Miss Temple City © Zoe Metz for Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
MISS TEMPLE CITY, ISOTHERM WORK FOR GRADE I STAKES
Miss Temple City and Isotherm put in final workouts Saturday for the Grade I Matriarch Stakes and Hollywood Derby, respectively, the featured races on the Bing Crosby meeting’s closing weekend, December 3-4.
Del Mar racing officials opened the Jimmy Durante Turf Course for workouts a day earlier than usual in anticipation of rainstorms forecast to arrive in the area Saturday afternoon and continue through Sunday.
Miss Temple City worked five furlongs under assistant trainer/exercise rider Alice Clapham in 1:02.40 for the one-mile $300,000 Matriarch on Sunday, December 4. The 4-year-old daughter of Temple City has career earnings of more than $1.2 million from five wins in 15 career starts. A Grade I victory in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland in October is the highlight of a six-race 2016 campaign which has accrued $890,239 in earnngs.
Del Mar chief clocker John Malone had Miss Temple City in interim splits of :12.40, :24.40, and :38.40 before a closing quarter in :24 flat.
Isotherm worked four furlongs in :50.80 under exercise rider Hector Diaz for the 1 1/8-mile Hollywood Derby next Saturday.
Isotherm, a Kentucky-bred son of Lonhro, arrived earlier this week from Belmont Park and will be making his first West Coast start. Owned by Matthew Schera and trained by George Weaver, Isotherm won the Grade III Pilgrim Stakes on the Belmont turf in September of 2015 in his third career start.
Winless since, Isotherm has narrow runner-up losses on turf in the Grade III Dania Beach in January at Gulfstream Park and Grade II Commonwealth Derby at Laurel in September of this year.
“He shipped well and he’s been doing excellently since he’s been here,” Weaver assistant Austin Trites, who accompanied the horse, said Saturday morning before the workout. “We’re just going to try and keep him the way he is up until the race.”
Trites, 29, has been with Weaver for about a year after previously being in the employ of Christophe Clement. Trites is a graduate of Wheaton College, outside of Boston.
“Got my education and still wound up working with the horses,” Trites said with a smile. “I lived in L.A. for two years after college, so I’ve been to Del Mar before, but only as a fan. This is different and I’m really enjoying it.”
Malone said that both Isotherm and Miss Temple City looked good and appeared to handle the turf course well.
PRAT EDGES AHEAD IN JOCKEY RACE; HAS MIDNIGHT STORM SUNDAY
With one win Friday, Flavien Prat broke a tie with Norberto Arroyo, Jr., atop the standings in a very contentious race for the jockey title. Prat has nine wins, Arroyo eight, Santiago Gonzalez and Drayden Van Dyke seven each.
Prat’s score Friday came aboard Lajatico ($8.40) for trainer Doug O’Neill in the fourth race. Van Dyke vaulted into contention in the jockey standings with three wins on Friday – Tribal Storm (3rd, $21.80), Rcatcanscat (5th, $7.40) and Alsatian (8th, $7.80).
Prat has mounts on morning-line 7-2 favorite With Honors in Saturday’s Jimmy Durante Stakes and 3-1 second choice Vyjack in the Seabiscuit Handicap. Sunday, Prat has the call on 2-1 choice Midnight Storm in the Native Diver Stakes.
Rafael Bejarano has been aboard Midnight Storm for the 5-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile’s last four starts, among them victories in the Eddie Read and Del Mar Mile during the summer meeting. Bejarano’s comeback from injury and suspension, expected to occur this weekend, hasn’t materialized and Prat got the nod from trainer Phil D’Amato.
“Flavien hasn’t ridden him before, and hasn’t worked him, but we all know how good (Midnight Storm) is, and it’s an opportunity to ride a very nice horse,” said Derek Lawson, agent for Prat. “It’s terrible that Rafael isn’t here to ride, I mean that sincerely, but it is a big opportunity for us.”
DARK SKIES WOULD AID BLUE TONE IN NATIVE DIVER
At 4-1, Blue Tone is the fourth choice on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for Sunday’s Native Diver Stakes.
But if the heavy rains late Saturday and Sunday occur as forecast, the R.B. Hess, Jr., trainee’s chances could improve greatly.
“He’s a tough old boy and he’s ready to go,” Hess said Saturday morning. Blue Tone, a seven-year-old Birdstone gelding, has six wins in 23 career starts and earnings of $432,870.
“He’s bred to run in the mud, so we’ll be hoping we get the rains. We lost (Kent) Desormeaux to Imperative, so he’ll be tough, but we’ve got Gary Stevens.”
Desormeaux was aboard Blue Tone for seven of his last eight starts.
