Fun to Dream © Benoit Photo
FUN TO DREAM LOOKS TO DISTANCE THE FIELD IN THE BETTY GRABLE
There has been no need for a photo finish camera when Fun to Dream races. When she wins, she wins big and she’ll try for another laugher in Sunday’s $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes at Del Mar. It’s the last of the opening weekend’s stakes races featuring a compact field of five Cal-bred fillies and mares going seven furlongs.
Bob Baffert’s, Fun to Dream has won three of her four starts and has been the favorite in all of them. The Arrogate filly comes into the race off a victory in an entry level allowance/claimer at Santa Anita last month. She went off at 2-5 that day and didn’t disappoint, winning by four lengths in the end.
“She’s doing really well,” Baffert says. “She’s been a lot of fun. She’s by one of my all-time favorite horses, Arrogate.”
Baffert is also part owner and breeder of the horse. Fun to Dream has won her three races by a combined 20 ¾ lengths, breaking her maiden by 6 ¼ lengths and winning the Fleet Treat at Del Mar this past summer by 9 ¾ lengths. She’s cutting back in distance from a mile and a sixteenth in her last.
“She ran one bad race where she came out (and was disqualified),” Baffert says. “I took the blinkers off her for her last race and stretched her out. I think she’s better going two turns. We’re limited on races, on where to run her. She’s a Cal-bred and we thought we’d take advantage of our Cal-bred status. After this it’s all open company from here on out.”
She’ll be tested by Big Novel from the John Sadler barn. The 3-year old daughter of Mr. Big has finished in the money in all eight of her career starts, winning twice. She’s run in Cal-bred stakes five times with three runner-up finishes but hasn’t raced since April.
“She’s a hard knocking filly,” Sadler says. “We gave her a little bit of a vacation after her last start. She was second down there (at Del Mar) last fall behind my other one, Big Switch, so we think she fits the conditions of the race and look forward to getting her started back.”
The Betty Grable goes off as the eighth of nine races Sunday. It’s named after the late film star who was a box office sensation in the 1940’s and a Del Mar regular in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Roman Empress (Drayden Van Dyke, 30-1); All Dialed In (Tyler Baze, 6-1); Fun to Dream (Juan Hernandez, 3-5); Big Novel (Flavien Prat, 8-5) and Taming the Tigress (Ramon Vasquez, 10-1).
HERNANDEZ, D’AMATO SET THE BAR ON OPENING DAY
It was a good start to the Bing Crosby meet for both the jockey and the trainer who are back this fall at Del Mar to defend their respective titles.
Leading rider Juan Hernandez didn’t waste any time setting the tone, winning the first race of the day aboard Leisurewear, a Kodiak filly breaking her maiden in her 13th start. Hernandez is bidding to win his third straight riding title at Del Mar following his runaway victory during the summer which followed his title at last year’s fall meet.
Both of those title runs included numerous stakes wins and Hernandez stayed true to form, capturing the first stakes race of the meet, the $75,000 Let It Ride. The talented rider guided Handy Dandy to a thrilling nose victory over Script in the opening day grass feature. This after the 3-year-old broke through the gate during the loading of the race.
Despite winning two races Friday, Hernandez is not alone atop the jockey standings. Veteran rider John Velazquez, riding fulltime for the first time at Del Mar this fall, made his presence known, winning back-to-back races. He won the third race with Ah Jeez for the Doug O’Neill barn then came right back and won aboard Baladi for trainer Michael McCarthy in the fourth race.
Kyle Frey also won a pair of races on opening day. His victory in the fifth race is notable for hunch players. He won aboard Durante in a one-mile race on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course for trainer Keith Craigmyle. He returned to win the nightcap with Bali Dancer for trainer Librado Barocio.
As for defending champion trainer Phil D’Amato, he also won two races on the opening day card but he’s the only conditioner to pull off the feat. D’Amato, like Hernandez, is also looking to score his third straight title at Del Mar. He shared the trainers’ championship from the summer meet with Bob Baffert, but won the Bing Crosby meet outright in 2021.
D’Amato didn’t waste any time getting on the board Friday, winning with Leisurewear in the first race. He added his second win of the day when Atomic Drop, a 4-year old gelded son of Mucho Macho Man, won a first level Cal-bred allowance in the sixth race.
