Drefong © Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
STELLAR FIELD OF 11 ENTERED FOR SATURDAY’S GRADE I BING CROSBY
What could be considered, until further notice, the Top 10-plus one fastest horses on the grounds were entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 72nd running of the Grade I, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes.
The first Grade I event of the summer season, with five more to come, is contested at six furlongs, generally determines the meeting’s sprint division champion, and this year is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1.5 million TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on November 4.
Drefong, the defending champion in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, tops the entries. The 4-year-old son of Gio Ponti, owned by Baoma Corporation, will be making his first since the nearly wire-to-wire effort in the Sprint on November 5 at Santa Anita. Drefong has been working strongly for the comeback, including three straight bullet works, two at Santa Anita preceding a six-furlong (the Crosby distance) drill in 1:11.2 on July 19. Tuesday, he drilled a half-mile in :47.60.
Adding intrigue to the event is the comebacking Big Macher and Santa Anita graded sprint stakes winners Denman’s Call and Ransom the Moon.
Big Macher won the Crosby in 2014 and has competed in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint two of the past three years. The seven-year-old California-bred son of Beau Genius trained by Richard Baltas returned from a 19-month layoff to win the ungraded Thor’s Echo at Santa Anita on June 11.
Denman’s Call, trained by Doug O’Neill, won the $400,000 Grade I Triple Bend at seven furlongs in March at Santa Anita and is back in Southern California after an unsuccessful go at the Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park in New York.
Ransom the Moon, trained by Phil D’Amato, won the 6 ½-furlong Grade II Kona Gold on May 20 for trainer Phil D’Amato by 2 ¼ lengths over fellow Crosby entrant Moe Candy.
The field from the rail: Denman’s Call (Tyler Baze), Drefong (Mike Smith), St. Joe Bay (Kent Desormeaux), Ransom the Moon (Flavien Prat), Big Macher (Rafael Bejarano), Magic Taste (Tiago Pereira), Coastline (Jamie Theriot), Roy H (Paco Lopez), Solid Wager (Joe Talamo), Kobe’s Back (Gary Stevens) and Moe Candy (Victor Espinoza).
ACCELERATE, ARROGATE ARE BACK ON TRACK
Accelerate and Arrogate, the winner and astonishingly fourth-place finisher in Saturday’s $300,000 TVG San Diego Handicap, both returned to the track Wednesday morning after being given three days of walking exercise to recover from the 1 1/16 mile run.
Both trainer John Sadler (Accelerate) and Bob Baffert (Arrogate) said their horses came out of the race well physically and were ready for the routine jogs around the oval to begin preparing for next starts. Baffert said he’s sticking to the plan to run Arrogate in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 19. Sadler has yet to decide what’s next for Accelerate, a two-time conqueror of the world’s No. 1 ranked runner.
MEMORIAL FOR AGENT IVAN PUHICH SET FRIDAY
A memorial service for jockey agent Ivan Puhich is scheduled for Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Paddock Tavern.
Puhich, who represented riders at tracks throughout the West Coast in a more than 60-year-career, died June 19 in San Diego of what was described as “age related infirmities.” Puhich was 89.
Trainer John Sadler, who is organizing the event, said jockey Tyler Baze, Puhich’s nephew Mike and owner Mike Pegram are likely to join him as speakers during the ceremonies which will also include visual tributes to the colorful and beloved racetracker.
A veteran of World War II serving in the South Pacific, Puhich began working as a jockey agent in the 1950s and continued to do so through the early parts of the present decade. Puhich gained national recognition in 2012 as the representative for Mario Gutierrez when Gutierrez won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on I’ll Have Another.
“I first met him in 1979 at Golden Gate Fields,” Sadler said. “He had Bill Mahorney and Ivan befriended me and we remained friends for the rest of his life. Just a great old racetrack character. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people who want to be there and give him a nice sendoff.”
Puhich was instrumental in the early development of Baze, who won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice jockey in 2000, and would be associated with a number of other riders, apprentices and veterans, over the years.
McANALLY BOUNCES BACK FROM A FALL
Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally was back at his stable office Wednesday morning, three days after taking a tumble that required an overnight hospital stay.
McAnally, was in attendance at a party at the Solana Beach home of Pamplemousse Grill owner Jeffrey Strauss after the races Sunday night when a knee, surgically repaired a few years ago, gave out on him.
“I turned the wrong way on it, went down and hit my head on the concrete,” McAnally, 85, said. “When I was laying there on the ground, they asked me how I felt and I said, ‘About like Bob Baffert felt when (Arrogate) ran the other day,” McAnally said. “Even Baffert got a laugh out of that.”
McAnally was taken away on a stretcher and spent about a day and a half in a hospital undergoing tests and observations. Results were negative, clearing McAnally to return to the track where he’s been a regular since 1948.
McAnally was No. 3 on Del Mar’s all-time trainer wins list to start the season, his 444 behind only Mike Mitchell (476) and Baffert (466) and No. 2 on the stakes-winning trainer roll with 77 to Baffert’s 121.
CLOSERS – Selected works from 270 officially timed in the last three days. Monday – Longstocking (4f, :46.60), Bendable (5f, :58.60), The Street Fighter (6f, 1:11.60). Tuesday – Battle of Midway (4f, :48.80), Drefong (4f, :47.60), Medaglia Gold (4f, :46.80), Skye Diamonds (4f, :48.60), Vale Dori (4f, :47.00), Taylor and Burton (5f, :59.20). Wednesday -- Longden (4f, :47.40), Songbird (4f, :48.60), Midnight Storm (5f, 1:01.40), Noted and Quoted (5f, 1:00.00), Collected (6f, 1:12.20), Diamondsandpearls (6f, 1:13.40) and Saldamente (6f, 1:12.00).
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Sunday, July 23, 2017 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Rafael Bejarano |
27 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
26% |
41% |
$289,435 |
|
Evin Roman |
32 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
19% |
47% |
$253,260 |
|
Flavien Prat |
27 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
22% |
67% |
$394,881 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
22 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
23% |
55% |
$259,615 |
|
Tyler Baze |
28 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
11% |
43% |
$188,850 |
|
Joseph Talamo |
20 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15% |
40% |
$119,130 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
13 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
15% |
31% |
$250,725 |
|
Mario Gutierrez |
18 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
11% |
28% |
$135,450 |
|
Gary Stevens |
10 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
10% |
50% |
$132,263 |
|
Tiago Pereira |
21 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
5% |
29% |
$111,170 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Sunday, July 23, 2017 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Peter Eurton |
8 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
50% |
88% |
$179,545 |
|
Peter Miller |
26 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
15% |
35% |
$174,300 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
19 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
16% |
37% |
$177,795 |
|
Vladimir Cerin |
8 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
38% |
38% |
$52,125 |
|
Richard Baltas |
15 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
13% |
47% |
$242,693 |
|
Philip D'Amato |
19 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
11% |
37% |
$290,947 |
|
J. Keith Desormeaux |
10 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
20% |
60% |
$114,580 |
|
Simon Callaghan |
12 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
17% |
33% |
$105,275 |
|
William E. Morey |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
50% |
75% |
$39,945 |
|
John W. Sadler |
9 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
22% |
33% |
$236,035 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Sunday, July 23, 2017 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 10 out of 45 -- 22.22%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 7 out of 28 -- 25.00%
Winning favorites on turf -- 3 out of 17 -- 17.65%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 0 out of 5 -- 0.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 26 out of 45 -- 57.78%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 4 out of 5 -- 80.00%