Monster Bea © Benoit 

 

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will present an attractive stakes doubleheader Saturday, shining the spotlight on the Grade II $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for two-year-old fillies and the Grade III $150,000 La Jolla Handicap for three-year-olds.  Post time for the first of ten races is 2 p.m.

 

Carded as the fourth race, the 6 ½ -furlong Sorrento Stakes drew a field of six fillies in the steppingstone to the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, September 3. Likely favorite in the sprint is Miss Southern Miss with Kent Desormeaux in the saddle coming into the race off a good second in the Landaluce Stakes at Santa Anita in early July.

 

 Opposing her will be Unforgivable U, with Stewart Elliott; Rooms, Flavien Prat; Ciao Bella Rosa, Norberto Arroyo, Jr.; Auntjenn, Martin Pedroza, and Champagne Room, Mario Gutierrez.

 

The La Jolla Handicap, prelude to the Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Derby Sunday, September 4, will match ten three-year-olds going a mile and one-sixteenth over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

 

Monster Bea,12-1 upset winner of the opening-day Oceanside Stakes, will attempt to prove that triumph was no fluke when he goes postward under Hall of Famer Gary Stevens. Lining up against him will be Free Rose, Joe Talamo; Liam the Charmer, Santiago Gonzalez; Moonlight Drive, Prat; Dressed in Hermes, Desormeaux; Mr. Roary, Edwin Maldonado; Lucky Bryan, Victor Espinoza; Burger and Fries, Drayden Van Dyke; Ebadan, Arroyo, Jr., and Imperious One, Jamie Theriot.