IN WAKE OF WILD VERSE INCIDENT, A CHORUS OF THANKS
Longtime Del Mar announcer Trevor Denman, who introduced the “commentary” style of racecalling to Southern California fans, strung together some ear-catching comments when the gates sprang open for Sunday’s fourth race.
“Ohh, Wild Verse nearly lost the rider,” Denman said, “now Wild Verse has lost the rider, he’s jumped the fence and is in the parking lot.”
In an incident that was shocking to watch, with a saving grace that neither horse nor rider was seriously injured, Wild Verse, a 3-year-old gelding trained by Peter Miller, took a hard left shortly after the start of the 6 ½-furlong race and wound up jumping a rail and hedge alongside the chute that leads to the main track.
Eighteen-year-old apprentice jockey Heriberto Figueroa, who lost the left iron when Wild Verse was bumped immediately out of the gate, landed in the dirt of the auxiliary parking lot. Wild Verse galloped away in the area east of the horse show arena and Surfside Race Place satellite wagering facility. It took 20 minutes or more, Miller said, before the horse, owned by Altamira Racing Stable, was caught and returned to the barn.
In the immediate aftermath, Del Mar steward Luis Jauregui viewed the incident from track camera angles on a large screen in the judges’ booth and, on his cell phone, a video that had been sent to him. A former jockey, Jauregui could project himself into the situation he was watching.
Out of the saddle and heading down the left side of Wild Verse, Figueroa was in danger of winding up underneath the horse and possibly being kicked or stepped on.
“He pulled on the left rein for support and it was an athletic feat that he got back on top like he did,” Jauregui said. “But pulling on that rein pointed the (horse’s) nose to the fence and by then it was too late, the fence was right there.”
Wild Verse showed athleticism, and possibly future potential as a hunter/jumper, in almost clearing the hedge on short notice. He wound up with “cuts and scrapes,” Miller said, that will take a week or two to heal. Wild Verse could possibly race here before the December 2 end of the meeting.
Figuerora was examined by medical personnel and quickly cleared to ride his other scheduled mounts. He finished third in the seventh race on East Rand for trainer Tim Yakteen and fifth in the ninth race on Shylock Eddie for trainer Brian Koriner.
“It’s very fortunate nobody was hurt,” said Miller, who pointed out a apprentice/rookie mistake that Figueroa made.
“The jockey didn’t have his feet in the irons going into the gate, and it went downhill from there. I’ve told him about that before. Maybe now he’ll listen.”
BETTY GRABLE PART OF A THREE-WIN SUNDAY FOR KORINER
The victory by Spiced Perfection in the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes on Sunday was part of a three-win day for trainer Brian Koriner which moved him to the top of the trainer standings entering the fourth day of the 16-day meeting.
The triple by Koriner, 52, gave him three wins from four fall racing starters, one more than Jerry Hollendorfer, who has a 7 2-2-0 record, Peter Miller (8 2-1-1) Richard Baltas (5 2-0-0) and Robertino Diodoro (3 2-0-0).
Koriner’s winning day started with Fast Cotton ($4.20) in the sixth race, continued with Spiced Perfection in the Betty Grable and ended with the $63.60 surprise by Gypsy Blu under Aaron Gryder in the nightcap.
Jockey Geovanni Franco, who notched two wins on each of the first two days of the meeting, booted Redesign ($10.60) home in the fourth race and ended the day two in front of meet defending champion Flavien Prat. Victories on Rumpus Cat (5th, $7.80) and Spiced Perfection ($10.60) gave Prat three wins from 13 mounts and moved him ahead of six riders with two wins each.
PITINO, THE HORSE, RUNS WHERE HIS NAMESAKE RECENTLY WALKED
Rick Pitino, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member for the past five years, attended practice of the San Diego State men’s team on Thursday to provide observations, comments and encouragement to coach Jim Dutcher and his staff and players.
On Friday, he was here – a place he has frequently visited as both a fan and owner over the past several years, to see a filly of which he is a part owner, Excellent Sunset, disqualified from first to second in the meet-opening Kathryn Crosby Stakes.
If he had stuck around for a few more days – which it’s not believed he did – Pitino could have watched the horse named after him, run in today’s fifth race.
Pitino, a 3-year-old son of Union Rags, owned by Zedan Racing Stables of Saudi Arabian businessman Amr Zedan, is trained by Doug O’Neill, whose brother, Dennis, is an advisor to the stable. It was the idea of Team O’Neill to name the horse after Pitino, another of their clients, and Zedan gave Pitino a one-percent interest in his namesake.
“We’re big fans of Coach Pitino,” O’Neill said this morning. “We got his permission to name the horse after him.”
Pitino, the horse, was a $950,000 purchase at the Ocala, Fla., sale in March of last year. He is winless in four career starts with earnings of $10,290. Today’s maiden special race has a purse of $53,000. Pitino is 8-1 in a field of eight on the morning line.
“When I entered him, I thought he’d be pretty tough in there,” O’Neill said. “Then I saw who he was up against I kind of went ‘aaagh’. But he’s doing well, so we’ll see how he does.”