prince of Arabia (Stewart Elliott, 20-1), Accelerate (Victor Espinoza, 8-5), El Huerfano (Tyler Conner, 20-1), Dabster (Flavien Prat, 8-1) and Harlan Punch (Martin Pedroza, 8-1).
MS BAD BEHAVIOR GETS GOOD MARK ON THE MORNING LINE
Ms Bad Behavior, one of three representatives from the stable of trainer Richard Baltas, was tabbed the 9-2 morning line favorite in Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 San Clemente Stakes.
A capacity field of 14 was entered for the mile turf test for 3-year-old fillies. In addition to Ms Bad Behavior, Baltas will saddle Flammetta (12-1), and Dulce Ride (20-1).
“Ms Bad Behavior is coming off a (three-month) layoff and she should run well,” Baltas said.”Flammetta is getting better and better and she’s stretching out after (two wins) down the hill at Santa Anita. And Dulce Ride just broke her maiden so she’s short on seasoning, but I like her a lot.
“We have three nice fillies, so we’re in good position in that race.”
Ms Bad Behavior, a 3-year-old daughter of Blame, has two wins and two seconds in four 2018 starts and career earnings of $182,640. One win came in the $81,000 China Doll Stakes in March at Santa Anita.
The field from the rail: Rockin Ready (Joe Talamo, 8-1), Ms Bad Behavior (Kent Desormeaux, 9-2), Flammetta (Geovanni Franco, 12-1), Miss Sienna (Mike Smith, 5-1), Ahimsa (Evin Roman, 30-1), Dulce Ride (Rafael Bejarano, 20-1), Streak of Luck (Kyle Frey, 30-1), Animosity (Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1), West Palm Beach (Flavien Prat, 6-1), War Heroine (Tyler Baze, 6-1), Pursuing The Dream (Victor Espinoza, 20-1), Lexington Grace (Gary Stevens, 15-1), Ms Peintour (Stewart Elliott, 20-1) and Ollie’s Candy (Corey Nakatani, 6-1).
TRUE VALOUR BRINGS INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR TO EDDIE READ
Qatar Racing’s True Valour, a 4-year-old, Irish-bred son of Kodiac, arrived stateside Thursday and was entered for Sunday’s Grade II $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes, which often determines the turf champion of the meeting.
John Murtagh, retired from a career as one of the top jockeys in Europe, trains True Valour and Jamie Spencer, currently one of Europe’s top riders, will ship in for the mount.
True Valour ventures over the Atlantic off a victory in the Group III Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland on June 14. He posted third-place finishes in Group III races at Leopardstown and Epsom in June.
“It’s a pleasant surprise,” Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens said of True Valour’s entry in the Read. “We offer world class racing and it’s always good to get the support from overseas.
“It will also add a new dimension to the turf division. It can get to the point where a lot of the same horses run in the grass stakes and it’s always nice to see a new horse or two.”
The plan is for True Valour to stay in the U.S. and go to the stable of trainer Simon Callaghan.
CLOSERS -- Owner/trainer Mick Ruis has announced that 2017 Del Mar Futurity winner Bolt d’Oro and 2016 Del Mar Debutante winner Union Strike will be turned over to Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for further campaigning. Bolt d’Oro, who won the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita via disqualification and finished second to Justify in the Santa Anita Derby and 12th in the Kentucky Derby, is on a 60-day R&R at Ruis’ farm in Kentucky but should be ready to start jogging in two weeks, Ruis said via text … Selected works from 172 officially timed Thursday morning: Battle of Midway (4f, :48.40), Hunt (4f, :49.80), Owning (4f, :49.40), Hoppertunity (5f, :1:04.20), Unique Bella (6f, 1:11.80) … Trainer Doug O’Neill has started 21 different two-year-olds in southern California this year and has seven more entered on cards here over the next three days. Seven of the 21 have won, among them Dichotomy on Wednesday.