Positivity © Benoit Photo
CAL-BRED JUVENILE STAKES STARS OF SUMMER IN SATURDAY REMATCH
Positivity and Good With People, the winners of the two major stakes for state-bred 2-year-old during the summer meeting, return to Del Mar on Saturday for the featured $150,000 Golden State Juvenile.
Positivity won the 5 ½-furlong, $100,000 Graduation Stakes on August 2, making up a five-length deficit in the stretch for a half-length victory over Good With People to make it 2-for-2 in a career started at Santa Anita in May. Positivity has gone unraced since then and will debut for a new ownership group headed by former California Horse Racing Board Chairman Chuck Winter, who turned the Paynter colt over to trainer Paddy Gallagher after a private purchase.
Good With People came back a month after the Graduation to win the 6-furlong, $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes wire-to-wire by a half-length over Golden State Juvenile rivals Touchdown Brown and Tacoflavoredkisses. Good With People, a son of Curlin to Mischief, is a homebred of J. Kirk and Judy Robison trained by Peter Miller. Following the I’m Smokin victory, he was shipped to Keeneland for the $150,000 Indian Summer Stakes on October 4 and was the beaten 2-1 favorite, finishing fourth of six and 10 lengths behind in his turf debut against open company.
“It was an experiment gone wrong,” Miller said from Kentucky, where he has four horses entered in Breeders’ Cup races. “No real excuses, but we learned he doesn’t like the turf.”
The Golden State Juvenile is seven furlongs on the main track.
The field from the rail, with jockeys and odds in parenthesis: Me Likey (Heriberto Figueroa, 15-1); Touchdown Brown (Tiago Pereira, 7-2); Finding Silver (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Good With People (Ricardo Gonzalez, 5-2); Tacoflavoredkisses (Mike Smith, 8-1); Positivity (Drayden Van Dyke, 4-1); Play Chicken (Mario Gutierrez, 15-1); Ascot Storm (Abel Cedillo, 4-1), and Doc Adams (Tyler Baze, 8-1).
THE LINE-UP OF BREEDERS’ CUP MOUNTS FOR DEL MAR-BASED JOCKEYS
Five riders whose tack regularly resides in the Del Mar jockeys’ room have taken it to Lexington, KY, for either one or two days on assignments at the 37th Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
The men and their scheduled mounts, in alphabetical order, all times Pacific and approximate.
Victor Espinoza. Today: 12:50 pm, $2 million Juvenile Fillies, Princess Noor, 9-5.
Juan Hernandez. Today: 12:10 pm, $1 million Juvenile Turf, Harlan Estate, 30-1. Saturday: 9:39 am, $1 million Turf Sprint, Big Runneur, 12-1.
Flavien Prat. Today: 12:10 pm, $1 million Juvenile Turf, Ebeko, 20-1; 1:30 pm, $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, Madone, 10-1. Saturday: 9:39 am, $1 million Turf Sprint, Bombard,15-1; 10:18 am, $1 million Dirt Mile, Pingxiang, 30-1; 10:57 am, $2 million Filly & Mare Turf, Mucho Unusual, 30-1; 11:36 am, $2 million Sprint, Collusion Illusion, 20-1; 12:54 pm, $2 million Distaff, Harvest Moon, 12-1; 1:33 pm $4 million Turf, United, 8-1; 2:18 pm, $6 million Classic, Higher Power, 20-1.
Umberto Rispoli. Today: 12:10 pm, $1 million Juvenile Turf, Abarta, 12-1. Saturday: 9:39 am, $1 million Turf Sprint, Extravagant Kid, 15-1; 1:33 pm, $4 million Turf, Red King, 20-1.
Jose Valdivia, Jr. Today: 11:30 am, $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint, Windy City Red, 30-1.
EIGHT TO GO IN SUNDAY’S FEATURED $100,000 BETTY GRABLE STAKES
All but two of the 10 nominated for Sunday’s $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes passed the entry box and are slated to run in the 7-furlong extended sprint for California-bred older fillies and mares.
Graded stakes winners Just Grazed Me and Warren’s Showtime figure to draw the most betting interest while representing the extremes in age groups for an event that was known as the Cat’s Cradle Stakes for its first 18 runnings and renamed when fall racing came to Del Mar in 2014.
Warren’s Showtime is one of a trio of 3-year-old fillies taking on older rivals. The daughter of Clubhouse Ride, a homebred of Benjamin C. and Sally Warren trained by Craig Lewis, has won six of 13 career starts and compiled earnings of $520,251. She is entered off a victory in the Grade III Autumn Miss Stakes on October 17 at Santa Anita that provided Lewis with his 1,000th career training victory.
Just Grazed Me, one of three 5-year-old mares that represent the elders in the race, is bred and owned by Nick Alexander and is 7-for-14 lifetime with earnings of $494,332 with a highlight victory in the Grade III Senator Ken Maddy a year ago.
Adding intrigue is the presence of Mo See Cal. The 5-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo returns to racing for the first time since finishing third as the favorite in the Betty Grable a year ago.
“It’s good distance for her and we figured it’s a good spot to bring her back,” trainer Peter Miller said.
