Baltas, Richard © Benoit Photo
STAKES TRIO COULD PROVIDE BIG FINISH TO BALTAS’ BUSY WEEK
Barring unforeseen circumstances, trainer Richard Baltas will have sent out 14 horses in the four days of Week II of the Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar.
He saddled four horses on Thursday, two on Friday, has six entered in today’s nine-race card and two more on Sunday. And a victory by any of his last three starters – favored Chaulk O’Lattey (3-1) in today’s $75,000 Kathryn Crosby Stakes; Kiss At Midnight (4-1) and Wild in the Saddle (7-2) in Sunday’s $100,000 Betty Grable – would provide a gratifying ending to a week in what has been a banner year for the 54-year-old trainer.
Equibase statistics through Friday credit Baltas with 65 wins from 300 starters, a healthy 22 percent, and earnings of $3,281,417 to rank 34th among thousands of North American trainers. The numbers surmount a 2014 breakout year of 42 wins from 229 starters with earnings of $1,942,959.
“Best year ever,” Baltas said during a break between races Friday. “I’m very proud of my staff and what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Topping his immediate agenda: the two fillies and one mare with stakes assignments today and Sunday.
Chaulk O’ Lattey, a 4-year-old daughter of Silic owned by Brazeau Thoroughbreds Farm and Little Red Feather Racing, was an allowance winner and runner-up in the Solana Beach Handicap here during the summer meeting. A victory in an optional claimer last month at Santa Anita was her fourth in nine career starts and boosted her earnings total to $217,848.
“She’s a very honest horse, doing great in her training, and I’m just hoping to make her a stakes winner,” Baltas said. Chaulk O’Lattey will break from the No. 6 post under Rafael Bejarano in a field of seven in the 1 1/16-mile turf race after the late scratch of Cast In Silver.
Wild in the Saddle and Kiss At Midnight are the second and co-third choices behind 3-1 My Monet on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for the Betty Grable, a seven-furlong sprint for Cal-bred fillies and mares.
Wild in the Saddle, a six-year-old daughter of Silic, won the Tranquility Lake Stakes at Del Mar in September and was sixth to Beholder in the Grade I Zenyatta at Santa Anita in her most recent starts. Kiss At Midnight, a 3-year-old Decarchy filly was second in the Fleet Treat and won optional claimer in the summer meeting here and was second in a restricted stakes at Santa Anita on October 4.
“Both are coming into the race doing well and we feel it’s the right spot for both of them,” Baltas said. “Wild in the Saddle is an older and stronger mare, Kiss at Midnight is an up and coming filly.”
The field for the Betty Grable from the rail: Kiss At Midnight (Rafael Bejarano, 4-1), Wonderful Lie (James Graham, 8-1), Our Pure Creation (Fernando Perez, 4-1), Wild in the Saddle (Mario Gutierrez, 7-2), My Monet (Santiago Gonzalez, 3-1), Yana (Tyler Baze, 8-1), Harlington’s Rose (Joe Talamo, 8-1) and Ashley’s Sassy (Alonso Quinonez, 12-1).
1-2 FINISH SHOWS O’NEILL KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A CROSBY ENTRANCE
Trainer Doug O’Neill missed the entire 2014 inaugural Bing Crosby Season while serving a suspension. He missed the first week of the current Bing II for a Breeders’ Cup week at Keeneland capped by Del Mar Futurity winner Nyquist remaining unbeaten via a victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Making up for lost time, O’Neill drove down from Los Angeles on Friday in time to saddle favored Avanti Bello ($3.20) and Storm Comin Thru to a 1-2 finish in the fourth race.
“Great to be here,” a typically enthusiastic O’Neill said. The almost always upbeat, 47-year-old, four-time Del Mar training champion now shoulders the burdens that come with having, in Nyquist, the early favorite for the 2016 Kentucky Derby six months hence.
“Nyquist looks phenomenal,” O’Neill said. An ideal schedule, O’Neill said, would be having two prep races for Nyquist before the run for the roses. But that will depend on the J. Paul Reddam-owned colt.
“On paper is one thing, but we may have to take him to the track sooner than we think because of his energy level,” O’Neill said. “We’ll feed off that and see how he goes.”
The O’Neill stable will send out one representative on today’s card and six on Sunday.
WHAT’S IN A NAME – KATHRYN CROSBY STAKES
Today’s Kathryn Crosby Stakes is named in honor of Bing Crosby’s second wife. A singer and actress most known for her role in Anatomy of a Murder, she became Mrs. Bing Crosby in 1957. They had three children who went on to notable careers in entertainment and sports. Harry Lillis Crosby III played Bill in Friday the 13th. Mary, portraying Kristin Shepard in Dallas, was the answer to TV’s first big cliffhanger question – “Who Shot J.R.?” Nathaniel inherited his father’s passion for golf, won the 1981 U.S. Amateur and was the low amateur at the 1982 U.S. Open.
SHIP AND WIN PROGRAM CONTINUES TO PAY
The Ship And Win program, which originated at Del Mar and has been adopted by tracks throughout California, has paid out more than $3,000 in bonus money through the first six days of the meeting.
Connections for horses brought in to race from out of state receive $1,000 in travel money and earn bonuses to purse money based on results. Three eligible horses earned $1,746 in bonuses the first week of the meeting and five during the first two days this week secured $1,308 in added money.
Tamait (4th race, Neil Drysdale trainer) is the lone Ship And Win eligible horse on today’s program. Kaabraaj (4th, Jeff Metz trainer), Dreaming of Gold (7th, Jerry Hollendorfer) and San Dimas (9th, Eoin Harty), are the eligibles on Sunday.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BING
For the second Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar, we offer a daily note, quote or anecdote about the track’s founding father for whom the fall meeting is named.
A quote from Crosby at the start of his career: “If I’m going to get by in pictures, it’s going to be as a singer, with about as much acting as you would expect from a guy standing in front of a microphone.” Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1944 for his role as father Chuck O’Malley in “Going My Way.”
CLOSERS – X-rays on the left foot of jockey Iggy Puglisi, injured in a gate accident before Thursday’s sixth race, showed no major injury. Puglisi, 41, a native of Argentina, will return for his one scheduled mount on Sunday’s program his agent, Bill Sadoo, said … Racing Secretary David Jerkens has announced that, similar to last year, training on Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, November 26, will be open from 5:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m with no break. There will be no 10:00- 10:30 schooling that day since first post is 11:00 a.m. … Alert Bay ($2.60) was a nose winner in the sixth race at Golden Gate Fields yesterday in a prep for the $250,000 Seabiscuit Handicap here on Friday, November 27. Alert Bay, a 4-year-old gelding is owned by Peter Redekop and trained by Blaine Wright.
Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793