Olympic Legend © Benoit Photo

MENDEZ COULD JOIN ELITE GROUP WITH CONSECUTIVE FUTURITY WINS

Trainer Luis Mendez saddled Dr. Schivel to win the 2020 running of the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. It’s there in the record book even though Dr. Schivel ran for new ownership with the agreement of immediate transfer to the barn of trainer Mark Glatt.

Mendez is back for Monday’s 74^th running of the Grade I, $300,000 traditional closing day feature that determines the top juvenile runner of the meeting. And if Olympic Legend, a Kentucky-bred son of Street Boss, can do what Dr. Schivel did, it would move Mendez in with some elite names as a trainer to record two or more consecutive Futurity victories.

That club now consists of Hall of Famer Bob Baffert (1995-2002, 2008-09, 2011-12), Hall of Famer Ron McAnally (1994-95), Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas (1983-84), Clyde Turk (1965-66) and Carl A. Roles (1963-64).

It’s a longshot. Olympic Legend was listed at 12-1 on oddsmaker Jon White’s morning line, released today for the seven-furlong extended sprint. But it’s a shot Mendez is prepared to take.

“He’s been training outstandingly, really strong,” Mendez said this morning.

On Tuesday, Olympic Legend went four furlongs with Mendez aboard in :46.40 seconds, fastest of 21 at the distance that morning. Mendez, 37, exercises most of his own horses. “He felt really good and I loved the way he finished on his gallop-out, I could barely pull him up,” Mendez said.

Olympic Legend broke his maiden in his second start, going wire-to-wire in a five-furlong assignment at Los Alamitos on June 27. He was entered in the Grade II, $200,000 Best Pal here on August 7, but “flipped” behind the gate and was scratched from that Runhappy Del Mar Futurity prep.

“I’m a little (concerned) because it has been a long time since he raced,” Mendez said. “But we’re here, the best trainers and horses are here and it would be very nice to surprise them.”

The field for the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Pappacap (Joe Bravo, 3-1); Olympic Legend (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 12-1); Finneus (Tiago Pereira, 12-1); Pinehurst (Mike Smith, 5/2); Murray (Flavien Prat, 2-1), and American Xperiment (Umberto Rispoli, 5/2).

The Runhappy Del Mar Futurity goes as the ninth on the closing day 10-race program.

ELM DRIVE MAY ELEVATE D’AMATO’S 2-YEAR-OLD FILLY PROFILE

Fresh off a 1-2 finish with Connie Swingle and Carmen Miranda in Friday’s Generous Portion Stakes, trainer Phil D’Amato looks to step to the highest level with juvenile females when he sends out Elm Drive, the 5/2 morning line favorite in Sunday’s Grade I, $300,000 TVG Del Mar Debutante.

D’Amato’s 32 stakes victories at Del Mar cross through most age and surface divisions, with a “major” in turf stakes for older horses, and he did win the Debutante-prep Sorrento Stakes in 2017 with Spectator, and again last month with Elm Drive.

But the two-time summer training champion doesn’t have a TVG Del Mar Debutante win on his resume. And he has lots of reasons for optimism about Elm Drive, a daughter of Mohaymen, filling in the blank.

“I really have seen continued improvement with her in training,” D’Amato said this morning. “Her works have gotten sharper and sharper and her last breeze was sensational.

“She’s going to have to run an ‘A’ race to beat some of those fillies that are in there, but I wouldn’t trade my filly for any other.”

The Sorrento victory made Elm Drive, owned by Little Red Feather Racing, 2-for-2 in her career, boosted her career earnings to $147,000 and earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure which is the highest of the eight entrants.

The field from the rail for the TVG Del Mar Debutante with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: At the Spa (Umberto Rispoli, 8-1); Eda (John Velazquez, 3-1); Elm Drive (Juan Hernandez, 5/2); Dance to the Music (Abel Cedillo, 3-1); Myfavoritedaughter (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 8-1); Rock the Belles (Joe Bravo, 20-1); Grace Adler (Flavien Prat, 5-1), and Bicameral (Mario Gutierrez, 12-1).

The TVG Del Mar Debutante goes as the 10^th on an 11-race program.

U.S. DEBUTING SILVER SURFER FAVORED FOR JUVENILE TURF

English-bred Silver Surfer, a recent addition to the stable of trainer Phil D’Amato,  was tabbed the 5-2 favorite on oddsmaker Jon White’s morning line for Monday’s $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes. The one-mile event for 2-year-olds over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course could prove to be a springboard to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on November 5 at Del Mar.

Silver Surfer had five starts in Ireland and ended a string of four runner-up finishes with maiden victory at six furlongs on a course rated “good” at Fairyhouse – just outside of Dublin.

