Strongconstitution © Benoit Photo

HOLLYWOOD DERBY, FIRST GRADE I OF MEETING, HAS 13 SET TO GO

Befitting its Grade I status, a field of 3-year-olds of both quality and quantity was entered Sunday for next Saturday’s 79^th running of the Hollywood Derby.

The 1 1/8-mile turf event, won by California Chrome in its initial Del Mar edition in 2014 as a springboard to Horse of the Year honors, had 13 set as the entry deadline approached Sunday morning. Among the group were five shippers from East Coast-based trainers with two from Christophe Clement and one each from Chad Brown, George Weaver and Thomas M. Bush.

Clement is sending out Decorated Invader, a winner of the Grade II Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont Park and the Grade II Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga last summer and Gufo, a winner as the favorite of the Belmont Derby on October 3.

Brown is dispatching Domestic Spending, a winner of the Saratoga Derby Invitational in August by a head over Gufo; Weaver will be represented by Ever Dangerous, fresh from a win in a $150,000 stakes at Keeneland on November 6, and Bush sends Get Smokin, a wire-to-winner of the Grade II Hill Prince on a yielding Belmont turf on October  18.

Joel Rosario, who has ridden Decorated Invader for Clement for the son of Declaration of War’s last five starts, was in the irons for a 4-furlong workout in 51.66 seconds this morning at Belmont Park. Stablemate Gufo also worked the same time and distance.

“He put in a good work,” Rosario said by phone while en route from Belmont to Aqueduct for the Sunday card. “He’s doing very well and hopefully he’ll make the trip well and run a good race.”

A supplemental entry, at a $3,000 cost, was Roadrunner Racing and Sayjay Racing’s Strongconstitution. The Kentucky-bred son of Constitution, a $220,000 purchase at a 2-year-old in training sale last spring, was second in the Bob Hope last year and won the Let It Ride Stakes on the second day of the current meeting.

“The Let It Ride was a really good race for him and we’re hoping he can step it up another notch because obviously he’s going to have to against the horses he’ll be up against this time,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.

The post position draw was scheduled later today. The entrants, in alphabetical order with jockeys in parenthesis: California Kook (Juan Hernandez); Decorated Invader (Rosario); Domestic Spending (Irad Ortiz, Jr.); Ever Dangerous (Victor Espinoza); Get Smokin (Mike Smith); Gufo (Flavien Prat); Kanderel (Geovanni Franco); Lane Way (Drayden Van Dyke); Scarto (Manuel Franco); Smooth Like Strait (Umberto Rispoli); Storm The Court  (Juan Hernandez); Strongconstitution (Abel Cedillo), and Taishan (Jose Valdivia, Jr.).

HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP OVERFLOWS WITH 12 IN, 2 ‘ELIGIBLES’

Friday’s Grade II, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup appeared set with a full field of  12 as the entry deadline approached Saturday morning. But when time for the draw arrived in the afternoon, the field was full – and then some.

Phil D’Amato-trained Acclimate and Gregorian Chant were somewhat unanticipated eleventh-hour entries, relegating Richard Baltas’ Fivestar Lynch and Mark Glatt’s Tartini to also-eligible status.

Baltas still has two representatives in North County Guy and the defending race champion Oscar Dominguez. A 7-year-old Irish-bred gelding, Oscar Dominguez upset  United in the Turf Cup in 2019 when ridden by Hall of Famer and New York-based  John Velazquez. This time the New York import aboard will be national leader Irad Ortiz, Jr.

“Oscar wants some speed to run at, but a mile and a half is his race,” Baltas said. “He hasn’t had a whole lot of pace to run at this year (0-for-5), but I think with some of the other horses in the race it shouldn’t be pace-less.

“Obviously it’s a very tough race, but Oscar maybe can do it again at 7 years old. He’s training great for it.” 

The field from the rail with jockeys in parenthesis: North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez); Oscar Dominguez (Irad Ortiz, Jr.); Red King (Umberto Rispoli); Say the Word (Flavien Prat); Arklow (Joel Rosario); Gregorian Chant (Ricardo Gonzalez); Acclimate (Tyler Baze); Laccario (Manuel Franco); Ward ‘n Jerry (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Proud Pedro (Juan Hernandez); Marckie’s Water (Tiago Pereira), and Another Mystery (Mike Smith). Listed as also eligible are Tartini (Tyler Baze) and Fivestar Lynch (Abel Cedillo).

ONE YEAR LATER, FOND MEMORIES OF RED CARPET FOR TVG’S HOOVER

TVG commentator Kurt Hoover saw the entries come out for Thursday’s featured Grade III, $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes and took special interest in looking over the field. Partly out of professional obligation, of course, but also for sentimental reasons.

“It’s a race that doesn’t mean a hell of a lot to a lot of people, but it does to me,” Hoover said this morning by phone from the Los Angeles area.

