The gang of photographers jockeying for position near the starting gate for the  $1 million TVG Pacific Classic was creating a bit of a commotion and getting on starter Jay Slender’s nerves.

 

So Slender went to his command voice and instructed them to “Get back.” Then he pointed a finger at one elderly gentleman with a camera around his neck and said “except you.”

 

 

That’s how 90-year-old Tom Ables got the prime spot to take a picture of jockey Victor Espinoza “sending” California Chrome out of the gate to a lead they would never relinquish. To capture on film the decisive moment in what has been described as “the race of the year” to this point in the thoroughbred calendar.

 

Moments earlier, Ables had been reminiscing with Slender and telling stories about Jay’s father, Tucker, who was the starter at Del Mar for several years. That’s why Jay made the exception for an exceptional man.

 

Saturday night, when San Diego State’s football team faces New Hampshire at Qualcomm Stadium, Ables will be recognized for his hard-earned and well-deserved status as the Aztecs’ No. 1 fan. It will be the 771^st SDSU football game he will have attended over the past seven decades, starting when he became the sports editor of the school newspaper in 1946, a short time after leaving the Navy after World War II ended.

 

Ables had a streak of attending 600 straight games from 1964 through 2015, and had not missed a game in 51 years, until ear infections prevented him from flying to Hawaii for the Aztecs’ Hawaii Bowl game at the end of last season.

 

So, now you know what Ables has been doing from September to December. But for almost as long as he’s been following the Aztecs, Ables has been a summer fixture at Del Mar. First, starting in 1961, overseeing the Del Mar advertising account for the Phillips-Ramsey agency. Later as an “unofficial” track photographer.

 

If he’s about to see his 771^st SDSU football game, he estimates conservatively that he’s seen over 1,500 races at Del Mar based on roughly 30 a year over 55 years.

 

He leaves the finish line shots to others. Instead, over the years, he’s found a few personally preferred places which provide better angles to capture the power, grace and beauty of thoroughbreds in motion. Like what he refers to as “the wedge,” near the mile-and-a-quarter chute. 

 

He’s also taken shots while lying prone under the rail, amidst the hedge that once bordered the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, or actually in the starting gate. At times, of course, when the rules regarding such things weren’t so strict and when remote-activated cameras weren’t as common as today.

 

“I’ve had a lot of fun doing that, but my favorite memory of Del Mar is the TV spot that we did that they used for years,” Ables said earlier this week. 

 

 

 

Track officials liked it so much it served as the Del Mar image-maker for 25 years, one of the longest-running spots in San Diego history.

 

“It started with horses in the ocean, which they used to do in those days (late 1960s) , and then went to the paddock and back and forth,” Ables said. “It (illustrated) without words, ‘Where The Turf Meets The Surf.’

 

“It was a darned effective spot, because it couldn’t be anywhere but Del Mar,” Ables said.

 

November 3-4 of 2017, Tom Ables might be shooting his first Breeders’ Cup. It couldn’t be any place but Del Mar.

 

Unless, of course there’s a San Diego State football game. The Aztecs’ 2017 schedule hasn’t been finalized to that point as yet.

 

 

Sorrento Stakes winner Champagne Room drew the No. 4 post in a field of seven and was made the 2-1 morning-line favorite by oddsmaker Russ Hudak for Saturday’s 66^th running of the Del Mar Debutante.

 

The Grade I $300,000 seven-furlong event which determines the 2-year-old filly champion of the meeting goes as the ninth on an 11-race program.

 

The field from the rail out: Miss Southern Miss (Kent Desormeaux, 8-1), Morganite (Victor Espinoza, 7-2), American Cleopatra (Rafael Bejarano, 5-2), Champagne Room (Mario Gutierrez, 2-1), Noted and Quoted (Mike Smith, 7-2), Holy Mosey (Giuseppe Ercegovic, 30-1) and Union Strike (Martin Garcia, 15-1).

 

 

 

George Krikorian’s Big Score, a winner in his racing debut over the same course as the Del Mar Juvenile Turf, drew the No. 3 post position and was tabbed the 7-2 morning line favorite for Saturday’s $100,000 event for 2-year-olds.