“He’s an interesting horse,” D’Amato said. “We got him at the very beginning of this meet and he’s done nothing wrong. Once we put him on the grass to breeze, you could see the quality in him. He’s kind of a typical turf horse. Training on the dirt he looks very average. But once you put him on the grass you see an entirely different horse.”

The field for the Del Mar Juvenile Turf from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Silver Surfer (Joe Bravo, 5/2); My Mane Champ (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Mogollon Rim (Flavien Prat, 6-1); Shortman (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 30-1); Mackinnon (Juan Hernandez, 3-1); Aquitania Arrival (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Thirty Four Coupe (Mike Smith, 15-1); Optimising (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), and Socal Red (Tiago Pereira, 20-1).

The Del Mar Juvenile Turf goes as the eighth on the closing day 10-race program.

RACE COULD BE FOR SECOND REGARDING TRAINER, JOCKEY TITLES

Jockey Flavien Prat and trainer Peter Miller have solid, although technically not unbreakable, grips on repeat summer titles with three days remaining in the meeting.

So the drama in the closing days figures to come in battles for the runner-up spot that involve Juan Hernandez, Abel Cedillo and Umberto Rispoli among the riders and trainers John Sadler, Phil D’Amato and Bob Baffert.

Prat enters today’s card with a nine-win lead over Hernandez and Cedillo. Prat has 38 wins from 148 mounts, Hernandez has 29 from 173 and Cedillo 29 from 185. Rispoli checks in with 25 wins from 151.

Prat has 10 stakes victories, five short of the record he established last year when he took the riding title with 50 wins. Seven stakes races remain during the meeting.

“It has been a good meeting,” Prat said this morning. “It can always be better, but it can be worse as well.”

In the Grade I TVG Del Mar Debutante on Sunday, Prat rides 5-1 fourth choice Grace Adler and in the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Monday he has the mount on 2-1 morning line favorite Murray, both for Baffert.

“They are really good horses, but they’re just babies,” Prat said. “We’ll see how they run.”

Late success has propelled Sadler into the tie for second. But he concedes there’s no chance of catching Miller.

“It has been a good meet, but we got off to a bit of a slow start,” Sadler said. “We started about 3-for-30, then got disqualified in the La Jolla. But after that things finally started to go our way.”

Winning the TVG Pacific Classic with Tripoli played a big role in the turnaround. But there’s one more win Sadler said he’d like to see.

He saddles $1 million purchase Flightline, a 10-length winner in his racing debut at Santa Anita in April, in the eighth race on Sunday.

“That would be the cherry on top of the meet,” Sadler said.

BLANC IN HOME STRETCH OF RECOVERY, PREPARING FOR RIDING RETURN

Jockey Brice Blanc, injured in a spill here on August 31 of last year, is near to receiving final medical clearance to ride horses again and hopes to be racing again in mid-October.

In a phone conversation, Blanc said that he has been released by one doctor and has an appointment with a second on September 13. If all goes well he could be getting on horses around September 15 at Santa Anita.

Blanc, 48, sustained multiple rib fractures when thrown to the turf after his mount, Great Power, clipped heels and stumbled in the one-horse spill. Original reports were that Blanc would be sidelined for six weeks, but those did not take into account an undisclosed fracture of the C-7 vertebrae.

Recovery has been long and arduous, but Blanc said it is nearly complete.

“Physically, I feel the best I have in a long time,” Blanc said. “I’m fit, but not (race) riding fit, and I don’t want to take any chance of re-injuring myself or anyone else. It will take a month or so, give or take, but I may ride better than I ever have when I come back.

“I don’t want this to ruin my career. I want to finish the right way.”

CLOSERS – Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie worked six furlongs in 1:13.80 under jockey Flavien Prat this morning for Doug O’Neill, continuing preparations for the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on September 25. Stablemate Foothill (5f, 1:02.40) was used as a “target” for Hot Rod Charlie. Other notable works from 131 officially timed, courtesy of clocker/handicapper Toby Turrell: Charmaine Mia (4f,:49.40) Closing Remarks (4f, :48.40); Collusion Illusion (4f, :47.80); Gregorian Chant (4f, :48.60); Hit the Road (4f, :50.20); Scotish Star (4f, :48.40); Dr. Schivel (5f, :58.20); Private Mission (5f, :59.80), and Bombard (6f, 1:13.20).

Del Mar Statistics

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Sunday, September 3, 2021 Inclusive)    

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Sunday, September 3, 2021 Inclusive)   

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Sunday, September 3, 2021 Inclusive) 

 Winning favorites -- 89 out of 260 -- 34.23%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 52 out of 145 -- 35.86%
Winning favorites on turf -- 37 out of 115 -- 32.17%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 24 out of 42 -- 57.14%
In-the-Money favorites -- 185 out of 260 -- 71.15%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 37 out of 42 -- 88.10%