Stellar Wind Schooling at Del Mar © Zoe Metz for Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
INSIDE STORY: BEHOLDER, STELLAR WIND 1-2 FOR CLEMENT L. HIRSCH
Trainers generally abhor the No. 1 post position for major stakes races like nature abhors a vacuum.
But, given that there are only five horses in the race, and the one he’ll be saddling is the champion Beholder, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella won’t lose any sleep over her No. 1 starting spot for Saturday’s $300,000 Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.
Or be concerned about having champion Stellar Wind, Beholder’s chief rival, breaking from right next door in the No. 2 spot.
“I’ve always been a big believer in it’s better to have good luck in a race than good luck in the post position draw,” Mandella said. “Luck can get you beat from a good post or help you win from a bad one.”
With her superior ability, Beholder has made her own “luck” in eight straight stakes victories dating back to the Grade I Zenyatta at Santa Anita in September of 2014.
Beholder drew the No. 1 post for the 2015 Clement L. Hirsch, was rated a close third for the first half-mile, then bid seven rivals adieu and won by seven lengths. It was almost as impressive as here subsequent 8 ¼ length victory in the TVG Pacific Classic.
Stellar Wind had the No. 1 post and Beholder No. 2 when they faced off seven weeks ago in the Grade I Vanity Handicap at Santa Anita. They were only about a length apart through much of the one-mile event, then Beholder opened a 2 ½-length advantage in the stretch and won by a length and a half.
“I have a lot of respect for Stellar Wind, she’s a very good filly,” Mandella said. “We’re not taking anything for granted.”
John Sadler, trainer of Stellar Wind, said the post position draw was a good one for his horse but he didn’t expect it to be a factor in the outcome. Small fields can produce a “jockey race” in which in-race decision making proves critical. Nothing new for either Hall of Famer Gary Stevens on Beholder or Victor Espinoza on Stellar Wind.
“We’ll keep our (pre-race) strategy to ourselves,” Sadler said. “But these are all good riders and I think everybody’s going to wind up riding their own race and not get caught up in what somebody else is doing.”
The field from the rail: Beholder (Gary Stevens, 1-5), Stellar Wind (Victor Espinoza 5-2), The Dream (Martin Garcia, 20-1), Off the Road (Martin Pedroza, 20-1) and Divina Comedia (Joe Talamo, 15-1).
The Hirsch, at 1 1/16 miles, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff on November 4 at Santa Anita.
LORD NELSON TOPS FIELD OF NINE FOR SUNDAY’S BING CROSBY
Bob Baffert-trained Lord Nelson, winner of the seven-furlong Grade I Triple Bend at Santa Anita, has top billing in a field of nine for Sunday’s Grade I, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on Sunday.
The six-furlong Crosby, being run for the 71st time, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1.5 million Twin Spires Breeders’ Cup Sprint on November 5 at Santa Anita.
The Crosby field, in alphabetical order: Alsvid (Chris Landeros), Blue Grass Bronco (Guiseppe Ercegovic), Dream Saturday (Martin Garcia), Home Run Kitten (Joe Talamo), Indexical (Santiago Gonzalez), Justin Squared (Martin Pedroza), Kaabraaj (Edwin Maldonado), Lord Nelson (Flavien Prat) and Subtle Indian (Mike Smith).
HOLLENDORFER WILL GO TRANSCONTINENTAL FOR SONGBIRD
Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer had nothing but praise for his undefeated 3-year-old filly Songbird, who made it nine-for-nine Sunday with her victory in the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga under Mike Smith.
“She did everything we asked of her,” Hollendorfer said here Thursday morning. “We’re very grateful to have a filly like her. Mike was very happy with her and she came out of it looking fit and feeling frisky.”
The first two victories of Songbird’s career came at Del Mar last summer. She prevailed by 6 ½ lengths in a six-furlong debut in late July and came back to win the Grade I Del Mar Debutante by 5 ¼ lengths in September en route to an Eclipse award in the 2-year-old filly division.
Songbird trained at Del Mar for the CCA Oaks and there was precedent for having her ship back here to prepare for the Grade I $600,000 Alabama at Saratoga on August 20. Cross country travel for Del Mar training and East Coast racing has been done many times, most notably with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah for the 2015 Haskell and Travers.
“We thought about it, but the bosses (Fox Hill Farms Inc.) wanted to stay back east,” Hollendorfer said. That will mean a few transcontinental trips for Hollendorfer.
“I’ll be there to supervise her workouts and we have three or four people there the rest of the time for one horse,” Hollendorfer said. “She’ll be well taken care of.”
DEL MAR IS SUMMERTIME MUSE FOR MUSIC MAN GARY HYDE
For the past 28 years, most Del Mar summer season racing days, Gary Hyde can be found in the “money room” at the track, dealing with what the name implies.
