Magic Mark © Benoit Photo
MAGIC MARK CAST IN FAVORITE’S ROLE FOR CARY GRANT
Magic Mark ran in the Cary Grant Stakes during the inaugural Bing Crosby season at Del Mar in 2014, finishing fifth in a field of six, dispatched at odds of 8-1.
Sunday, the six-year-old gelded son of Benchmark will compete again in the $100,000, seven-furlong stakes for California breds, the 5-2 favorite in a field of eight.
A lot has changed at Del Mar in the two-year interim. Most notably replacing the synthetic Polytrack surface with dirt. But Magic Mark, a Durine and John R. Lanza homebred, remains the same reliable runner he has been through an 18-race career which has produced six wins and earnings of $353,969, trainer Ron Ellis said.
“He’s never been off form, he’s given a good effort almost every race,” Ellis said Saturday morning. “We had to take some time off with him for an ankle problem (July 2015 to July this year), but he’s come back from it very well.”
In his second start of the comeback, Magic Mark was a wire-to-wire winner of a division of the one-mile Harry F. Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on August 24 at odds of nearly 11-1.
Subsequently Magic Mark, ridden by Drayden Van Dyke in his last five starts, finished second in the E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos and the Big Bear Stakes at Santa Anita, both one-mile races.
“It’s kind of hard to find spots for him, but he fits really well in these Cal-bred races,” Ellis said. “The (7-furlong distance) is not ideal, he’s better around two turns, but you have to take the opportunities when they are there.
“There’s not a whole lot of speed in the race, but there is some. I’d expect he’d be forwardly placed. Probably not on the lead, but he’ll be close.”
The field, from the rail: Tengas Ransom (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 15-1), Magic Mark (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-2), Image of Joplin (Martin Pedroza, 12-1), Tough But Nice (Fernando Perez, 20-1), Acceptance (Stewart Elliott, 7-2), Gold Rush Dancer (Flavien Prat, 3-1), Grazen Sky (Tyler Baze, 5-1) and Solid Wager (Victor Espinoza, 6-1).
Lucky J Lane was scratched. Solid Wager is the defending race champion.
WEATHER’S BIG FACTOR REGARDING D’AMATO’S BREEDERS’ CUP TRIO
Trainer Phil D’Amato will be a frequent visitor to the weather apps on his phone and computers in the coming days to see what Mother Nature has in store. And the participation of his three recent Breeders’ Cup starters in Del Mar stakes next weekend could hinge on the information provided there.
Midnight Storm (3rd, BC Mile), Obviously (1st, BC Turf Sprint) and Vyjack (7th, Dirt Mile) are all nominated to the Grade II $200,000 Seabiscuit (1 1/16 miles on turf) to be run Saturday, November 26. Vyjack and Midnight Storm are also nominated to the Grade II ($100,000) Native Diver (1 1/8 miles, main track) on Sunday, November 27.
“We’re supposed to get some weather that weekend,” D’Amato said Friday. “If you look at the long-term forecast, it’s calling for some rain on Saturday and then a lot on Sunday.
“All those horses are in play,” D’Amato. “I’m going to just watch the weather forecast and go from there. They all came out of their Breeders’ Cup races in good shape and they’ll all have their breezes Sunday at Santa Anita.”
Entries close and post positions will be drawn Wednesday for the Seabiscuit and Thursday for the Native Diver.
‘BLUE COLLAR’ PUYPE HORSES ARE GETTING THE JOB DONE
Through the first third of the 15-day meeting, trainer Mike Puype has a record of four wins, three seconds and two thirds from 15 starters. He’s only one win behind leader Richard Baltas in the trainer standings with a commendable 27 percent win rate and 60 percent in-the-money.
“It’s very early, but they’re running well,” Puype, a 50-year-old native of Arizona said. “We’re just chugging along and things are firing. I’ve had good success at Del Mar over the years and, of course, I like to do well down here.”
None of Puype’s winners were favored. Comes the Dream ($10.20) started things in the sixth race of the opening day Friday card and two days later My Prince Harry ($7.00) won the first and Boompa ($35.00) pulled a major upset in the fourth. Lucy De ($13.20) prevailed in the featured seventh race on Thursday.
“We’re just trying hard and trying to put them in the right spots,” Puype said. “You need a lot of luck. You need a good post. If it’s a sprinter you don’t want to be on the rail and if you’re a router you want to be inside, not out.
“There’s a lot of things involved in winning and being lucky enough to get in the right situation is part of it. We thought we’d do pretty well down here and, at this point, we’re doing a little better than I thought we would.”