 

A Kentucky-bred son of Mr. Big out of the Unusual Heat mare Not Unusual, Mr. Big rallied from eighth of 10 at the midpoint for a 2 ½-length victory on July 24, covering the mile on grass in 1:37.00 under Flavien Prat.

 

Prat, the meet’s leading rider, retains the mount for trainer Tim Yakteen.

 

The race will go as the sixth of 11 on the card. The field from the rail out: Arch Prince (Stewart Elliott, 20-1), French General (Rito Almanza, 30-1), Big Score (Flavien Prat, 7-2), Eichel (Tyler Baze, 20-1), Billy Big (Kent Desormeaux, 9-2), Irish Goodbye (Brice Blanc, 15-1), Farley (Mario Gutierrez, 10-1), Saldamente (Jaime Theriot, 10-1), Excavation (Joe Talamo, 12-1), Ky. Colonel (Mike Smith, 6-1), Earnhardt (Norberto Arroyo, Jr., 12-1), Bowies Hero (Rafael Bejarano, 5-1), Van Cortlandt (Martin Garcia, 20-1) and Exotic Ghost (Santiago Gonzalez, 20-1).

 

 

 

Elektrum and Queen of The Sand, who finished a head apart at the wire in last year’s John C. Mabee Stakes, were among 12 entered Thursday  for Sunday’s 59^th running of the Grade II $200,000 John C. Mabee Stakes.

 

Trained by John Sadler and owned by Hronis Racing LLC, Elektrum, a 5-year-old Irish-bred mare, prepped for the 1 1/8-mile turf race with a third-place result, beaten a half-length by Sobradora Inc, in the Osunitas Stakes here on August 7.

 

Trained by Patrick Gallagher and owned by Derrick Fisher, Queen of The Sand, a 6-year-old Irish-bred mare, made her 2016 debut with a fifth-place finish in the Yellow Ribbon Stakes on July 16.

 

The Mabee entrants in alphabetical order with trainers/jockeys in parentheses: Avenge (Richard Mandella/Flavien Prat), Elektrum (John Sadler/Victor Espinoza), Finest City (Ian Kruljac/Kent Desormeaux), Fresh Feline (John Shirreffs/Santiago Gonzalez), Gloryzapper (Phil D’Amato/Edwin Maldonado), Havanna Belle (Phil D’Amato/Tyler Baze), Keri Belle (John Shirreffs/Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Nancy From Nairobi (John Sadler/Mike Smith), Personal Diary (Victoria Oliver/Drayden Van Dyke), Prize Exhibit (James Cassidy/Jamie Theriot), Queen of The Sand (Patrick Gallagher/Gary Stevens) and Sobradora Inc (Simon Callaghan/Rafael Bejarano).

 

 

 

Monster Bea and Free Rose, the winners of the first two legs of Del Mar’s turf stakes for three-year-olds, were among an overflow field of 18 entered Thursday for Sunday’s series-concluding Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Derby.

 

Monster Bea was a 2 ¼-length winner of the one-mile Oceanside on the July 15 Opening Day program before finishing fourth, 1 ½ lengths behind Free Rose, in the 1 1/16-mile La Jolla on August 6. The Del Mar Derby, being run for the 72^nd time, is 1 1/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

 

A field of 14, with two also-eligibles and two excluded, was to be drawn later Thursday.

 

The entrants, in alphabetical order: Arcature (Simon Callaghan/Martin Garcia), Arizona Moon (Stacy Campo/Brice Blanc), Blackjackcat (Mark Glatt/Mike Smith), Curlin Rules (John Sadler/No rider), Diplodocus (Richard Baltas/Jamie Theriot), Dressed In Hermes (Janet Armstrong/Kent Desormeaux), Ebadan (Neil Drysdale/Santiago Gonzalez), Free Rose (Richard Baltas/Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Gold Rush Dancer (Vann Belvoir/Flavien Prat), I’malreadythere (Jerry Hollendorfer/Tiago Pereira), Lucky Bryan (John Sadler/Victor Espinoza), Materialistic (Peter Eurton/Iggy Puglisi), Monster Bea (Peter Miller/Gary Stevens), Moonlight Drive (Bob Baffert/Rafael Bejarano), Mr. Roary (George Papaprodromou/Edwin Maldonado), Path Of David (Kristin Mulhall/Tyler Baze), Ralis (Doug O’Neill/Mario Gutierrez) and Trojan Nation (Patrick Gallagher/Drayden Van Dyke).

  

 

Three handicapping experts will step up this Saturday, Sunday and Monday as Del Mar races to the close of its 77th summer race meeting.

 

The traditional free handicapping seminars offered each weekend throughout the season are expanded by one as the seaside oval concludes its 39-day session with a special Labor Day Monday holiday card. The free seminars are held from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. in the Seaside Terrace area near the head of the stretch.

 

The Saturday leadoff to the expert threesome is manned by Dane Nelson, one of the track’s official clockers who spend each morning during the meet timing the many workers using the main track and turf course.

 

On Sunday, when the seminar is hosted by Scott Shapiro, the guest this week will be Jose Contreras, who is the Southern California correspondent for America’s Best Racing.

 

Then on Monday the special session will close out the stand by featuring the racetracker’s racetracker, John Bucalo, a man who has done most every job there is at the track.

 

 

CLOSERS – Four-time defending jockey champion Rafael Bejarano won two races on Thursday to cut Flavien Prat’s lead atop the meet standings to 35-30 wins. One of Bejarano’s victories was for Bob Baffert, who makes it a three-way tie for second in the trainer standings, joining Richard Baltas and Peter Miller at 16 each, three behind leader Phil D’Amato…  The long and the short of it in the jockeys quarters at Del Mar:  Veteran rider Jamie Theriot is the tallest jockey in the room at 5’ 8”.  Apprentice Edgar Orozco is the shortest at 5’ 0”.  Actual body weight for Theriot:  about 117 pounds.  In Orozco’s case, make it about 105.

 

 

 

(Current Through Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Inclusive)

Jockey	Mts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Flavien Prat	180	35	25	23	19%	46%	$2,055,306
Rafael Bejarano	142	30	29	22	21%	57%	$1,989,792
Santiago Gonzalez	192	27	29	21	14%	40%	$1,342,063
Tyler Baze	166	20	23	30	12%	44%	$1,308,924
Kent Desormeaux	119	20	19	16	17%	46%	$1,241,273
Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	98	16	13	11	16%	41%	$777,582
Stewart Elliott	93	15	7	8	16%	32%	$542,740
Victor Espinoza	62	14	9	10	23%	53%	$1,547,300
Tiago Pereira	95	11	12	7	12%	32%	$522,395
Mario Gutierrez	98	10	12	15	10%	38%	$814,810

 

(Current Through Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Inclusive)

Trainer	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Win%	In-money%	Money Won
Philip D'Amato	87	19	13	10	22%	48%	$1,289,827
Richard Baltas	78	16	17	9	21%	54%	$932,316
Peter Miller	90	16	14	11	18%	46%	$848,776
Bob Baffert	59	16	12	7	27%	59%	$1,296,025
Mark Glatt	49	11	8	10	22%	59%	$448,979
John W. Sadler	51	11	8	9	22%	55%	$765,840
James M. Cassidy	43	10	4	7	23%	49%	$512,424
Michael Machowsky	22	9	0	2	41%	50%	$274,697
Doug F. O'Neill	113	8	15	20	7%	38%	$674,360
Chris A. Hartman	30	6	5	4	20%	50%	$225,425

(Current Through Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Inclusive)

 

Winning favorites -- 107 out of 300 -- 35.67%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 77 out of 198 -- 38.89%

Winning favorites on turf -- 30 out of 102 -- 29.41%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 24 out of 49 -- 48.98%

In-the-Money favorites -- 214 out of 300 -- 71.33%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 41 out of 49 -- 83.67%

 

 

Contact: Dan Smith 858-792-4226/Hank Wesch 858-755-1141 ext. 3793