Month: July 2023

Savethelastdance Heads O’Brien-Trained Foursome In Irish Oaks

Savethelastdance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will spearhead a four-pronged attack from Aidan O'Brien on Saturday's G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh. The master of Ballydoyle has already won the fillies' Classic on six occasions, a joint-record alongside Sir Michael Stoute.

O'Brien looks to have every chance of going out on his own this weekend, with 22-length Listed Cheshire Oaks winner Savethelastdance the likely favourite on her first start since finishing runner-up behind Soul Sister (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the Oaks at Epsom last month.

Her biggest threat could prove to be her stablemate Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who completed a third straight win in the G2 Ribblesdale S. at Royal Ascot last month.

Lingfield Oaks Trial runner-up Be Happy (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and listed winner Library (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) complete O'Brien's quartet.

British hopes are carried by Ralph Beckett's Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}), who was beaten a head by Warm Heart on her penultimate start at Newbury, but has almost four lengths to find with the same rival from their clash in the Ribblesdale just over four weeks ago.

Splitting the pair in second at the Royal meeting was the Joseph O'Brien-trained Lumiere Rock (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) who adds further strength in depth to the Irish Oaks field.

Azazat (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), second in the G3 Munster Oaks last time out for Dermot Weld, and Jim Bolger's Irish 1,000 Guineas third Comhra (Ire) (Vocalised) are the other hopefuls.

The post Savethelastdance Heads O’Brien-Trained Foursome In Irish Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

14 Set To Go Postward In Del Mar’s Opening Day Oceanside Stakes

Del Mar's multi-million dollar stakes schedule starts off with a bang this Friday, with the 77th running of the $100,000 Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside Stakes, the traditional opening day feature at the seaside oval north of San Diego, Calif.

A full field of 14 3-year olds will line-up for the one mile test on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course led by a pair of runners from the Phil D'Amato barn. Del Mar's leading trainer in 2022 won last year's Oceanside with Balnikhov.

Classical Cat broke his maiden here at Del Mar last summer and then went on to victories in an entry level allowance at Santa Anita in October and two months later in the $100,000 Eddie Logan. Both races were at the Oceanside distance. The Mendelssohn colt had a freshening since that stakes victory in December and has drawn the inside post for Friday's race.

D'Amato's other hopeful is Conclude, a son of 2017 Pacific Classic winner Collected, who won the $100,000 Desert Code on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in May. He nosed out First Peace for his second victory in four lifetime starts for Little Feather Racing, Madaket Stables or Jones. Conclude will break from the nine post.

The D'Amato pair could have their hands full with Escape Artist, who missed by just a half a length to Mi Hermano Ramon and Wizard of Westwood in the $100,000 Singletary at Santa Anita in May. The Michael McCarthy trainee came back a month later and cleaned-up in an entry level allowance, winning by four lengths.

“I've always been very high on him,” McCarthy says of Escape Artist. “I expected him to win last time. The horse has come back and trained well. We'll get a good idea of where we're at on Friday. I expect a solid effort.”

Bob Baffert will take a crack at the Oceanside with Mr. Fisk, runner-up to Geaux Rocket Ride in the G3 Affirmed at Santa Anita in June. The son of Arrogate will be trying turf for the first time. He's coming into the race off of a pair of bullet works last month.

The Oceanside goes off as race eight on the 10-race card and is part of the guaranteed $1-million Pick 6 at Del Mar on opening day.

Here's the field from the rail out with jockeys: Classical Cat (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1); Mas Rapido (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Zalamo (Mike Smith, 8-1); El Oro (Kyle Frey, 30-1); Ah Jeez (Tiago Pereira, 30-1); Mr Fisk (Joe Bravo, 8-1); Agency (Abel Cedillo, 15-1); Kid Azteca (Ramon Vasquez, 12-1); Conclude (Hector Berrios, 6-1); Escape Artist (Kent Desormeaux, 7-2); Panic Alarm (Assael Espinoza, 5-1); Ever A Rebel (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Game Time (Armando Ayuso, 8-1); and Ze'bul (Diego Herrera, 30-1).

The post 14 Set To Go Postward In Del Mar’s Opening Day Oceanside Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Del Mar’s Jerkens Hoping ‘Full House’ In Stable Area Helps Carry Momentum Over From 2022

Every year at this time the horse trailers begin arriving at Del Mar, filled with some of the most beautiful and expensive racehorses the world has to offer. This year they began rolling off the I-5 onto Jimmy Durante Boulevard and into the stable area July 13 and there's been a steady flow every day since as Del Mar prepares for its 84th summer of racing just north of San Diego in Southern California.

When it's all said and done, racing officials expect there to be about 1,950 horses on the grounds during the duration of the meet which begins Friday and continues to Sept., 10. That's about the same number as last year, which set new high water marks for field sizes.

“Seems like you always get some cancellations,” racing secretary David Jerkens says, “or someone doesn't bring as many horses as they were assigned but I think we'll be right around that number.”

In 2021 there were 1,980 horses on the grounds at this time and in 2020, the year of COVID, there were 1,810. Jerkens says they like to keep the number at around 2,000.

Glen Hill Farm returns to Del Mar with a string of horses this summer. They raced in Southern California for many years before moving operations back east. This year they return with what Jerkens calls some serious runners.

“Obviously, there's a lot of options around the country,” Jerkens says, “and we're glad they chose us. Last couple years we've made an effort to get our stakes schedule and our purse structure out by early March, so we're thrilled to have Glen Hill back.”

David Jerkens, racing secretary at Del Mar

Jerkens also credits the “Ship & Win” program for luring new barns to Del Mar. New trainers at the seaside oval this year include Rohan Crichton from Gulfstream Park and East Coast-based Jonathan Thomas. Meanwhile, many trainers, who were new to Del Mar last year, are returning this summer. Todd Fincher, Robertino Diodoro, Jeff Engler and Patrick Biancone return along with the several trainers who sent a string of horses down from Northern California.

Del Mar's average field size was 9.14 in 2022 and, while no official record has been kept over the years, most of the veterans at the track don't ever remember seeing a number that high. It's something that Jerkens would love to repeat but he's looking for something more in 2023.

“It's more than just field size,” Jerkens says, “it's quality of stakes races. Last year we saw a bump in field size in stakes races and given the market and what you see around the country, I thought that was pretty remarkable. We had only one day where we had under eight runners a race. It was the Friday after Labor Day, we were off the turf so we had a plethora of scratches.”

Jerkens doesn't want to tempt fate when talking about last year's numbers. He realizes it was a special meet.

“When you look into the numbers from last year, everything just kind of fell into place,” Jerkens notes. “That being said, last year is last year. Every meet is different. You have a game plan before the meet. There are just a lot of things that went right last year from a 'filling races' standpoint.”

The post Del Mar’s Jerkens Hoping ‘Full House’ In Stable Area Helps Carry Momentum Over From 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights