Use a photo of Shady Tiger from his Santa Anita win May 25 or April 6.)
OUT OF THE GATE
DEL MAR LEADERS (Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Umberto Rispoli / 8
Juan Hernandez / 8
Hector Berrios / 7
Kyle Frey / 7
Kazushi Kimura / 4
Antonio Fresu / 4
Trainers / Wins
Michael McCarthy / 5
Phil D’Amato / 5
John Sadler / 4
Bob Baffert / 4
Tim Yakteen / 4
Mark Glatt / 4
Doug O’Neill / 4
WEEKEND STAKES
DEL MAR
Friday
• $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes, California-bred 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs
Saturday
• $400,000, Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/16 miles
• $150,000 California Dreamin’ Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/16 miles on turf
Sunday
• $100,000 La Jolla Handicap, 3-year-olds, 1-1/16 miles on turf
• $100,000 CTBA Stakes, Cal-bred 2-year-old fillies, 5½ furlongs
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $40,000 Bank of America California Championship, quarter horses, 3 and up, 440 yards
Sunday
• $30,000 Q Racing California Distaff, quarter-horse fillies and mares, 3 and up, 400 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Shady Tiger (Juan Hernandez riding) looks poised to record his fifth win in a row against California-bred 3-year-olds when the son of Smiling Tiger runs in the Real Good Deal Stakes on Friday at Del Mar. Opponents include Phil D’Amato barnmate Final Storm (Kyle Frey), John Sadler-trained Known Idea (Hector Berrios) and Brian Koriner-trained maiden winner Pure Madness (Victor Espinoza).
• The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s 2024 enshrinement ceremony on Friday morning in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., will honor Justify, the 2018 Triple Crown winner; Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year; Aristides, winner of the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, and Lecomte, an 1850s rival to the great Lexington; as well as jockeys Joel Rosario and Abe Hawkins, owner and Oak Tree race meet co-founder Clement L. Hirsch, journalist Joe Hirsch and breeder and owner Harry F. Guggenheim. The ceremony can be viewed at racingmuseum.org starting at 7:30 a.m.
• The Chosen Vron earned career-high speed figures for running 6 furlongs in 1:08.99 in his repeat win in the Bing Crosby Stakes last Saturday at Del Mar. His 105 Beyer figure matched the highest in a 6-furlong race in North America this year, and his 121 Equibase figure is the fastest outright at that Breeders’ Cup Sprint distance.
• It’s unclear what’s next for Arabian Knight after his fourth-place finish behind winner Dr. Venkman in the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar last Saturday. It was the first race of 2024 for Arabian Knight, the 2023 Pacific Classic winner and fourth-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. “I was very disappointed in his (race),” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He wasn’t himself.”
• National Treasure and Dornoch are tied at the top of the first ranking of contenders for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic voted by a panel of journalists, handicappers and racing officials. Completing the top 10: Fierceness, Forever Young, Sierra Leone, Kingsbarns, Senor Buscador, City of Troy, UYshba Tesoro and Derma Sotogake. These rankings have no bearing on who gets into the main event of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar Nov. 1-2.
• Watching European contenders for Breeders’ Cup races: Notable Speech’s impressive victory for jockey William Buick and trainer Charlie Appleby in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on Wednesday earned the colt a “win and you’re in” spot in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar Nov. 1. Notable Speech is the first horse to win the 2000 Guineas against 3-year-olds and and the Sussex against 3-year-olds and up in the same season since the unstoppable Frankel in 2011.
• The upset win by Mask Mandate and jockey Cruz Mendez in the Governor’s Cup Derby last Saturday was trainer Jose Flores’ 100th in a quarter-horse stakes at Los Alamitos. Flores is the fifth to reach the milestone, joining Blane Schvaneveldt, Paul Jones, John Cooper and Jaime Gomez. Schvaneveldt’s 387 stakes wins are the Los Al record.
• Jockey Geovanni Franco has a shoulder fracture and may miss the rest of the Del Mar season, the track publicity department reported, quoting agent Jack Carava. Franco was thrown to the ground when Smooth Salute was knocked into the rail during a July 26 race. Smooth Salute didn’t fall and appeared uninjured.
• Tyler Baze is booked for a mount Friday at Del Mar, his first since he broke a bone in his left hand when the maiden 2-year-old filly Swift Harmony acted up in a post parade June 22 at Los Alamitos.
• Veteran racing executive Craig Fravel is leaving Santa Anita operator 1/ST Racing to join Brown Advisory as a partner and senior advisor in Southern California, the international investment management and strategic advisory firm announced on Wednesday.
• The favorite in the 99th Hambletonian at the Meadowlands on Saturday is Karl, driven by Yannick Gingras, a three-time runner-up looking for his first win in the harness racing classic.
— Kevin Modesti
Originally Published:
