BREEDERS’ CUP PRESENCE A REAL BOOSTER SHOT FOR 8TH ‘BING’ SEASON
The eighth Bing Crosby season, which starts today, has something it shares with only one previous such fall session at Del Mar. The Breeders’ Cup World Championships, as they might say in racing’s homeland of Kentucky, “fixin’ to commence,” two days hence.
David Jerkens had four summer and three fall seasons as Racing Secretary for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club when the Crosby and Breeders’ Cup confluence first occurred in November of 2017. And for him it has been déjà vu all over again in 2021.
“The anticipation is there, the hype is there, the excitement is there,” Jerkens said recently. “The feeling is very similar to ’17 and I can’t wait to get started.”
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Chief Executive Officer Joe Harper echoes those sentiments.
“The only difference is that this time we knew beforehand how easy the Breeders’ Cup people are to work with so we were looking forward to it even more,” Harper said.
Post-event estimates in 2017 set the Breeders’ Cup’s positive economic impact on Del Mar and surrounding communities at roughly $100 million. “I expect it will be similar this time,” Harper said.
The two-day Breeders’ Cup extravaganza will, of course, end Saturday evening. But 10 days will still remain in a meeting inaugurated in 2014 out of necessity for Southern California Thoroughbred racing created by the demise of Hollywood Park. A vital meet that racing fans and horsemen have taken to with the vitality of the summer meeting but on a smaller scale.
Peter Miller won four of the first five Bing Crosby training titles (2014, ’15, ’16, ‘18), his streak interrupted only by Doug O’Neill. Richard Baltas has prevailed the last two years, with 11 wins each time.
Five different jockeys claimed riding titles from 2014-18. Abel Cedillo has ruled the two most recent Crosby seasons, counting 13 wins in 2019 and 19 in 2020.
Both Baltas and Cedillo are threats to “three-peat.”
“I’ve won two in a row?” Baltas asked when informed of his record. “I’m not going to go there (predicting a title). But I do have a lot of horses – I brought 50 down from Santa Anita and I have others at San Luis Rey Downs. I know Miller is super tough, I just hope we get off to a good start and we’ll see what happens.”
O’Neill comes in off a training title at the Santa Anita fall meeting.
“We’re excited, the barn’s going good right now,” O’Neill said. “But Del Mar is top level competition and wins don’t come easy. We’ll hope to win one and then go from there.”
Tom Knust, agent for Cedillo, enters the meet with optimism while knowing the defense may require a come-from-behind rally.
“We don’t have a lot of mounts the first week, but we do have a lot of live mounts,” Knust said. “If he can win three or four this first week, I think we’ll be in good shape after that.”
Knust pointed out that Cedillo served suspension days during the Santa Anita meeting rather than postpone until the Bing Crosby meeting.
“Our goal is to win it again here and that’s a good goal to have,” Knust said.
UNDERCARD STAKES PROVIDE COUNTDOWN TO BC BLAST OFF ON FRIDAY
Four stakes with combined purses of $700,000 will lead up to the five Breeders’ Cup races – three worth $1 million and two worth $2 million – on Friday’s 10-race program.
A look at the four not-to-be-underestimated events on the undercard.
Race No. 2: $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile; one mile (turf) for 2-year-olds. Ready to Purrform didn’t make the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf field, so the son of Kitten’s Joy, owned by Donegal Racing and trained by Brad Cox, will seek a third straight win to start his career in this one as the 5/2 morning line favorite.
Eoin Harty-trained Degree of Risk, Grade I-placed at Woodbine, is the 4-1 second choice and has Del Mar’s leading rider Flavien Prat in the saddle. Michael McCarthy-trained Optimising, with John Velazquez, is third at 5-1.
Optimising, owned by Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal, was fourth, beaten two lengths by McKinnon in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf on closing day of the summer meeting in his last start.
“He’s only run once for us and we’re still trying to figure him out, but he has been training well and we’re glad to get him back down here,” McCarthy said.
Race No. 3: $175,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies; 7 furlongs for 2-year-old California-bred fillies. George Krikorian’s Big Novel, trained by John Sadler, is the 3-1 morning line favorite off a third-place finish in the Generous Portion on September 3 and a maiden win at Santa Anita on October 2.
“Joe (jockey Joe Bravo) knows her well having ridden her twice already and working her in the mornings,” said Sadler assistant Juan Leyva. “Joe has been really happy with the way she has worked so I think she’s just going to move forward off that.”
CTBA Stakes winner At the Spa and supplemental entry Vivacious Vanessa are the co-second choices at 4-1. Jorge Periban trains At the Spa, Gary Mandella has Vivacious Vanessa, a first-out winner on the turf at Santa Anita on October 16.
“She won impressively, but there’s no grass race for her until January, so we’re going to try her on the dirt,” Mandella said. “She’s fit enough because she just ran a mile.”
Race No. 4: $200,000 Senator Ken Maddy; 5 furlongs (turf) for fillies and mares.
Superstition, a winner of the Daisycutter Stakes here on July 25 over the same course, is the 3-1 morning line favorite. The 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper, owned by Ramona or Perry Bass, trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Prat, was third in a Grade III event a Kentucky Downs on September 11 in her last start.
Hear My Prayer, one-for-one at Del Mar in a 10-race career, is 4-1 from the inside post for owners Holly and David Wilson and trainer Vladimir Cerin. Third choice at 5-1 is Doug O’Neill-trained A G Indy at 5-1. The 4-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy owned by R3 Racing won twice over the course at the summer meeting.
“She’s training well, has good speed and I’ve got Umberto Rispoli on her (for the fourth straight time) so I give her a good chance in there even though it is a very tough race,” O’Neill said.
Race No. 5: $175,000 Golden State Juvenile; 7 furlongs for California-bred 2-year-olds.
Joker Boy, trained by Brian Koriner, is the 7-2 morning line favorite based on a wire-to-wire win in the six-furlong I’m Smokin Stakes at Del Mar on September 4. Finneus, Walther Solis’ Del Mar Futurity runner-up, is next at 4-1 and Reddam Racing’s Slow Down Andy third on the morning line at 5-1. A son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, Slow Down Andy, trained by O’Neill, was a debuting winner by 4 ¾ lengths at Santa Anita on October 9.
“His first start was really impressive and he landed a really good outside post (No. 11) for this, so we’re optimistic he can repeat his debut,” O’Neill said.
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.
Wednesday, November 1 – Stories on jockey Gary Stevens and owner/trainer Mick Ruis, destined for major play in the next day’s San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times, respectively, were being locally authored. Stevens, 54, was set to ride in the Breeders’ Cup 33 years after he had a mount in the first such event, in 1984 at Hollywood Park.
Ruis, a Chula Vista native who went from El Capitan High dropout to multi-millionaire owner of a scaffolding company, had Del Mar Futurity winner Bolt d’Oro, the likely favorite for the Juvenile.
Stevens finished sixth in the Dirt Mile aboard 25-1 Giant Expectations for trainer Peter Eurton. Bolt d’Oro was third in the Juvenile, beaten five lengths by Good Magic.
CLOSERS – Ryan Curatolo will make his Del Mar riding debut in Thursday’s fifth race aboard Hardly Mischievous for trainer Peter Eurton. Curatolo is a second rider for agent Mike Ciani, who has Giovanni Franco booked to ride Lieutenant Dan in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.