Following the seven-length victory by Beholder in the 2015 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, Hall of Fame  trainer Richard Mandella surprised, shocked and delighted the thoroughbred racing world by announcing intentions to run the mare that had been dominating against her own gender against males in the $1 million TVG Classic.

 

Then Beholder shocked and delighted racing fans by blowing away nine male rivals, among them 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern, by 8 ¼ lengths in a time, 1:59.77,  that ranks as the fastest ever for a female at the  1 ¼-mile distance.

 

“In North America on dirt or polytrack, for sure,” said Gary Dougherty, who operates the Twitter account Racing Stats and Info.  Dougherty breached the possibility of Beholder’s accomplishment on Twitter the evening after her Classic victory. “We got a lot of responses and did some pretty exhaustive research (subsequently) and couldn’t come up with anything to top it,” he said.

 

Dougherty, a handicapper for the Seattle Times and later Emerald Downs since the 1980s, founded Racing Stats and Info as a source for an industry whose  facility for archiving, retrieving and distributing information from the most pertinent to semi-trivial has lagged behind, to put it mildly, most other sports.

 

What Dougherty dispensed to his Twitter followers (a little over 3,800 in number) was that the previous record for females at 1 ¼ miles was 1:59 4/5, accomplished by Princessnessian beating males in the 1968 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park and equaled by Coup De Fusil against her own gender in the 1987 Delaware Handicap.

 

Timing to the 100ths of a second wasn’t in place in those years, so the actual clockings could have ranged from 1:59.80-1:59.99  which, in either case, Beholder eclipsed.

 

Retired jockey Don Pierce, a Del Mar resident, rode Princessnesian in the Gold Cup victory. Gamely, also owned by William Haggin Perry and trained by James W. Maloney, was considered the stronger part of the entry with Princessnesian and was the reason it was bet down to 9-10 favoritism.

 

“Princessnesian was a great filly,” Pierce recalls. “She was smallish, but damn could she run. Past a mile and an eighth she was better than Gamely. I came from out of it, snuck through on the rail and beat Racing Room (with Johnny Sellers) in the last couple jumps.”

 

Pierce returns to Del Mar, where he logged 54 stakes wins from 1958-’81,  at times during summer meetings to see the marquee horses of today run.

 

“I’ve seen Beholder run a couple times,” Pierce said. “If I had to make the choice between Beholder and Princessnesian, I’d take Beholder.”

 

Beholder faces four rivals today in defense of her title in the Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff on November 4 at Santa Anita. The Hirsch could be the first step towards a title defense in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 20.

 

 

 

California Chrome galloped almost two miles at Los Alamitos this morning, a routine that could be continued for the next few days, trainer Art Sherman said here Saturday morning.

 

Sherman’s son and co-trainer, Alan, is supervising the activities of California Chrome and other horses at the Los Alamitos base while Art, a Rancho Bernardo resident, handles the Del Mar contingent. California Chrome, the No. 1 ranked runner and all-time money earnings leader in North America, returned to Los Alamitos on the morning after his San Diego Handicap victory a week ago.

 

California Chrome is being pointed toward the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 20 and a potential showdown with defending race champion Beholder.

 

“Alan says Chrome is really doing well,” Sherman said. “He’ll probably work  next Thursday or Friday. “

 

With a chuckle the venerable 77-year-old said:  “I’m going to see how Beholder runs today. I may have to change things up (on Chrome’s schedule). She’s a great mare and I’m going to be scouting her out.”

 

 

Three wins Friday boosted Flavien Prat to a 15-10 lead over Santiago Gonzalez in the jockey standings through the first 11 of the 39 racing days for the summer meeting.

 

“It’s a goal of ours to be leading rider,” Prat’s agent, Derek Lawson, said Saturday morning. “For Flavien and myself it would be a great honor. But we’re a long ways from thinking seriously about it.

 

“There are a lot of very good riders in this colony and we know any one of them could get hot and things could change very quickly. Kent Desormeaux is riding great, Santiago Gonzalez is solid, Tyler Baze and Joe Talamo are as tough as they come.”

 

Rafael Bejarano, the meet’s four-time defending champion, is third, seven wins behind Prat.

 

“In fairness to Bejarano, he’s riding out-of-town for Bob Baffert, which he hasn’t done in the past, and that opens chances for Flavien and other riders,” Lawson pointed out.  Bejarano has scheduled mounts in six of the  10 races on Saturday’s card here, then will journey overnight to Monmouth Park in New Jersey to ride American Freedom for Baffert in the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday.

 

Gonzalez is booked to ride eight of the nine races on Sunday, Prat five.

 

Prat’s lone out-of-town commitment, Lawson said, is to ride Wake Forest for trainer Chad Brown in the Arlington Million at Arlington Park in Chicago on August 13.