The field from the rail: : Hard Aces (Santiago Gonzalez, 3-1), Ebadan (Joe Talamo, 20-1), Pretentious (Jamie Theriot, 20-1), Imperative (Kent Desormeaux, 5-2), Blue Tone (Gary Stevens, 4-1), Point Piper (Mario Gutierrez, 8-1) and Midnight Storm (Flavien Prat, 2-1).
BIG FIELDS LOOM LIKELY FOR HOLLYWOOD DERBY, MATRIARCH
The racing office anticipates a field of possibly 13 for the Hollywood Derby next Saturday and nine for the Matriarch the following day, with several of them representing East Coast-based stables.
Listed as probable for the Hollywood Derby, (with trainers in parentheses): Annals of Time (Chad Brown), Beach Patrol (Chad Brown), Blackjackcat (Mark Glatt), Camelot Kitten (Chad Brown), Defiantly (Craig Dollase), Diplodocus (Richard Baltas), Frank Conversation (Doug O’Neill), Free Rose (Richard Baltas), Hayabusa One (H. Graham Motion), Isotherm (George Weaver), Monster Bea (Peter Miller), Path of David (Kristin Mulhall) and Revved Up (Shug McGaughey).
Listed as probable for the Matriarch: Belvoir Bay (Peter Miller), Kitcat (Sebastian Andres Silva), Mexican Gold (Chad Brown), Miss Temple City (H. Graham Motion), Nancy From Nairobi (John Sadler), Prize Exhibit (James Cassidy), Roca Rojo (Chad Brown), Time and Motion (James Toner) and Tiz a Kiss (Richard Baltas).
JEFF BLOOM TO BE HONORED AT DEL MAR NEXT SATURDAY
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America will honor Jeff Bloom on Saturday, December 3, for his efforts on behalf of the organization.
Bloom, a Carlsbad resident, is a former jockey, an owner, syndicate manager and the host of the Daybreak at Del Mar programs on weekends during both the summer and Bing Crosby meetings.
The event will be held in the Il Palio Room on the sixth floor of the grandstand starting at noon. For further information go to www.betoncures.org.
CLOSERS – Making his Del Mar winner’s circle debut, in the arms of father Joe Talamo after Friday’s victory aboard Texas Ryano in the Hollywood Turf Cup, was Vincent James Talamo. In fact Vincent, grandson of trainer Ron Ellis, who’ll be three weeks old Sunday, was making his racing debut anywhere, said his mother Elizabeth. “He’s one for one,” Elizabeth said… Gormley, winner of the Front Runner Stakes and seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, worked four furlongs in :50.20 Saturday morning. Clockers had interim splits of :13.00 and :25.80.
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Friday, November 25, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Jockey |
Mts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Flavien Prat |
46 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
20% |
57% |
$348,702 |
|
Norberto Arroyo, Jr. |
47 |
8 |
10 |
5 |
17% |
49% |
$329,215 |
|
Santiago Gonzalez |
41 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
17% |
41% |
$267,390 |
|
Drayden Van Dyke |
26 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
27% |
38% |
$254,558 |
|
Tyler Baze |
49 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
12% |
39% |
$318,059 |
|
Victor Espinoza |
17 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
35% |
47% |
$233,390 |
|
Joseph Talamo |
28 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
14% |
39% |
$228,580 |
|
Mike Smith |
20 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
20% |
45% |
$212,162 |
|
Stewart Elliott |
29 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
10% |
41% |
$125,300 |
|
Kent Desormeaux |
29 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
10% |
24% |
$179,149 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Friday, November 25, 2016 Inclusive)
|
Trainer |
Sts |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Win% |
In-money% |
Money Won |
|
Peter Miller |
27 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
33% |
52% |
$331,659 |
|
Doug F. O'Neill |
32 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
19% |
47% |
$280,740 |
|
Mike Puype |
18 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
28% |
56% |
$131,170 |
|
Richard Baltas |
24 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
21% |
42% |
$203,290 |
|
Mark Glatt |
17 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
24% |
47% |
$108,855 |
|
Jerry Hollendorfer |
17 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
18% |
35% |
$112,088 |
|
Steven Miyadi |
12 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
25% |
42% |
$67,026 |
|
Bob Baffert |
8 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
25% |
63% |
$127,185 |
|
Robertino Diodoro |
10 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
20% |
40% |
$44,155 |
|
John W. Sadler |
9 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
22% |
33% |
$80,969 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Friday, November 25, 2016 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 23 out of 77 -- 29.87%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 15 out of 46 -- 32.61%
Winning favorites on turf -- 8 out of 31 -- 25.81%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 5 out of 10 -- 50.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 50 out of 77 -- 64.94%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 9 out of 10 -- 90.00%
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793