Going to Vegas © Eclipse Sportswire / Breeders' Cup
‘VEGAS CREW COULD BE SMALLER THAN MABEE BUT HAPPIER THAN EVER
When Richard Baltas-trained Going to Vegas won the Grade II, $200,000 John C. Mabee Stakes on September 4 it was estimated that around 250 people – owners or friends of owners of the three partnership groups involved with the 4-year-old daughter of Goldencents – wedged into the winner’s circle for the post-race picture and trophy ceremony.
So one could only imagine what the scene might be if Going to Vegas would prevail in Saturday’s $2 million Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf.
Oh, the humanity!
No! The humanity won’t be as numerous said Bing Bush, founder and manager of Abbondanza Racing, one of the three partnership organizations involved.
“That was a bit of a concern,” Bush conceded. “But you can’t get in the winner’s circle unless you have a lanyard and I think we have 30 lanyards apiece for each of the three groups. So it’ll be down from 200 or so to 90.”
The John C. Mabee, at 1 1/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, turned out to be the middle leg, albeit an important one, on Going to Vegas’ hop, step and jump into participation in racing’s championship weekend.
Hop: The former $50,000 claimer won an allowance over the Mabee course on July 16, opening day of the summer meeting.
Step: The victory, by 2 ¼ lengths over Dogtag in the Mabee, which brought with it a $120,000 share of the purse, but was not a be-all for the connections. Going to Vegas was not made eligible as a foal for the Breeders’ Cup and the daunting prospect of having to pay a six-figure supplemental entry fee remained.
Jump: The Grade I, 1 ¼-mile Rodeo Drive on October 2 at Santa Anita was a “Win & You’re In” fees paid qualifier for the Filly & Mare Turf and Going to Vegas went wire-to-wire under Umberto Rispoli, holding off Luck by a head.
So, on Sunday morning, there was Bush and some friends watching from the two-story temporary structure along the stretch as Going to Vegas went four furlongs in :49.20 in her final work for Saturday’s race.
“Sometimes at the end of a work she tends to lug in a little bit, but today she didn’t,” Bush said. “She did it very easily and galloped out very nicely, so we couldn’t be happier.”
And on Monday, Bush and friends gathered in the Del Mar paddock for the post position draw for all 14 Breeders’ Cup races to see Going to Vegas get the No. 1 post and be assigned morning line odds of 12-1.
“Under normal circumstances, I would be disappointed with the No. 1,” Bush said. “But under these circumstances, I think it’s all right. She’ll be able to use her natural speed to get a good position – she doesn’t have to have the lead, but she might -- and go from there.”
Bush resides in the complex of white houses on the hillside north of and overlooking the track just across Via de la Valle. “I can walk here,” he points out.
If Going to Vegas pulls off an upset on Saturday, Bush – and 90 lanyard-wearers in the filly’s camp – will be walking on air to the winner’s circle. It won’t be like the John C. Mabee. But they won’t mind.
COULTHARD MORNING LINE CHOICE OF NINE IN THURSDAY’S LET IT RIDE
Jay or Julie Manoogian’s Irish-bred import Coulthard has been tabbed as the 3-1 favorite in a field of 10 on oddsmaker Jon White’s morning line for Thursday’s featured $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes.
Arriving late last year after posting two seconds and two thirds from five starts as a 2-year-old in his native country, the colt broke his maiden in his first start for Phil D’Amato in February at Santa Anita and followed it up with an optional claiming win in March, then was unraced before a troubled fourth at the same level on October 2.
At one mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, the Let It Ride – named for the 1989 horse racing themed movie starring Richard Dreyfuss – will be the first beyond a sprint distance for Coulthard.
Ten were entered on Sunday, but trainer David Hofmans said this morning that Big Fish would be scratched in favor of a stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
The field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Lincoln Hawk (John Velazquez, 8-1); Crew Dragon (Luis Saez, 7/2); Nerves of Steel (Giovanni Franco, 20-1); Sonic Brees (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1); Coastal Kid (Wayne Barnett, 20-1); Team Merchants (Mario Gutierrez, 6-1); Coulthard (Joel Rosario, 3-1); Man Friday (Kent Desormeaux, 7/2), and Petruchio (Mike Smith, 8-1).
Petruchio showed promise in three Del Mar starts last year as a 2-year-old, but is 0-for-4 in 2021 and showed little in the Oceanside Stakes (6th) and Grade II Del Mar Derby (11th) last summer.
“He’s been in trouble every race, that’s the main thing,” Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella said. “We’re hoping that changes.”
BREEDERS’ CUP XXXIV, DEL MAR I REVISITED
A look back at what happened on the corresponding days of Breeders’ Cup week when Del Mar hosted the event for the first time in 2017.
Tuesday, October 23 – The talk was about the European equine contingent that had made the 11-hour trip over the Atlantic in two separate flights on the weekend, and quarantined for 42 hours in the Del Mar stable area before being given first exercises around the seaside track.
Forty-six foreign-based horses were among the pre-entries (a record at the time), 42 made the trip and 35 were announced among the final fields for the 13 races. Three notched victories – Mendelssohn in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Wuheida in the Filly & Mare Turf and Talismanic in the Turf.
A SPOT AT DEL MAR FINALLY OPENS UP FOR HOFMANS’ MISS FIA
Miss Fia trained here all summer, but the races in the condition books that Dave Hofmans thought would be a fit didn’t draw enough entries to go.
So the 5-year-old daughter of Maclean’s Music will make her Del Mar debut on Wednesday in the $100,000 Seashell overnight stakes, featured event on the opening-day program of the eighth Bing Crosby Season.
Owned by Tarabilla Farms, Miss Fia has four wins and 10 in-the-money finishes in 11 career starts. She prevailed by three-quarters of a length in an optional claimer at Los Alamitos in her most recent start. Apprentice Jessica Pyfer will be aboard for the fifth straight time in the one-mile assignment on the main track for California-bred fillies.
“It’s been difficult to find an allowance race for her, and we’ve been trying to stretch her out and get her stakes placed,” Hofmans said. “She’s doing well and the way she trained down there all summer, I think she’ll take to the track.
Moonlight d’Oro is the 8/5 morning line favorite in the Seashell. The 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro has been unraced since February while recovering from surgery to repair chips in a knee after a victory in the Grade III Las Virgenes at Santa Anita.
“She’s been impressive so far, breaking her maiden and winning a stakes in four races,” Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella said. “She’s been training well and we have high hopes she’ll go on from where she left off.”
The field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Clockstrikestwelve (Jose Ortiz, 4-1); Moonlight d’Oro (Flavien Prat); Paige Anne (Kyle Frey, 4-1); Lisette (Umberto Rispoli, 8-1); Miss Fia (Jessica Pyfer, 8-1), and Livingmybestlife (Juan Hernandez, 5/2).
CLOSERS – Jockey Miguel Mena, who won nearly 2,100 races and whose mounts accounted for $72.4 million in purse money, died Sunday night following a pedestrian accident in Louisville. He was 34. His former agent, Jose Santos, Jr., has established a memorial fund at: GoFundMe … Jockey Kyle Frey, two wins away from No. 1,000 for his career, has four mounts Wednesday in quest of the milestone. Frey is scheduled to ride Eye Candy Randy (3rd, 6-1), Anitanewmercedes (4th, 5-1), Paige Ann (7th, 4-1) and What An Idea (8th, 12-1).