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Upcoming Del Mar Stakes Feature Two-Year-Olds, Rock Your World

Four stakes that spotlight promising 2-year-olds, the second leg of the series for 3-year-olds, and the 69th running of the Yellow Ribbon for older fillies and mares on turf comprise a six-pack of added-money events for the fourth week of the meeting starting Thursday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

The $100,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Stakes, at 5 ½ furlongs for California-bred 2-year-old fillies initiates things on Thursday. From a list of 12 nominations, a field of nine was entered Saturday with Jorge Periban-trained At the Spa significantly coming in off a victory in a $100,000 stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., in June.

The post position draw was to be held later in the day. The field in alphabetical order with jockeys in parenthesis: At the Spa (Tyler Baze); Carmen Miranda (Giovanni Franco); Drizella (Juan Hernandez); Gianna's Wild Cat (Jessica Pyfer); Irish Wahine (Abel Cedillo); It's Simple (Mario Gutierrez); Ko Olina (Edwin Maldonado); Lion's Lair (Tiago Pereira) and Madiha (Umberto Rispoli).

Friday's feature is the $200,000 Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, often a stepping stone to the $300,000 Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante near the end of the meeting. Bob Baffert, a seven-time Sorrento-winning trainer, has three of the 22 nominees.

Saturday card features the $200,000 Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon and the $200,000 Best Pal. The Yellow Ribbon, at 1 1/16 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, drew a dozen nominees topped by Simon Callaghan-trained Maxim Rate, winner of the Grade I Gamely at Santa Anita in May.

The Best Pal, often an identifier of potential for the $300,000 Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on closing day of the meeting, has 16 nominations, six of whom have been training outside California.

The week concludes Sunday with the $150,000 Grade 3 La Jolla, the second leg of the series for 3-year-olds, and the $100,000 Graduation Stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds.

John Sadler-trained Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World is among 15 nominations for the La Jolla, a return to turf racing for the son of Candy Ride after unsuccessful Triple Crown trail runs in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

Fourteen were nominated to the Graduation, among them Luis Mendez-trained Big City Lights, a winner of two starts by a combined 19 ¾ lengths.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Chariot Racing World Champ Finds Success With Thoroughbreds

Trainer Ryan Hanson was excited to earn his first graded stakes win with Thoroughbreds at Del Mar recently, saddling Weston to victory in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes, but it was hardly the first major horse racing victory for the 39-year-old native of Idaho.

Hanson conditioned multiple graded stakes-winning Quarter Horses, and he is also a World Champion in the sport of chariot racing.

“In my office, the chariot racing photos are the ones that get the most people talking,” the trainer said. “It's the one thing I really miss about being in the northwest; I don't miss the snow or the cold, but I miss chariot racing.”

Both Hanson's father and grandfather also earned World Champion titles in chariot racing, which is conducted by hitching two horses side-by-side and competing over a quarter of a mile. Hanson won the title in 2006, just before the family moved to Southern California.

“It's a really, really huge family activity, but it's still ultra-competitive,” Hanson explained. “By the time I was doing it, we were claiming Quarter Horses from Los Alamitos, hooking them on the chariot and racing in Idaho.”

Unfortunately, it was hard to make a living during summertime Quarter Horse racing in Idaho, and chariot racing is exclusively a winter activity. Hanson's father James “Jim” Hanson moved the family racing operation to Los Alamitos in 2006, and everyone pitched in to help climb the ranks.

A jockey for his father from age 16, Ryan Hanson outgrew those boots and became his father's assistant and top exercise rider. Eventually Hanson took the horses under his own name, saddling 2013 AQHA World Champion Distance horse Honoroso, who the family had claimed for $6,250 in 2012.

Ryan Hanson in a 2006 chariot race

In 2015 Hanson went home to Idaho for the summer, racing at what turned out to be the final season in Boise. Returning to Southern California that winter, Hanson made a change. He took a job galloping Thoroughbreds for trainer Robertino Diodoro, and worked his way up to assistant.

“It's really hard to make a living in Idaho,” Hanson explained.

Two years later, Diodoro left California, and Hanson felt he didn't really have a choice but to try to make a go of it on his own. He hung out his shingle over a single horse, True Ranger, a $12,500 claimer.

That chestnut gelding may not have won a race for Hanson, but he did hit the board in most of his starts at Santa Anita and Del Mar. Hanson would win just one race in 2017, with a horse he co-owned with his father named Poshsky, but he started to make his presence felt on the Southern California circuit.

In 2018 Hanson began to train for outside clients, first in partnerships between his father and Robin Dunn. Dunn recommended Hanson to an owner named Chris Drakos, who had actually lived 15 minutes away from Hanson in Idaho, but the two had never met face to face.

Drakos took a chance and sent Hanson four horses, and the two are now co-owners of Grade 2 winner Weston.