Equibase figures through Friday have Puype as No. 119 in North America for 2016 stable earnings with more than $1.5 million. He has finished as high as 43rd, in 2013. Puype has 42 wins from 268 starters and percentages of 16 for wins and 40 for in-the-money finishes.
“I don’t think I’m having that bad a year, but the purse (earnings) haven’t been that great,” Puype said. “I haven’t had any top end horses blazing the trail, we’re just plugging along, blue-collar style, trying to win races at any level.
“It wasn’t a good first half of the year, but I’ve been as good as anybody the last four or five months. We’re keeping people happy and trying to keep moving forward.”
Despite his proximity to Baltas, and one-win lead over defending champion Doug O’Neill, Puype has no thoughts of a training title.
“I don’t have the inventory to keep up with them,” Puype said. “I’m not going to run horses to chase (a training title). It’s a long year, a long-term business and I would never put my owners’ horses in harm’s way or risk losing them for something like that.”
Puype finished second to Peter Miller for the inaugural Bing Crosby season in 2014 with 10 wins from 40 starters. Miller had 15 from 65.
ELEVEN ENTERED IN THANKSGIVING DAY RED CARPET
Japanese import Nuovo Record, in training at Del Mar since an 11th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita two weeks ago, could face 10 rivals in Thursday’s Grade III $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes, a 1 3/8-mile turf marathon.
Arles, second in the Glen Falls Stakes at Saratoga in September after being imported from France, will ship in for trainer H. Graham Motion as will New York-based Swear By It for trainer Nicholas Esler.
The post position draw was scheduled later Saturday. The field, in alphabetical order with trainer/jockey combination is: Arles (H. Graham Motion/Joel Rosario), Backintheacademy (Felipe Souza/Rito Almanza), Barleysugar (Edward Freeman/Gary Stevens), Dreamarcher (Jerry Hollendorfer/Mike Smith), Frenzified (James Cassidy/Santiago Gonzalez), Fresh Feline (John Shirreffs/Victor Espinoza), Generosidade (Paulo Lobo/Tiago Pereira), Ginga (Felipe Souza/Altair Domingos), Into The Mystic (Richard Mandella/Flavien Prat) , Nuovo Record (Makoto Saito/Yasunari Iwata) and Swear By It (Nicholas Esler/Norberto Arroyo, Jr.).
CLOSERS – California Chrome worked a half-mile under Dihigi Gladney at Los Alamitos Saturday morning in :48.40 with interim fractions of :25.20 and :36.80. It was the Pacific Classic champion’s first purposeful exercise since a second-place finish to Arrogate in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic two weeks ago … The first of two planeloads of shippers from the east for stakes races over the final two weeks of the meeting is scheduled to arrive at Del Mar on Sunday.
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Friday, November 18, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
30 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
23% |
63% |
$251,062 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
21 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
19% |
52% |
$158,650 |
|
Norberto Arroyo, Jr. |
26 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
12% |
42% |
$128,735 |
|
Tyler Baze |
27 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
11% |
30% |
$158,460 |
|
Drayden Van Dyke |
11 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
27% |
45% |
$111,365 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
22 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
14% |
18% |
$155,249 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
16 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
13% |
50% |
$87,700 |
|
Fernando Perez |
20 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
10% |
45% |
$72,885 |
|
Gary Stevens |
8 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
25% |
75% |
$102,850 |
|
Mike Smith |
9 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
22% |
44% |
$79,572 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Friday, November 18, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
|
Richard Baltas |
14 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
36% |
64% |
$192,185 |
|
Mike Puype |
15 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
27% |
60% |
$115,405 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
17 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
18% |
47% |
$156,735 |
|
Mark Glatt |
11 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
27% |
55% |
$83,900 |
|
Steven Miyadi |
6 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
50% |
50% |
$38,101 |
|
Jerry Hollendorfer |
9 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
22% |
33% |
$67,235 |
|
William Spawr |
5 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
20% |
80% |
$68,540 |
|
J. Keith Desormeaux |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
20% |
80% |
$40,120 |
|
Peter Miller |
13 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
8% |
23% |
$37,955 |
|
Bob Baffert |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
50% |
100% |
$43,000 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Friday, November 18, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 10 out of 43 -- 23.26%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 6 out of 26 -- 23.08%
Winning favorites on turf -- 4 out of 17 -- 23.53%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 1 out of 3 -- 33.33%
In-the-Money favorites -- 28 out of 43 -- 65.12%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 2 out of 3 -- 66.67%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793