By Jim Charvat

Phil D'Amato © Benoit photo

D’AMATO RIDING WAVE OF CONSECUTIVE TRAINING TITLES

A lot goes into being a successful Thoroughbred trainer. You have to be good with the horses. You have to know how to handle the different owners and the media. You must be good at organizing the dozens of employees needed to keep the operation running smoothly and you have to juggle it all with your personal life.

Philip D’Amato appears to have found the right formula, right down to getting his son to golf lessons on time. The 47-year-old Southern California native comes to Del Mar looking to notch his fourth consecutive trainers title having won it last fall, sharing it with Bob Baffert last summer and winning it outright in the fall of 2021.

On top of that, he won both training titles at Santa Anita this past winter and spring and he’s brought the same quality band of horses down to Del Mar this summer. 

“With Del Mar, the money’s great and turf racing is at a premium here,” D’Amato says. “We always try to do our best here. You can tell by the deep fields it’s not going to be easy but we’re going to come out firing.”

He promptly notched his first stakes race by winning the initial stakes of the meet, Friday’s $100,000 Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside Stakes with Conclude.

While D’Amato is not exclusively a grass trainer, he brings a string of impressive turf runners to the table. He’s won 11 graded stakes races so far this year, nine were on the grass and one was taken off-the-turf. The list of his winners is a who’s who of the turf division: Gold Phoenix, Macadamia, Count Again, Earls Rock and Hong Kong Harry. In the past he’s saddled the likes of Going to Vegas, Going Global, Leggs Galore, Midnight Storm, Bowies Hero and Obviously.

He’s done an excellent job of finding the right spots for all of his stars with minimum crossover. All the more impressive when you consider there’s no turf training at Santa Anita or anywhere in Southern California from the time the horses leave Del Mar in the fall until they come back in July.

“I think we’re all on a level playing field,” D’Amato says in regards to having no turf training up at Santa Anita. “I think it helps horses to breeze them on the grass but there are some horses where it doesn’t make a difference. You just have to know which ones.”

D’Amato had his best year ever, in terms of earnings, in 2022. His horses compiled winnings of $11,954,300, eighth best among trainers in the nation. He tallied 125 victories, 23 of those graded stakes, and his horses finished in the money 57% of the time. Many of those were Irish-breds. In fact all six of his graded stakes winners at Del Mar last year were from Ireland. D’Amato believes he has a good mix again this year.

“I think I’ve got plenty of good Irish-breds as well as Kentucky-breds and Cal-breds,” D’Amato says. “We’ve got a nice balanced stable at Del Mar.”

D’Amato has been running horses at Del Mar since 2012 and he wouldn’t be anywhere else come summertime.

“Definitely the change and the weather,” D’Amato says, “and the surroundings, you can’t beat it. The nice beach setting with the cool breezes and the nice lush turf course. A lot of pluses.”

SAME CAST OF JOCKEYS RETURN TO DEL MAR IN 2023

The Del Mar jockey colony has always been one of the most respected groups in racing. From the days of Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron and Eddie Delahoussaye to Kent Desormeaux, Mike Smith and Gary Stevens to the current line-up led by Juan Hernandez, Umberto Rispoli and Ramon Vasquez. Every generation could stand up with the best of the east and Midwest.

This year is no different as the same cast of jockeys that brought you the excitement of last summer are back again for 2023. Unlike last year, when several jockeys moved their tack to Del Mar in hopes of filling the void left by Flavien Prat, this year sees very little change to the jockey colony.

“I think we have a really nice colony of riders,” local riding champ Hernandez says. “Everybody’s nice and they’re good riders here. I like the competition, I like the challenge. In this business of riding horses you always learn something every day and when you have the kind of riders like we have here you can always learn from them.”

Up to 30 jockeys will call Del Mar home this summer including Hall of Famers Smith, Desormeaux and Victor Espinoza. Hector Berrios, Abel Cedillo, Joe Bravo, Edwin Maldonado and Kyle Frey all finished in the Top 10 in the jockey standings last summer and all return to the seaside oval again this year.

“We have a lot of calls coming in for the first weekend,” Maldonado says. “I’m very excited. I think this could be my best meet at Del Mar.”

Only one of the top 20 jockeys from last summer will not be back to ride at the Del Mar in 2023. Ryan Curatolo, who finished last summer with eight victories, suffered a broken collarbone earlier this year and returned to his home in France to recuperate. Otherwise, everyone is returning to take their best shot at Hernandez who captured the 2022 summer jockey title with 49 victories.

A notable addition to this year’s colony is Assael Espinoza, Espinoza’s nephew. He’s another rider hoping to make the transition from Northern to Southern California, the same path taken by his uncle as well as established riders Joel Rosario and Hernandez.

Espinoza is no stranger to Del Mar. He rode here as an apprentice beginning in the fall of 2018 before moving his tack to Golden Gate Fields in November of 2020. He won the jockey title at the recently concluded winter/spring meet with 93 wins.

Yet another newcomer to the clan is Antonio Fresu, who won races at the recent Santa Anita meet and brings a well-respected resume from Europe

Ramon Vasquez knows what it’s like joining the very competitive jockey colony here. Last year was his first riding full time at Del Mar and he broke through with 24 victories.