An enthusiastic Veterans Day crowd of 4,268 helped kick off the new season under clear skies. Nine races are on tap for both Saturday and Sunday. Post time is at 12:30 p.m.
LAVA MAN SETTLES IN AT OLD FRIENDS FARM
A fixture at Del Mar for the past two decades is missing this fall. Lava Man has been retired for a second time, leaving behind an illustrious career and a giant sentimental void in the Doug O’Neill barn.
He was arguably the most popular ‘pony’ in horse racing, outside of big Harley at Churchill Downs. The 21-year old Lava Man posted an impressive resume during a racing career that spanned seven years, followed by a career as the lead pony in the O’Neill stable, a position he held until last Saturday when, after leading Hot Rod Charlie to the gate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he was officially retired. Tuesday he arrived at Old Friends Farm in Kentucky where he will live out his days.
Lava Man is no stranger to Del Mar patrons, having raced here from 2005 to 2008, winning the Pacific Classic in 2006. That year the Cal-bred son of Slew City Slew won seven straight races, five of them graded stakes and four of those Grade 1’s. He also became the first horse to win California’s three major races in the handicap division in the same calendar year: the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Pacific Classic and the Goodwood Handicap, now called the Awesome Again.
By the time Lava Man retired, he had amassed over $5.2 million in earnings and is arguably the best Cal-bred that ever raced. This from a horse that once ran in a $12,000 maiden-claiming race at the San Joaquin County Fair. O’Neill claimed him for owner Steve Kenly for $50,000, widely considered one of the best claims ever.
Lava Man would race for O’Neill for a little more than five years, from late 2004 through 2009, though he only raced once in that final year after which he was retired in January of 2010. Now, 12 years later, he’s retired from a second successful career.
“For the last six months we’ve been talking,” O’Neill says. “We being Sabas Rivera, one of my assistants, who has been instrumental in his transformation from a great racehorse to a great pony.
“He’s 21 now,” O’Neill continues. “He still has a lot of life, mentally strong as ever. We just thought it was time to let him enjoy his last few years. We thought it would be something if he could take Hot Rod Charlie to the post for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and ‘drop the mic’, if you will.”
Next to the Cody’s Wish story, Lava Man was one of the more sentimental moments of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, especially for his legion of fans.
“I’m just so grateful it all worked out,” O’Neill adds. “I miss the big guy but I’m just so happy he’s at a great place.”
Lava Man was a pony in O’Neill’s barn for 12 years and the process to get him there took a lot of work.
“He had to be retired from racing due to some physical issues,” O’Neill remembers. “He had just turned 9-years-old and he just didn’t appear happy to be retired at that point, so we decided to bring him back as a pony. He turned out to be the best pony any barn could ever ask for.
“It’s a lot of patience,” O’Neill says of the process of transforming a racehorse to a pony. “There’s the big western saddle, a different bridle, just a different mindset. They’re on a different diet. They’re not on the high grain diet like the racehorses.
“Initially, he’d be out there chaperoning another horse and a worker would go by and he’d want to jump into it,” the trainer said. “So we had some mindset issues we had to tweak but with Saba’s patience and horsemanship he converted him into arguably one of the best ponies around.”
Not every racehorse is a candidate for being a pony in a racing stable.
“It takes a toughness and confidence,” O’Neill says. “You couldn’t have a sensitive minded racehorse do that job.
“As brilliant a racehorse as he was he was equally a brilliant pony and companion,” O’Neill finished. “He was everybody’s best friend around the barn. He’s going to be very missed but never forgotten.”
COOLING OUT: Trainer Michael Stidham has nominated Princess Grace for the G1 Matriarch run on closing day, Sunday December 4th. The 5-year-old mare has been running in Kentucky this year. She won the G2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar in 2021…The first opportunity to train on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course presents itself tomorrow morning…Notable works on Saturday: Dirt – Secret Fix (4f, 45:80); Parnelli (5f, :58.00); Lady T (5f, :58.80) and Roll On Big Joe (6f, 1:12.20). A total of 21 horses put in official works.