On the track’s dark days during the summer, and nearly every day the rest of the year, Hyde, 63, is busily engaged in a variety of activities in the music industry. To sum up, he’s a: songwriter, producer, A&R Director for Pacific Records, a session musician, singer – signed by Capitol Records as a young man – and the guy a lot of local companies have turned to for the sound track to their commercials.
“I’m pretty well known as the guy to come to if you don’t want a jingle but you want a real song that you can brand to your product,” Hyde said. He’s done songs for Foodmaker, Valley View Casino and the San Diego Gulls, among others. He recently wrote, performed and produced a video of his song “So Sweet (Del Mar)” that’s available on YouTube that is rife with shots of racing and general scenes at the track.
“I’ve had something recorded as a songwriter for five decades,” Hyde said, “that’s the thing that’s pretty cool to me.”
Born in Coronado, Hyde has lived his life mostly in San Diego when not nearer the music hubs of Los Angeles and Nashville. His grandfather owned the Carousel Club in Nashville where Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, Hank Garland and others were regulars and mentors in the art of songwriting for Hyde..
“I’ve made a living in the music business my entire life. But I know everything about horse racing, too,” Hyde said. “As a teenager I used to thumb my way from Clairemont to the track, and in the 1960s you could pretty much get in here and bet. Nobody cared, if you know what I mean.
“One time I rode in the bed of a pickup truck with about $5 in my pocket and hit a daily double that paid like $300. Which seemed like a million to me as a teenager. I thumbed my way back home with $300 in my pocket and feeling like a king.”
Through his industry connections, Hyde has been beneficial to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in booking artists for the many concerts offered along with racing during the summer. And Friday, Hyde and his latest protégé, Elise Trouw, will serve as a preliminary to the popular Fitz and the Tantrums.
Trouw, who just turned 17, is an all-around musician/singer who has co-written several songs and played several gigs with Hyde, including one before James Taylor.
Working social media, a necessity these days, Trouw has built up over 120,000 followers.
“She needs experience playing live in front of an audience, as any 17-year-old would,” Hyde said. “But by the time she’s 20 that won’t be the case and I think she’s going to be killer. She’s going to be very big.”
On Friday, Trouw and Hyde will play the “Cabana” adjacent to the stage west of the grandstand from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Then Fitz and the Tantrums will take the main stage as part of the Four O’Clock Friday concert series.
GALLAGHER, GULLIKSON ARE WEEKEND HANDICAPPING GUESTS
Trainer Paddy Gallagher, a mainstay on the Southern California racing circuit, and Emily Gullikson, a partner in OptixEQ-Equine Analytics and a handicapping information provider, will be Del Mar’s guests this coming weekend for its free handicapping seminars.
Gallagher, the transplanted Irishman who has handled dozens of top horses over the years, will be the Saturday guest, while Gullikson and her different take on how to see a race for handicapping purposes will be at the microphone Sunday. The Sunday seminars are hosted by Scott Shapiro.
The seminars begin at 12:45 on both days and last until approximately 1:30 p.m. They are held on the tarmac down by the rail near the head of the stretch.
CLOSERS – Selected workouts from 130 on dirt and 14 on turf Thursday morning: Dirt – Sensitively (5f, 1:00.20), Arrogate (6f, 1:12.60), Imperative (6f, 1:12.60).
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
I.M.% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
53 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
21% |
36% |
$573,520 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
49 |
10 |
7 |
8 |
20% |
51% |
$367,154 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
41 |
7 |
9 |
5 |
17% |
51% |
$468,755 |
|
Rafael Bejarano |
40 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
18% |
58% |
$531,191 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
19 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
32% |
68% |
$412,523 |
|
Tyler Baze |
53 |
5 |
8 |
10 |
9% |
43% |
$409,963 |
|
Mario Gutierrez |
26 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
19% |
42% |
$265,712 |
|
Gary Stevens |
16 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
19% |
44% |
$256,675 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
29 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10% |
21% |
$87,205 |
|
Mike Smith |
20 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
10% |
50% |
$215,050 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
I.M.% |
Money Won |
|
Phillip D'Amato |
19 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
26% |
63% |
$490,061 |
|
Mark Glatt |
14 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
36% |
79% |
$185,550 |
|
John W. Sadler |
14 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
29% |
71% |
$238,700 |
|
Bob Baffert |
16 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
19% |
56% |
$240,295 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
32 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
9% |
34% |
$174,450 |
|
Richard Baltas |
15 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
20% |
53% |
$205,291 |
|
Peter Miller |
24 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
14% |
33% |
$205,560 |
|
Neil D. Drysdale |
11 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
27% |
55% |
$159,384 |
|
Robertino Diodoro |
9 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
22% |
67% |
$136,815 |
|
Brian J. Koriner |
9 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
22% |
67% |
$82,395 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 25 out of 81 -- 30.86%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 18 out of 52 -- 34.62%
Winning favorites on turf -- 7 out of 29 -- 24.14%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 6 out of 8 -- 75.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 61 out of 81 -- 75.31%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 7 out of 8 -- 87.50%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793