Kosta Hronis and jockey Victor Espinoza © Benoit Photo

HRONIS, SADLER STAY ON A ROLL THAT’S ‘NEVER OLD HAT’

Cistron’s victory in Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Bing Crosby brought trainer John Sadler and owner Kosta Hronis of Hronis Racing and his family to the winner’s circle following a stakes race for the third time in a meeting that is only nine days old.

Nobody had to ask directions. The same connections convened there for trophy presentations four times in 2018, another 12 times from when Hronis entered the business in 2010 to 2017. Cistron joins horses like Accelerate, Catalina Cruiser, Stellar Wind and others that have boosted Hronis to being the top owners at Del Mar in 2013-14 and 2017-18 and Eclipse Award winners as the top owners in North America for 2018.

“It really does not become old hat, never,” Sadler said Sunday morning. “I’m always very nervous before a race and none of them are ever easy.”

There aren’t major celebrations after stakes victories, even the highest-level ones like the Crosby. And for good reason.

“We’re not big party people anyway, but after a win like yesterday, I’m thinking ‘I have 15 horses to work out, and the turf workers.’ I always think, ‘I have a lot of work tomorrow.’

“We’ll have some fun times over the summer, but they might not be right after a big day. We’ll work it into our schedule.”

Cistron, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of The Factor, has been a solid performer and consistent earner all along, but seems to have found his niche and comfort zone sprinting on the dirt since being switched from turf in April for his last three starts.

The switch was prompted when Santa Anita stopped running 6 ½-furlong events on its downhill turf course. Cistron has wins in the Crosby and the Grade II Kona Gold and a runner-up, beaten a head, in the Triple Bend at Santa Anita since the switch, all from front-running positions.

At first look Sunday morning Sadler said Cistron appeared to come away fine from a big effort in the Crosby. If there’s another race in his future during the meeting, it will be the $200,000 Grade II Pat O’Brien – like the Crosby a “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup qualifying event, on August 24.

VASILIKA WORKS FOR YELLOW RIBBON; HOLLENDORFER’S BACK

Vasilika, the $40,000 claim that has turned into one of the top female turf runners in the country, went six furlongs on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in her final work for the $200,000 Grade II Yellow Ribbon Handicap here next Saturday.

Under exercise rider Edgar Rodriguez, Vasilika was timed in 1:14.20 as the only turf worker at the distance with splits of  :25.40 and :37.60.

Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who claimed the 5-year-old, Kentucky-bred daughter of Skipshot in February of 2018 and is a part-owner of the mare, was on hand to watch the exercise on his first day at the track since a legal victory Friday in a San Diego courtroom.

Superior Court judge Ronald Frazier granted a preliminary injunction allowing Hollendorfer to return to work pending arbitration of bans imposed by The Stronach Group at Santa Anita in June and carried over by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

Back at his customary stable area Sunday morning, Hollendorfer expressed the belief that the judge had rendered the correct decision. He said it felt “good” to be back at the track and around people and horses that have made up a major part of his life for four decades as a trainer and 10 years before that as a stable worker.

But things have certainly changed.

“It’s not business as usual,” Hollendorfer said. “I have 17 horses where last year I had 50.”

ESPINOZA COMEBACK COMES ‘FULL CIRCLE’ WITH CROSBY STAKES WIN

The victory by Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza on Cistron in Saturday’s Bing Crosby Stakes was his fourth in that race and 98^th in his Del Mar career. Espinoza, 47, needs two more stakes to not only reach the 100 mark but also tie the retired Gary Stevens for third on the track’s all-time list.

Beyond the numbers, of greater significance, it was Espinoza’s first stakes victory here since 2017, virtually his entire 2018 campaign having been wiped out by a career-threatening neck injury in a training accident.

“Victor was extremely happy and I was too,” his agent, Brian Beach, said Sunday morning. “After all the work he’s done to come back, to see things come full circle one week after the anniversary of the accident, and win a Grade I stake at Del Mar, which has always been his favorite track … It was perfect.”

TEN ENTERED FOR FRIDAY’S GRADUATION STAKES

Ten 2-year-old Cal-breds, the majority coming off career-starting wins, were

entered Sunday for Friday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes for California breds.

The race, which has featured standouts such as California Chrome (2013),      

and Officer (2001) in the past, is in its 68^th running and will be contested at 5 ½ furlongs.

The field from the rail: Project Leader (Evin Roman), Darn Quick (Herrera), Big

Returns (Ruben Fuentes), Shady Empire (Edwin Maldonado), Bulletproof One (Flavien Prat), Fast Enough (Tiago Pereira), Bam Bam Again (Rafael Bejarano), Bluegrass Faith (Geovanni Franco), Square Deal (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.) and Pas De Panique (Abel Cedillo).

CLOSERS – Selected works from 217 on dirt and 26 on turf officially timed Sunday morning: Dirt – Nolo Contesto (5f, 1:02.00), Roadster (5f, 1:03.40); Turf – Elysea’s World (4f, :49.20), Jasikan (4f, :50.40), Majestic Eagle (4f, :50.60), Rijeka (4f, :49.20), Toinette (4f, :50.20), Gregorian Chant (5f, 1:01.40), Kingly (4f, 1:00.60), Vasilika (6f, 1:14.20).

DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Saturday, July 27, 2019 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Saturday, July 27, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Saturday, July 27, 2019 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 34 out of 74 -- 45.95% 

Winning favorites on dirt -- 20 out of 43 -- 46.51%

Winning favorites on turf -- 14 out of 31 -- 45.16%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 12 -- 66.67%

In-the-Money favorites -- 55 out of 74 -- 74.32%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 12 out of 12 -- 100.00%