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Hall Of Famer Espinoza Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza has tested positive for coronavirus and will be sidelined for at least 10-days, according to his agent, Brian Beach. Espinoza's positive test was first reported by Daily Racing Form.

Espinoza was named on mounts on Friday's opening day card at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif., but was taken off after he was unable to get results prior to the day's races from a coronavirus test he took earlier in the week in Orange County, north of Del Mar. A subsequent test he took in La Jolla, just south of Del Mar, came back positive Friday afternoon.

Espinoza took the tests after experiencing flu-like symptoms earlier in the week and learning that Martin Garcia, whom Espinoza came into contact with last weekend at Los Alamitos, had tested positive for coronavirus. Garcia, formerly Southern California based, rode at Los Alamitos Friday and Saturday and at Prairie Meadows in Iowa on Sunday. Garcia was tested on Tuesday at the direction of officials at Keeneland prior to that track's five-day meet that began on Wednesday, and the results came back positive.

“Victor is fine,” said Beach. “He was feeling flu-y early in the week and on Wednesday, when he found out Martin tested positive, he said, 'Uh-oh,' and got tested. He's not showing any symptoms now.”

Beach said Espinoza has been extremely careful since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March. “He moved to his home in Del Mar during the Santa Anita shutdown,” Beach said. “He wanted to do everything he could to avoid exposure to this.”

Beach said his understanding is that Espinoza will be unable to ride in California for a minimum of 10 days from the day of the positive test.

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Hit The Road Takes Oceanside On Del Mar Opening Day; Despite Empty Stands, Handle Increases

European veteran Umberto Rispoli made his Del Mar debut a notable one by winning three races – including the featured Runhappy Oceanside Stakes – as the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club kicked off its 2020 season with nary a fan in the stands at the seaside track in Del Mar, Calif..

The shore oval began its 81st season in fine fashion on the racetrack and in the counting house, but it surely missed its usual crowd of 40,000 or so party goers who traditionally make the opener a love-in as they welcome racing back to San Diego.

“We're racing and we're going to continue to race this summer,” said DMTC's CEO, Joe Harper. “We'd love to have our fans, of course, but we're delighted to be racing.”

Rispoli, the 31-year-old Italian rider who has made a serious impact in the riding scene in Southern California in the past year, saved ground nicely with his More Than Ready colt Hit the Road, then when a slight hole opened turning for home on the Del Mar turf course, gunned him through the middle and went on to tally impressively by a length and three quarters.

The Kentucky-bred is owned by Daniel Koetteing's D K Racing, Kyle Yost's Taste of Victory Stables and Rick Gold and is trained by Dan Blacker.

Hit the Road, the 8-5 favorite in the Runhappy Oceanside, paid $5.20, $3.60 and $2.80 across the board.

Second was Wertheimer & Frere's Kandrel ($13.20 and $8.60), while Peter Redekop's Ajourneytofreedom ran third ($9.40). The splits were :22.82, :47.41, 1:11.71, 1:23.70 and 1:35.09.

Del Mar's total handle on the 10-race card was $15,346,805, a 3.54% increase over 2019's Opening Day total of $14,821,720.

The overall racing was highly competitive (seven of the 10 races called for photo finishes to decide the winner) and cleanly run. The good start to the 28-day session bodes well for more good racing to follow on the track's Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekly schedule leading up to a Labor Day Monday (September 7) finale.

First post daily will be at 2 p.m.

UMBERTO RISPOLI (Hit the Road, winner) – “I think Dan (trainer Dan Blacker) has done a terrific job with this horse. He ran a very, very good race today. He broke really well and so I could take the rail. I had a lot of horse; more horse than I thought. Maybe I could have won this race by more. I love being in California; it feels like home. I'm working hard every day and having some results. Everyone told me about Del Mar and Opening Day, what a big deal it is. But we can't have the fans now; too bad. But right now I'm still loving Del Mar. It's a good day for me.”

DAN BLACKER (Hit the Road, winner) – “I'm just thrilled to win a big race on opening day at Del Mar. The Oceanside is like my Kentucky Derby. It's unfortunate that there were no fans, but that's the way things are. Umberto (Rispoli) ran a faultless race and the horse is super talented. You can put him on the lead or take him back and Umberto put him in a perfect spot.”

FRACTIONS: :22.82 :47.41 1:11.71 1:23.70 1:35.09

The victory by Rispoli was his first stakes win at Del Mar.

The victory by Blacker is his second stakes win at Del Mar and first in the Runhappy Oceanside.

The winner is owned by D K Racing (Daniel Koetteing of San Diego), Taste of Victory Stables (Kyle Yost of Middletown, MD) and Rick Gold.

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$400,000 Guaranteed Jackpot For Saturday’s Rainbow 6 At Gulfstream

Saturday's 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot will be guaranteed at $400,000 at Gulfstream Park.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved for the fifth consecutive racing day Friday, when multiple tickets with six winners were each worth $681.02.

The carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 7-12, featuring a mile optional claiming allowance on turf for 3-year-olds and up in Race 11. Live Oak Plantation's Souper Jaguar will seek to repeat a recent front-running score against Florida-bred competition at the same non-winners-of-one-other-than level.

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Pincay Riding School Graduate Trejos Records Four-Win Day At Gulfstream

Apprentice Joseph Trejos continued to flash star quality at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Friday while producing a four-win day.

Trejos, who rode his first winner in the U.S. at Gulfstream April 18 after winning 44 races in Panama, has won 29 races during the Spring/Summer Meet.

A graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jr. jockey school, where he was selected as the outstanding rider in his December 2018 graduating class, Trejos swept both ends of the early double aboard Josefa ($15.20) in Race 1 and Mister Leonardo ($30) in Race 2, both of whom were saddled by Antonio Sano.

The 23-year-old five-pound apprentice followed up with back-to-back victories aboard R Calli Kim ($10.40) in Race 4 and Matraca ($6.40) in Race 5.

'Yesterday' Looks to Recapture Past in Sunday's Portofino Bay
Yesterdayoncemore will look to recapture her winning form in Sunday's $60,000 Portofino Baby, a 1 1/16-mile overnight turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Patrick Biancone, the Irish-bred daughter of No Nay Never has gone winless in four starts since scoring in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf in her Sept. 2, 2019, U.S. debut.

Owned by D P Racing LLC, Mrs. Paul Shanahan and Mrs. M. V. Magnier, Yesterdayoncemore, who ran five times in Ireland, broke her maiden in the Del Mar stakes. She finished off-the-board in her next three races before finishing an unlucky second while coming off a four-month layoff in a June 28 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Park. Luca Panici has the return mount aboard Yesterdayoncemore.

Arindel's Onyx, a two-time stakes winner last year, will also trying to recapture her winning form after finishing well back in her three starts this year. Emisael Jaramillo, who was aboard for Onyx's stakes success, has the return mount.

Mijet, Freret, Tournesol, Days of Spring – all winners in their most recent races, and Blue Mistress round out the main body of the field.

e Five Thoroughbreds' Sound Machine, a stakes winner during the Championship Meet on dirt, is a prominent main-track-only entrant in the Portofino Bay. R U Royalty, Don't Get Khozy and Money Never Sleeps are also main-track only entrants.

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