Del Mar’s popular fall Turf Festival – an eight-race lawn crucible that will drawn some of the top grass horses in America – kicks off Sunday on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course with eight fillies and mares slated to battle over 11 furlongs in the Red Carpet Stakes.
The Grade III, $100,000 testing is the first main event in the “Festival” that offers races from five furlongs to a mile and one-half on the Del Mar green, including a pair of Grade I headliners that will help close out the 11th Bing Crosby season next weekend.
The 59th edition of the Red Carpet – previously known as the Beverly Hills Handicap when it was run at the now closed Hollywood Park – is headed by the eastern invader Forever After All, a 5-year-old Connect mare who races for breeder Dixiana Farms and is in the hands of seasoned Irish trainer Brendan Walsh.
The veteran mare will be making her 20th start and looking to add to her earnings total of $435,569, which she has primarily compiled racing in stakes company in the east. Her connections made a savvy move by making an early phone call to top west coast rider Juan Hernandez and he’ll be aboard the stretch runner come Sunday.
Two other eastern-based fillies might provide the stiffest competition to the likely favorite in Cayton Park Stud’s Marksman Queen and Augustin Stables’ Mrs. Astor.
Marksman Queen, a 4-year-old by super sire Dubawi, has shown speed in her recent starts in the east and now gets the saddle services of Del Mar’s current top rider Umberto Rispoli. Mrs. Astor, also a 4-year-old though she’s by Lookin At Lucky, brings her own rider in Vincent Cheminaud from her most recent start at Keeneland.
Here’s the full field for the Red Carpet from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:
Purple Rein Racing’s Ima Joker (Kyle Frey, 6-1); Forever After All (2-1); Rebecca Young’s Everything Bugs Me (Mike Smith, 12-1); Rainmaker Racing or Lewis’ Moment’s Pleasure (Kazushi Kimura, 5-1); Mrs. Astor (9/2); Marksman Queen (4-1); US Equine, Burke or Sones, et al’s Mahina (Hector I. Berrios, 10-1), and Town and Country Racing’s Queens Command (Antonio Fresu, 12-1).
The Red Carpet will be the seventh of nine races on the Sunday card with a post time of 3:30 p.m. First post, as always, goes at 12:30 p.m.