Hoover, his friend from high school days Brian Ferguson and Jeff Lambert of Del Mar, a longtime client of trainer Bob Hess, Jr., comprised the ownership group of Zuzanna, an $8,000 claim of theirs that they watched win the 2019 Red Carpet at odds of 23-1.

“I remember watching her cross under the finish line and I remember being in the winner’s circle, but I don’t remember going down to the winner’s circle,” said Hoover. It was the first stakes win as an owner for Hoover, who said he has had pieces of four or five horses with only Zuzanna succeeding at the stakes level.

“I suggested to Bob that we enter because I thought maybe we could hit the board,” Hoover recalled. “If it hadn’t been a mile and three-eighths we wouldn’t have entered. We were planning on going to the Claiming Crown (event) in Florida with her.”

The traditional Thanksgiving Day feature of the Bing Crosby Season was moved to Saturday in 2019 after rains early in the week compromised the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. That resulted in Paco Lopez, arriving from the east, being able to ride Zuzanna skillfully to a 1 ½-length victory.

After more than 30 career starts, Zuzanna has recently been retired and will be sold as a broodmare in January.

For the first time in 30 years, Hoover has a Thanksgiving Day off from work. But he said he’ll be watching the Red Carpet with professional and sentimental interest.

“I like John Sadler’s horse Quick,” Hoover said when asked for a 2020 selection. “Her last outing was a really good effort and I think she’s ready to run big. Besides Quick, I think Graham Motion’s horse coming in from Kentucky, Blame Debbie, will be very tough.”

In Thursday’s edition, trainer Richard Baltas has the duo of Going to Vegas and Colonial Creed. Going to Vegas comes in off a runner-up effort, beaten only a neck by Warren’s Showtime, in the Grade III Autumn Miss at Santa Anita. Colonial Creed was second in the Katherine Crosby Stakes on the opening day of this meeting.

“Going To Vegas ran really good last time with the blinkers off,” Baltas noted. “It’s a little far for her, but if she can get the distance, who knows? Obviously she’s in a little tough because she’s a 3-year-old running against older, but we’re going to see because she’s training really well.

“Colonial Creed has never been this far either, but she’s coming off the pace now more and more, so maybe she will like the distance. I think they’ve both got a good chance.”

The field from the rail with jockeys in parenthesis: California Kook (Joel Rosario); Never Be Enough (Tiago Pereira); Colonial Creed (Flavien Prat); Orglandes (Irad Ortiz, Jr.); Going to Vegas (Mario Gutierrez); Woodfin (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Aunt Lubie (Victor Espinoza); Blame Debbie (Manuel Franco); Hollywood Girl (Mike Smith), and Quick (Umberto Rispoli).

HANDICAPPING CHALLENGE BENEFITS GRAYSON-JOCKEY CLUB RESEARCH

Teams representing Little Red Feather Racing and the Equibase Company will square off over the final two days of the meeting in what is being billed as the Gamble for Grayson Handicapping Challenge to benefit equine medical research.

Announced earlier this week the contest will take place November 28-29, the final two days of the meeting. Each team will have a $500 bankroll, of which $100 must be played on five designated races -- win, place, show, exacta, trifecta or superfecta wagers. At the end of the weekend, all remaining bankroll and winnings will then be donated to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, traditionally the nation’s leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses.

The designated races in the challenge are the Grade I Hollywood Derby, Grade II Seabiscuit Handicap and Grade III Jimmy Durante Stakes on Saturday, November 28, and the Grade I Matriarch and Grade III Cecil B. DeMille the following day.

Representing Little Red Feather will be syndicate managing partner Gary Fenton and ESPN sportscaster Kenny Mayne. The Equibase counterparts are TVG racing host, reporter and analyst Christina Blacker and Equibase national racing analyst Ellis Starr.

CLOSERS – Flavien Prat gained solo second place in the Torrey Holistics riders standings with three wins on Saturday, but still trails defending champion Abel Cedillo 16-10 with five days remaining in the meeting. Cedillo notched two wins to maintain his significant advantage … Doug O’Neill saddled two winners Saturday to move into a tie for second in the trainer standings with Richard Mandella at  six wins each, three behind leader Peter Miller. Miller, Mandella and Bob Baffert, in fourth place with five wins, had one victory apiece Saturday, Mandella’s coming with Extra Hope in the featured $100,000 Native Diver Stakes … Del Mar will have its turf rails at 12 feet for Thursday and Friday’s cards, then go to zero for the Saturday and Sunday programs.

Del Mar Statistics

Presented by Torrey Hollistics 

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Sunday, November 21, 2020 Inclusive)    

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Sunday, November 21, 2020 Inclusive) 

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Sunday, November 21, 2020 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 32 out of 86 -- 37.21%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 20 out of 46 -- 43.48%
Winning favorites on turf -- 12 out of 40 -- 30.00%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 6 out of 14 -- 42.86%
In-the-Money favorites -- 63 out of 86 -- 73.26%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 11 out of 14 -- 78.57%