A threesome of stakes races – led by the 73rd edition of the Grade 1 FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante – will highlight the final Saturday program of the 2023 Del Mar race meeting with 11 races all told on tap starting at 1:30 p.m.
The Debutante is the championship race for juvenile fillies at the summer stand and has drawn a gateful of 14 runners for its seven-furlong challenge that carries a $300,000 purse.
Also on the roster for the afternoon is the 66th running of the John C. Mabee Stakes for fillies and mares, aged 3 and up, The $250,000 Grade II testing has lured six distaffers who'll run nine furlongs on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course
Finally, there's the 12th version of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf which will have 10 young lassies travel a mile on the lawn for a $100,000 prize.
The Debutante is Race 10; the Mabee is Race 7, and the Juvenile Fillies Turf goes as Race 5.
The deep Debutante field has a sparkling threesome who should draw the majority of the action in the extended dash – Dan Eplin's Dreamfyre, Repole Stable's Pushiness and Spendthrift Farm's Tamara.
All three of those runners are last-out winners, and in the case of Dreamfrye and Pushiness they are last-out stakes winners.
Dreamfyre was impressive in wiring the field in the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes here on August 12. The daughter of the Scat Daddy sire Flameaway is now two-for-two after her earlier victory in a minor stakes at Pleasanton in her debut on July 9. She's trained by O.J. Jauregui and again will be ridden by Hector Berrios.
Pushiness outran six rivals in the CTBA Stakes at Del Mar on August 6. She fires out of the barn of Mike McCarthy and will be handled once more by Umberto Rispoli.
Tamara comes into the stakes off a first-out triumph at Del Mar on August 19, a six and a half-furlong straight maiden affair where she came running late to score smartly. She's got some serious connections going for her: She's a daughter of multiple champion Beholder; she's trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, and she'll once again by guided by Hall of Famer Mike Smith.
The horse to beat in the Mabee is Harris Farms' homebred Closing Remarks, home first in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap here on August 12. Trainer Carla Gaines gave rider Rispoli a leg up that afternoon and she'll do the same on Saturday.
Likely favorite in the Juvenile Fillies Turf is Great Friend Stables, Cahill, et al's Angiolleta, who started her career in France earlier this year, then came running late to capture a straight maiden affair at Del Mar on July 29 in her U.S. debut. Trainer Doug O'Neill has named Berrios on board the Irish-bred daughter of the British stallion Calyx.
Here are the full fields for the three stakes from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:
FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante
- Julias Dream (Ricardo Gonzalez, 5-1);
- Next Right Thing (Emily Ellingwood, 30-1);
- Pretty Layla (Drayden Van Dyke, 30-1);
- Benedetta (Victor Espinoza, 10-1);
- Hope Road (Tiago Pereira, 12-1);
- Chatalas (Juan Hernandez, 5-1);
- Dreamfyre (4-1);
- Pushiness (8-1);
- Tamara (7/2);
- Where's My Ring (Joe Bravo, 15-1);
- Motet (Abdul Alsagoor, 50-1);
- Gate to Paradise (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1);
- Laurent (Edwin Maldonado, 6-1), and
- Cheeky Gal (Antonio Fresu, 30-1).
John C. Mabee Stakes
- Paris Peacock (Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1);
- Free and Humble (Berrios, 15-1);
- Oakhurst (Hernandez, 4-1);
- Closing Remarks (9/5);
- Neige Blanche (Diego Herrera, 5/2), and
- Turnerloose (Fresu, 5/2).
Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf
- Flattery (Hernandez, 4-1);
- Poppy's Joy (Gonzalez, 15-1);
- Double Bay (Giovanni Franco, 8-1);
- Tambo (Pereira, 6-1); Angiolleta (5/2);
- Bossy Bruin Gal (Maldonado, 20-1);
- Auratium (Bravo, 15-1);
- Loterie (Rispoli, 7/2);
- Into Yellowstone (Herrera, 30-1), and
- Cailin Dana (Vazquez, 6-1).
The post Del Mar Debutante Draws 14 Juvenile Fillies, Tops Saturday Stakes Triple appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
