Phil D'Amato © Benoit Photo
D’AMATO LOADS UP IN BID FOR THIRD G2 HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP
The G2 Hollywood Turf Cup will be run next Friday when racing resumes at Del Mar. It’s a mile and a half endurance test on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course and is part of the 2024 Turf Festival.
Eighteen horses were nominated to the race, five from trainer Phil D’Amato’s barn. He says he will run Divin Propos, Balnikhov and Rockemperor.
Divin Propos was favored in the G2 John Henry last month at Santa Anita before finishing sixth.
“We just got a horrible trip that day,” D’Amato says. “So, we’re looking to make amends.”
Balnikhov was last seen running 10th in the John Henry, a victim of pace.
“The John Henry was just a paceless race,” D’Amato notes. “They went three quarters in fifteen (1:15) on a fast turf course and the first three finishers were on a merry-go-round all the way around there. He likes to have a pace to run at and he just did not have anything to run at that day.”
Rockemperor is a multiple grades stakes winner, having captured the 2021 G1 Joe Hirsch at Belmont Park and the 2022 G2 Bowling Green.
There are a couple of invaders looking at the Turf Cup and Truly Quality may be the best of the lot. The 4-year-old son of Quality Road has run four straight top efforts dating back to the Memorial Day weekend. He won an entry level allowance race by six lengths at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet followed by a near miss in his next race, a second level allowance where he lost by a neck at Saratoga.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas took his rising star to Colonial Downs and promptly won the Colonial Cup, then went north of the border to Woodbine and captured the G3 Singspiel.
“It was one of the worst races for me to watch,” Thomas says. “He was uncharacteristically off the bridle and out of the race for a substantial part of it. He overcame a soft turf and a trip we didn’t draw up on paper. But having said that I was very pleased with his grit to take care of business.”
Truly Quality ran at Santa Anita earlier this year and Thomas says getting him back on the West Coast will be good for him.
“He really likes firm turf,” Thomas insists. “He likes Santa Anita. Colonial was on the firm side when he won that day. I thought he had a real nice work on the grass here last weekend. I think he’s back on ground he’ll really appreciate.”
A few trainers have two horses each nominated for the Turf Cup. Richard Mandella, who won last year’s race with Planetario, has Salesman and Seal Team. Neil Drysdale has Nineeleventurbo and the Chilean-bred Lukka, who would be making his first start in the U.S. Jorge Periban is considering both None Above the Law and Calm Sea.
Trainer George Papaprodromou has Cabo Spirit, winner of the John Henry. He wound-up next to last in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last out. And Dicey Mo Chara for Leonard Powell is a possible starter.
It’s the 43rd running of the Hollywood Turf Cup. Entries will be drawn today.
TALENTED EAST COAST TRAINER JOINS THE RANKS AT DEL MAR
There’s a new shooter in town and he’s brought some quality horses to Del Mar. Jonathan Thomas has been racing horses back east in Kentucky and New York. But this fall he’s brought a string of horses out west.
“We have a handful of fit horses who thankfully have climbed the ranks this year,” Thomas says. “They deserve some shots in some of the better races that are being offered here. Churchill has a done as a good job as they can with their turf course but the weather can be a little dubious in Kentucky this time of year, so I thought we’d come out here and we’d be able to breeze and get on a good schedule. So far everybody is coming into it well and should make all the races we’ve pinpointed.”
Thomas definitely has the Turf Festival covered. Starting today with Mrs. Astor in the G3 Red Carpet, he has horses nominated in all seven of the graded stakes races. He’s brought a string of 12 to the seaside oval.
“Just being away from home and bringing staff out here,” Thomas says when asked of the challenges of making such a move. “But Del Mar makes an easy pitch for my guys, so that part was easy. David (Jerkens, Del Mar’s racing secretary) and his team have been super hospitable.
“Travel has become very sophisticated and reliable,” Thomas continues. “These horses are pretty well traveled by now. It’s mostly getting the horses to travel well and, touch wood, everybody has traveled extremely well.”
The 44-year old trainer was born in Virginia and horses have always been a part of his life.
“The area I grew up in is very horse laden,” Thomas states, “and my family was involved in horses in various capacities. There’s a lot of steeplechasing at small tracks at home. I was just kind of born into it.”
His first racetrack job was about as good as it gets, working as an assistant in the Christophe Clement barn at Saratoga.
“I rode steeplechase races and traveled around a lot with the horses,” Thomas notes. “The steeplechasing world, if you’re a jockey, requires a lot more hands-on than say a typical flat rider. I think by that point I was well versed in running a barn and being around horses.”