 

Born in Melun, France, Prat, who is five days short of his 24^th birthday, started out on the grass courses there and had to learn and adapt to the dirt surfaces and racing styles when he came to America five years ago.

 

Entering Friday, Prat had six wins on dirt and six on turf. In Friday’s first, an outstanding ride got  Generous Pour ($23.00) home in a six-furlong dirt sprint. He then took the fourth, one mile on the turf, aboard With Honors ($6.20), and the fifth, one mile on the dirt with Jonny’s Choice ($4.20).

 

 

 

With six wins from 15 starters, an impressive 40  percent strike rate,  trainer Mark Glatt has joined Phil D’Amato as co-leader in the trainer standings.

 

“We’ve gotten off to a great start and you just enjoy it while it lasts,” Glatt said Saturday morning outside his stable office. “This is a humbling business, you’re probably going to have more bad days than good. But I try and stay optimistic and hope we can continue this good roll we’re on.”

 

Equibase statistics through Friday have Glatt, 43, with 38 wins from 219 starters this year and purse earnings of $1,427,686. That  ranks No. 60 among trainers in North America for money won.

 

“It’s been a very good year,” Glatt said. “I was co-leader at Los Alamitos, a short meeting, and fourth at Santa Anita.”

 

Glatt’s most recent winner came with  Jonny’s Choice ($4.20), the even-money favorite in Friday’s fifth race. The most surprising, to Glatt, was with Blackjackcat ($19.20) in the third race on July 23 under Mike Smith.

 

The training title here generally boils down to stable size and, with the claiming game being played full tilt, stability.

 

“I don’t know if I’ve got the numbers to keep up with D’Amato and the others, but we’ll certainly try,” Glatt said. “I’ve  had four horses claimed away and three of them were out of wins. I’ll claim some myself, but I’ll probably wind up having more claimed from me than I’ll claim.”

 

 

CLOSERS –  Stellar Wind pulling off an upset of Beholder would be a nice birthday gift for trainer John Sadler, who turns the big 6-0 today … Also marking a birthday here with an eye on Beholder-Stellar wind in the Clement L. Hirsch: Union-Tribune sports editor and former Del Mar press box elevator operator Jay Posner … Jeff Bonde reports that CTBA Stakes winner You’re  Late came out of Friday’s race in good order. As for the next start: “I’ll have to check with my boss. I don’t know, I don’t have that much tenure,” Bonde quipped after the race…Selected works from 167 officially timed Saturday morning: Ashleyluvssugar (4f, :48.60), Basmati (4f, :47.00), Rockin Rudy (4f, :46.20), Firing Line (5f, 1:00.00), Miss Southern Miss (5f, 1:01.60), Om (6f, 1:16.80).

 

 

 

(Current Through Friday, July 29, 2016 Inclusive)

Jockey	Mts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Flavien Prat	64	15	7	4	23%	41%	$692,410
Santiago Gonzalez	57	10	8	10	18%	49%	$401,664
Rafael Bejarano	46	8	9	8	17%	54%	$567,636
Kent Desormeaux	50	7	12	7	14%	52%	$506,700
Tyler Baze	65	7	10	12	11%	45%	$498,023
Victor Espinoza	21	6	4	3	29%	62%	$413,428
Mario Gutierrez	31	6	4	3	19%	42%	$330,902
Stewart Elliott	34	4	2	1	12%	21%	$150,055
Gary Stevens	16	3	3	1	19%	44%	$256,675
Tiago Pereira	26	3	2	2	12%	27%	$142,153

 

(Current Through Friday, July 29, 2016 Inclusive)

Trainer	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Philip D'Amato	23	6	6	3	26%	65%	$537,126
Mark Glatt	15	6	2	4	40%	80%	$196,350
John W. Sadler	17	5	2	4	29%	65%	$278,100
Peter Miller	29	4	3	5	14%	41%	$235,985
Richard Baltas	17	4	2	3	24%	53%	$227,236
Bob Baffert	20	3	5	2	15%	50%	$253,240
Doug F. O'Neill	40	3	4	5	8%	30%	$190,855
Brian J. Koriner	11	3	4	1	27%	73%	$150,535
Jerry Hollendorfer	17	3	2	2	18%	41%	$189,379
Neil D. Drysdale	12	3	1	2	25%	50%	$162,504

 

(Current Through Friday, July 29, 2016 Inclusive)

 

Winning favorites -- 31 out of 98 -- 31.63%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 21 out of 63 -- 33.33%

Winning favorites on turf -- 10 out of 35 -- 28.57%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 6 out of 9 -- 66.67%

 In-the-Money favorites -- 70 out of 98 -- 71.43%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 8 out of 9 -- 88.89%

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793