Mo See Cal was given time off to recover from injury and has gone through a series of workouts since September at San Luis Rey Downs before a final 4-furlong drill in :49.40 over the Del Mar main track last Monday. Flavien Prat, returning overnight from the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky, is scheduled to ride. Prat has piloted the Betty Grable winner the last three years in a row.
The field from the rail with riders in parenthesis: Sheza Girly Girl (Tiago Pereira); Smiling Shirlee (Mike Smith); Miss Megan (Abel Cedillo); Nardini (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Hotitude (Ricardo Gonzalez); Warren’s Showtime (Juan Hernandez); Mo See Cal (Prat), and Just Grazed Me (Umberto Rispoli).
FIVE-WIN DAY NETS CEDILLO NATIONAL HONOR, SOLID TITLE DEFENSE LEAD
Abel Cedillo’s five-win day last Sunday, including a victory in the Let It Ride Stakes aboard Strongconstitution, led to Jockey of the Week honors for October 26 through November 1 by the Jockeys’ Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.
Cedillo said he was feeling “lucky” to start the day and it only grew with five wins on the nine-race program for the 31-year-old native of Guatemala.
Cedillo’s winners leading up to the Let It Ride were on Spielberg (1st race, $3.80); War Path (2nd, $8.60); Freedom Lass (4th, $13.00), and Chollima (5th, $5.40). It was the second five-win day in his career, the first coming at Golden Gate Fields.
The five wins boosted Cedillo’s total for the two-day opening weekend of the Bing Crosby meeting to six, double that of Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith. It puts Cedillo well on the way to topping the 13-win total which sufficed to secure him the 2019 Fall title by one over Drayden Van Dyke.
Smith, the all-time leading Breeders’ Cup rider without a call for this weekend’s championships at Keeneland, recorded three wins from six mounts. Umberto Rispoli, Juan Hernandez and apprentice Alexis Centeno notched two each.
Hall of Fame trainers Richard Mandella and Bob Baffert and six-time Del Mar training champion Doug O’Neill got off to the best start among conditioners with two victories each. Defending Bing Crosby season champion Richard Baltas tops a group of 12 with one win each.
LIES STEPS IN AGAIN FOR COLLMUS WHO HAS BREEDERS’ CUP DUTY
As he did during the closing weekend of the summer season, John Lies will take over in the announcing booth for Larry Collmus this weekend. The reason for the September 4-7 change was Collmus heading to Churchill Downs to call the Kentucky Derby for NBC. This weekend, Collmus will be back in the Blue Grass State as the voice of the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland on NBC today and tomorrow.
Collmus is filling in here for Trevor Denman who opted to remain at his Minnesota farm because of the COVID-19 situation.
Lies, 43, a homegrown San Diego talent whose family moved from the Los Angeles area to Fallbrook in 1981, had announcing gigs in Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky on his resume when chosen to achieve a lifelong dream and call the races at Del Mar over the closing weekend of the summer. He did so admirably.
CLOSERS – Condition Book No. 2 for the meeting has been completed and is available for access on the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club website or in hard copy version at the racing office and other track sites …With the Breeders’ Cup commencing today at Keeneland, a reminder that Del Mar’s hosting of the event is now one calendar year away. The Cup, held highly successfully here in 2017, returns for a second time on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6, 2021. Similar to 2017, the Bing Crosby Season will have a five-day opening week, Wednesday (November 3) through Sunday (November 7) with the Breeders’ Cup days in the middle.
Del Mar Statistics
Presented by Torrey Hollistics
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Sunday, November 1, 2020 Inclusive)
| Jockey | Mts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Win% | In-money% | Money Won |
| Abel Cedillo | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 40% | 60% | $195,400 |
| Mike Smith | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 83% | $107,940 |
| Umberto Rispoli | 17 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12% | 47% | $111,820 |
| Juan Hernandez | 15 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13% | 47% | $98,638 |
| Alexis Centeno | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 20% | 40% | $47,900 |
| Tiago Pereira | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8% | 25% | $63,460 |
| Eswan Flores | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20% | 20% | $15,300 |
| Tyler Baze | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11% | 11% | $42,660 |
| Ricardo Gonzalez | 10 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0% | 40% | $30,480 |
| Drayden Van Dyke | 8 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0% | 75% | $59,488 |
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Sunday, November 1, 2020 Inclusive)
| Trainer | Sts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Win% | In-money% | Money Won |
| Richard E. Mandella | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 40% | 100% | $96,120 |
| Doug F. O'Neill | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 25% | 38% | $74,580 |
| Bob Baffert | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 100% | $68,400 |
| Patrick Gallagher | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33% | 100% | $52,600 |
| Richard Baltas | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20% | 60% | $58,220 |
| Robert B. Hess, Jr. | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14% | 43% | $45,880 |
| Manuel Badilla | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 100% | $46,740 |
| Daniel Dunham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 100% | $12,600 |
| Mike Puype | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 100% | $21,000 |
| Lorenzo Ruiz | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 100% | $12,000 |
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Sunday, November 1, 2020 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 8 out of 18 -- 44.44%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 5 out of 9 -- 55.56%
Winning favorites on turf -- 3 out of 9 -- 33.33%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 3 out of 3 -- 100.00%
In-the-Money favorites -- 14 out of 18 -- 77.78%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 3 out of 3 -- 100.00%