Thomas would work for Clement from 2002 until 2007. Then he went over to Saudi Arabia where he worked for about a year before landing a job with Todd Pletcher
“I started at Todd’s barn the year Curlin won the Dubai World Cup,” Thomas adds.
That was in 2008. He says the transition into going out on his own wasn’t a sudden decision on his part.
“I didn’t formally go out on my own,” Thomas states. “I went to Ocala, Florida to learn more about 2-year-old sales. It was something I was a little deficient in. I went to work for Todd’s dad there. I grew a sizable business with 2-year-olds and then people started leaving me a horse or two to run. So it wasn’t like I hung a shingle out ‘open for business.’ It just gradually happened.”
One of the horses that Thomas was left with was a horse named Catholic Boy, who went on to win the G1 Travers in 2018 and make over $2 million in earnings.
“That gave me the chance to get started for real,” Thomas says.
He now has 24 horses in training across the country.
“We’re not averse to traveling,” Thomas contends. “I think winning at Del Mar this meet was our 14th or 15th track this year. Everyone thinks we have a hundred horses in training with four different divisions but we don’t. We have a handful at Turfway and the best of what we have in our stable is here (at Del Mar) right now.”
DOUBLE BARREL STAKES ACTION SET NEXT WEEKEND AT DEL MAR
After today we have one more week to go in the Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar and what a closing weekend it promises to be. No less than seven stakes races are on tap, six of them of the ‘graded’ variety, the first of which takes place next Friday.
Trainer Phil D’Amato has emptied the barn for the Turf Festival. He has most of the races covered with one for the G1 Hollywood Derby, four for the G2 Seabiscuit, and two for the G3 Jimmy Durante. Then on Sunday D’Amato comes back with six more nominations in the $100,000 Stormy Liberal, passing on the G1 Matriarch and G3 Cecil B. DeMille.
Saturday’s G1 Hollywood Derby could include G1 Saratoga Derby winner Carson’s Run from the Christophe Clement barn as well as G2 Del Mar Derby winner Formidable Man, G2 Twilight Derby winner Atitlan and a black-type winner from last summer’s Del Mar meet, Stay Hot (La Jolla Handicap).
The G2 Seabiscuit looks to be the most intriguing race on Saturday, especially if Chad Brown shows up with Redistricting and Unit Economics. Almendares, runner-up in the G2 Del Mar Mile this summer, is one of the horses D’Amato is considering for the race. There’s also 7-year-old veteran Express Train and Jonathan Thomas’ Mouffy.
The third stakes on Saturday is the G3 Jimmy Durante for 2-year-old fillies. Bob Baffert, dominant 2-year-old trainer but usually absent from the Turf Festival because he generally doesn’t deal in turf runners, has Casalu in the Durante. There’s also Supa Speed from the John Sadler barn, runner up to Thought Process in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last summer.
Turn the page to Sunday and the stakes races continue, highlighted by the G1 Matriarch. Top fillies and mares will go one mile on the turf there. Chad Brown has four horses nominated, including G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner Gina Romantica. Richard Baltas is considering running Ag Bullet, who set a record at Kentucky Downs before finishing third in a three-way blanket finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Del Mar’s current leading trainer Mark Glatt has two horses nominated for the Matriarch, including Chatalas, winner of the G3 Indiana Oaks.
Sunday also features the G3 Cecil B. DeMille for 2-year-olds. Trainer Wesley Ward is considering bringing Clock Tower in from Kentucky. He finished third in the G2 Bourbon at Keeneland last out. Doug O’Neill has the $100,000 Speakeasy winner Pali Kitten lining up for the race and Tim Yakteen could bring the multiple stakes-placed Sabertooth.
The only Turf Festival stakes race that’s not graded, the $100,000 Stormy Liberal, could be exciting nonetheless as talented turf sprinters line up in the 5-furlong dash. Big City Lights, recent winner of the Cary Grant Stakes at Del Mar, is a nominee to the race as well as Connie Swingle, one of six horses D’Amato has nominated. He’s also considering Motorious, runner-up to Starlust in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Entries for Saturday’s races will be drawn Tuesday and Sunday’s races will be drawn on Wednesday.
COOLING OUT: Trainer John Shirreffs says Skinner came out of his victory in Saturday’s G3 Native Diver in good order…Jockey Vincent Cheminaud won his first ever race at Del Mar aboard Certitude in Race 3 Saturday. It was also the young rider’s first mount ever at the seaside oval…Notable works on Sunday: Dirt – Aspen Grove (4f, :49.40); Mouffy (4f, :50.20).