Back in the day when a truck stacked with hay rumbled into Windfields Farm, Northern Dancer never paid it a lick of attention from his stall across the lane from the breeding shed. But if he laid eyes on an approaching van with a mare aboard, all hell broke loose.
Month: November 2020
Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Season Ends With Safe Racing, Bigger Fields, Increased Wagering
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club continued its industry-leading safety record and its increased wagering trends as its Bing Crosby Season concluded on Sunday, November 29. The five-week fall meet provided total handle of $195.9 million, an increase of 33% over last season
“A terrific meet on all levels,” said Del Mar's CEO, Joe Harper. “First and foremost, the horses and people who care for them were safe. Wagering, which fuels the industry's economic engine, exceeded expectations and the racing product was once again topnotch.”
Average field size was 8.1 runners per race, a healthy increase of 9.5% from 2019's number of 7.4. A total of 131 races were run, compared to 114 last year. Grass racing, including the seven graded stakes that make up the “fall turf festival,” once again highlighted the Bing Crosby Season. In total, races on the grass produced an impressive average filed size of 8.7.
“Outstanding support from our horsemen and horsewomen,” said executive vice president of racing, Tom Robbins. “The racing was extremely competitive and, judging by our handle numbers, horseplayers responded. We raised purse levels prior to the meet and it's gratifying to see that pay dividends.”
Racing during the seventh Bing Crosby Season was first-rate and no more so than the track's “turf festival” emphasis on its closing Thanksgiving weekend when seven graded stakes were run on the green and drew 20 runners from the east to participate. Champion trainer Chad Brown was especially successful with his horses, winning four of the stakes including the track's two Grade I races – the Hollywood Derby with Domestic Spending and the Matriarch Stakes with Viadera.
The meet's riding and training champions looked familiar: they were the same pair that led the session last year. Jockey Abel Cedillo easily outdistanced his rivals with 19 wins during the 15-day meet. Conditioner Richard Baltas sent out 11 winners after having won last year's crown with the same 11 firsts.
Juddmonte Farms was the leading owner for money won at the session with $256,000, while owners Perry and Ramona Bass won the most races – five all told.
“To follow up our highly successful summer meet with these excellent fall season results, on both the safety and business side, is a credit to the Del Mar team and the partnership we have with industry stakeholders,” said DMTC president and COO, Josh Rubinstein. “It has obviously been a very unusual year and we have dearly missed our fans. But we have hopes that 2021 will bring us all back toward normal and let racing shine again in its usual fashion at Del Mar.”
Del Mar now will look forward to hosting the Breeders' Cup on November 5 and 6, 2021. It will be the 38th running of the championship celebration that features 14 races worth $31 million. The seaside track previously hosted a record-breaking edition of the event in 2017.
The post Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Season Ends With Safe Racing, Bigger Fields, Increased Wagering appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Viadera Noses Out Stablemate Blowout To Give Chad Brown Another Grade 1 In Matriarch
Trainer Chad Brown has a reputation as an excellent trainer, a superior grass horse trainer and a very special trainer of fillies and mares.
If you need testimony on that, ask the folks at Del Mar.
The New York-based conditioner competed in five of the seven Graded stakes the seashore track offered during Thanksgiving weekend and he won four of them, running second in the other. On Sunday – closing day of the shore track's seventh Bing Crosby Season — he completed his latest tour de force by capturing the Matriarch Stakes with Juddmonte Farms' homebred filly Viadera, who beat stablemate Blowout, owned by Peter Brant, by a whisker in a four-horse blanket finish.
It was the fourth time Brown had captured the $301,500 Grade 1 headliner for fillies and mares and his charge did it with elan this time. The daughter of the British stallion Bated Breath skipped the mile over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in a stakes record 1:33.03, which shattered the former mark by more than a second.
Finishing third in the distaff crucible was Juddmonte Farms other entrant, Juliet Foxtrot.
Joel Rosario rode Viadera for his fourth Matriarch score. Blowout, under Flavien Prat, had half a length on Juliet Foxtrot and Mike Smith, who in turn had a neck on fourth-place finisher Sharing, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable and ridden by Manny Franco.
“Whew. I had to work for that one,” said Rosario. “She's a good filly, a really good filly. But she makes you work. I had to stay after her. She can run, though, there's no doubt. I'm lucky that Chad Brown gives me an opportunity like this. Grass horses and especially fillies. He's the best.”
The winner paid $12.80, $5.80 and $3.80 across the board. Blowout returned $5.60 and $3.80, while Juliet Foxtrot paid $4.80.
Viadera earned a first prize of $180,000 and moved her earning up to $391,441. She has now won six of 13 lifetime starts, the last three in stakes.
Previously this weekend, Brown had captured the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap here on Thursday with the filly Orglandes; the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes with Fluffy Sox and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby with Domestic Spending, both on Saturday. His second-place finish came Saturday with Flavius, beaten three-quarters of a length by Count Again in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap.
Brown now has 12 stakes wins at Del Mar, nine of them of the Grade 1 variety.
“This weekend has been amazing,” said Brown's assistant, Jose Hernandez. “I didn't know which filly (of the stablemates) was the winner, but I'm happy it turned out to be Viadera. My boss Chad Brown is an amazing trainer and I just do my best for him. It's an amazing job for me and I love the horses. In the future, I don't know when it would be, if Chad wanted to come out here with a string, I'd like that. We like it out here.”
The Sunday 10-race card drew the curtain on a banner fall meeting for the seaside oval that saw fully safe racing and a remarkable handle rise of over 30% during the 15-day stand.
Racing will resume at Del Mar next July when the track presents its 82nd summer season, followed by its second hosting of the Breeders' Cup Championships next November.
The post Viadera Noses Out Stablemate Blowout To Give Chad Brown Another Grade 1 In Matriarch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Beer Can Man Ready For His Close-Up After Cecil B. DeMille Victory
The 2-year-old colt Beer Can Man made his West Coast debut a winning one when he tracked the leaders early, then fired late to capture the seventh edition of the $103,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes Sunday at Del Mar.
The bay son of Can the Man scored by half a length under rider Juan Hernandez in the mile on turf run in 1:34.75. He had been competing at Indiana Downs in the Midwest where he'd won two of four starts, but was purchased privately and shipped to the barn of local trainer Mark Glatt.
Beer Can Man is now owned by the racing group called Little Red Feather Racing with their partner Sterling Stables. He picked up $60,000 as his share of the winning purse in the Grade 3 feature and now has a bankroll that reads $100,580.
Finishing second in the juvenile grass test was Sarah Kelly's Caisson and running third was Nguyen or Tran's Commander Khai.
“One jump out of there he came (back) to me,” said Hernandez. “He settled real well. I just found me spot tracking the leaders and I was happy. At the quarter pole I asked him to go and he did. He really fired. He didn't want to let horses go past him, either. He's a nice horse.”
The winner, an outsider in the 11-horse lineup, returned $41.20, $14.80 and $10.60 across the board. Caisson paid $6.20 and $7.20 and Commandeer Khai returned $10.40 to show.
“We've had him about six weeks,” said Glatt. “We entered him the first weekend of the meeting, thinking we could run then and then come back in this race. But that race didn't go. So (the owners) told me to get him ready to go a mile. I was a little skeptical to be honest, but the horse relaxed great, Juan (Hernandez) put a nice ride on him and he got the money.”
The stakes win was the third of the meet for rider Hernandez, but his first in the Cecil B. DeMille. He now has seven stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Glatt and his first in the Cecil B. DeMille. He now has 11 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The post Beer Can Man Ready For His Close-Up After Cecil B. DeMille Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