“Now people know me more than last year,” Vasquez says. “I’m so happy. The owners and the trainers support me. I think every jockey wants to be at a track like Del Mar.”

SEVEN LINEUP FOR ENDURANCE TEST IN G3 COUGAR II SUNDAY

Long distance runners take center stage in the Sunday feature at Del Mar, the G3 Cougar II. Seven are entered to run in the mile-and-a-half dirt marathon but only two have won at the distance.

Kiss Today Goodbye is the morning line favorite. The 6-year-old son of Cairo Prince is one of those who has never attempted the distance. His best race to date is a win in the G2 San Antonio at Santa Anita back in 2020. He was 15-1 that day. Since then he’s run against the likes of Knicks Go, Express Train and Defunded but his best outing was a runner-up finish to Azul Coast in the 2021 Native Diver at Del Mar.

Azul Coast is also in this race. The last time he tried the mile-and-a-half he finished 59 lengths behind Cupid’s Claws and Tizamagician in the 2020 G3 Tokyo City at Santa Anita. But trainer Bob Baffert says he’s running the son of Super Saver more out of necessity…

“There’s really not a lot of spots to run him in,” Baffert says. “It was ether do this or run him in the San Diego and we have Defunded in there. We’ll see how he does; it’s a lot to ask off a layoff but he’s been training really well and he has class.

“He looks great,” Baffert continues. “We gave him a little freshening and he always runs well fresh.”

Azul Coast last ran in November during the Del Mar fall meet when he finished second to Defunded in the G3 Native Diver, a race he won in 2021.

That was the last time Azul Coast won a race. He’s only run four times since as trainer Baffert has taken a patient approach for owners Pegram & Watson & Weitman.

One of the horses to win at the distance is Rimprotector, a 4-year-old son of Point of Entry. The race was an entry level allowance on the tapeta at Golden Gate Fields last November. He has yet to return to the winners circle and has not run on the dirt since last summer at Del Mar. He’s trained by Tim McCanna, one of the several Northern California trainers who have brought a string of horses south to Del Mar this summer.

Rimprotector has been running long distances but on the turf. He finished fifth in the 1 ½ mile G3 San Luis Rey in May and then third in the 1 ¾ mile San Juan Capistrano in June.

Kitten Mischief is also a grass runner, shipping-in with the Jonathan Thomas barn. The son of Into Mischief has raced at Tampa Bay Downs, the Meadowlands, Keeneland and Turfway Park.

“He’s very professional,” assistant trainer Emmitt Jolley says of the son of Into Mischief. “He’s a good training horse in the mornings and a pretty straightforward horse in the afternoons.”

Kitten Mischief won at the 1 ½ mile distance, on the grass at Gulfstream Park in January, then finished 3^rd in a second level allowance also at the mile-and-a-half.

“The distance is the key,” Jolley says. “It’s difficult to find him a race that long on the turf out east. He’s probably a little better on the turf but he trains great on the dirt, too. We’d be happier if it were turf but dirt’s fine.”

The 72^nd running of the G3 Cougar II is the sixth race on the 11-race Sunday card. Approximate post time is 4 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and morning line odds: Azul Coast (Juan Hernandez, 3-1); Bye Bye Bobby (Mike Smith, 6-1); Rimprotector (Kyle Frey, 5-1); Kiss Today Goodbye (Hector Berrios, 5-2); Ghazaaly (Armando Aguilar, 6-1); Order and Law (Kent Desormeaux, (8-1) and Kitten Mischief (Joe Bravo, 4-1).

COOLING OUT: Trainer Phil D’Amato reports his top two finishers in the Friday’s Oceanside Stakes came out of the race in good order. As for what’s next. “We have two nice options,” D’amato says, “the La Jolla and the Del Mar Derby. We’ll see if we might make both or just run in one. We’ll let them tell us”...57-year-old Mike Smith won the first race of the meet, guiding Settecento to victory. It was his first of two wins on the day. The elder statesman of the Del Mar jockey colony hopped on a plane Friday night bound for New Jersey to ride Geaux Rocket Ride* in the G1 Haskell at Monmouth Park Saturday. He’s expected back at Del Mar to ride the Sunday card…The first big payout of the meet came in the third race when longshot Firsttimeinforever (28-1) outdueled Bolt’s Broad (32-1). The winner, out of the Leonard Powell barn, paid $58.60 and the $2 exacta paid $988.20…Trainer Doug O’Neill posted an Opening Day triple…Notable works Saturday: Dirt – Dicey Mo Chara (4f, 49.40); Queen ofthe Temple (4f, 49.60); Skinner (4f, 48.80); Stilleto Boy (4f, 48.20); The Chosen Vron (4f, 47.40); Defunded (5f, 59.40); Dr Schivel (5f, 59.20) and Piroli (5f, 1:00.00). 251 horses posted official workouts Saturday morning.

Del Mar Statistics

 Jockey Standings
(Current Through Friday, July 21, 2023 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings
(Current Through Friday, July 21, 2023 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Friday, July 21, 2023 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 2 out of 10 -- 20.00%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 1 out of 6 -- 16.67%
Winning favorites on turf -- 1 out of 4 -- 25.00%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 0 out of 1 -- 0.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 5 out of 10 -- 50.00%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 0 out of 1 -- 0.00%

*previous version mistakenly listed Arabian Knight