Weston and Drayden Van Dyke after the Best Pal

“It was nice of Robin and dad to partner with me, but I wasn't able to make it on that alone,” Hanson explained. “I'm so appreciative of Drakos, because not too many people want to give a young guy a chance, and he did.”

Hanson started winning a few more races, and today he conditions a 25-horse string at Del Mar alongside his wife, Michelle Yu. Yu works afternoons as an on-air handicapper at Santa Anita, and the couple have two children under the age of four.

“They're my pride and joy,” Hanson said. “They get to come with us to the ranch, and before COVID, they'd come to the track in the afternoons as well.”

Every morning, seven days a week, Hanson rides at least 10 horses over the track before heading out to a ranch in Pico Rivera, where he, Yu, and a couple exercise riders spend another two hours or so starting babies and riding out the young horses in the river bottoms.

“Riding them yourself, I just thing you get a better feeling of the horses, you can see how they're doing,” Hanson said. “When I'm getting on them, I can make split-second decisions. When I'm out there we take them two at a time, so if I see the horse next to me doing something and think he needs to do something different, we can make that decision on the track right then.

“I do think Quarter Horses are a bit smarter than Thoroughbreds, because the Thoroughbreds you have to get out on the track every day. We try to do something different with them every day, gallop in a different way, or jog them, just something different to keep them thinking differently.”

Weston, a $7,000 purchase at the Keeneland September yearling sale, was one of those started through Hanson's program at the ranch.

“Honestly, he was miserable to break and miserable to ride,” Hanson said. “We brought him in (to the track on) April 1, and I remember thinking I couldn't wait to get him into the track and geld him. It didn't really help.”

Hanson rode the 2-year-old son of Hit It A Bomb for his first several workouts but didn't think too much of the gelding, so he decided to turn the reins over to exercise rider Emily Ellingwood. Now Ellingwood gallops Weston every day, and the gelding seems pleased with the new arrangement.

He won his debut on June 21 at Santa Anita by 1 1/4 lengths, then came back on Aug. 8 to win the G2 Best Pal by a neck.

“I was happy to win it for Ryan Hanson,” jockey Drayden Van Dyke told Del Mar publicity after the race. “He's such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him (prior to the race), but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I'm real glad I did.”

Hanson was thrilled, of course, but the pragmatic trainer not sure what the next step will be with Weston.

“I'm happy we got the race, but I don't know how good of a horse he is,” Hanson said honestly. “We caught the right field, and we were very ready. I'm not happy that we don't have another place to go with him besides the Del Mar Futurity, but if he continues to do well, I want to take advantage of it.”

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Bloodlines Presented By California Thoroughbred Breeders Association: Texas Red, Hit It A Bomb Land Early Blows In Freshman Sire Race

With races for 2-year-olds that prohibit Lasix, it was no surprise that the juvenile graded stakes winners at Del Mar on Aug. 8 both raced without the controversial medication. It was, however, a surprise that the winners of the Grade 2 Best Pal and the G2 Sorrento were both by freshmen sires.

The Sorrento's public betting choice at 0.90-to-1 was My Girl Red (by Texas Red), and after leading all the way, the handsome bay filly duly delivered by 4 3/4 lengths from second-choice Get On the Bus (Uncle Mo), who had five lengths on Exchange Vows (Tapiture), the longest price on the odds board.

Bred in Kentucky and racing for breeder Erich Brehm, My Girl Red is out of the stakes-placed Morakami (Fusaichi Pegasus), and the Sorrento winner is one of four stakes horses out of that mare. Brehm, who was a co-owner of Texas Red, purchased Morakami in foal to Street Boss (Street Cry) for $21,000 at the 2017 Keeneland January sale.

A $225,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Morakami would have been counted a disappointing broodmare at the time of sale, as none of the mare's racers had earned black type at the time. Two of the mare's foals already in training subsequently became stakes-placed, and the foal she was carrying at the sale is now known as Gold Street, the winner of the 2019 Sugar Bowl Stakes at the Fair Grounds and the 2020 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.

Now unbeaten in two starts, My Girl Red is the first graded winner for either of her parents. Morakami has a yearling filly by Texas Red and a weanling filly of 2020 by leading sire Kitten's Joy (El Prado). The mare was bred to Into Mischief for 2021.

Much like his precocious daughter, Texas Red (Afleet Alex) was a talented 2-year-old, winning the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in the absence of champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and becoming one of the early favorites for the next season's classics. The tall bay was sidelined in February 2015 with a hoof abscess, came back to win the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, then was sidelined once again with bone bruising.

In 2017, Texas Red went to stud in Kentucky at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm. Pope McLean Jr. said that former Crestwood associate “Phil Hager had a relationship with Brehm, and we partnered with him and his group. Erich leads that ownership group, and most of them stayed in on the horse” as a stallion prospect.

“Erich Brehm has put so much into the horse that this [victory at Del Mar] meant a lot to them,” said Marc McLean. “Morakami was a nice mare already, but Erich bought some other mares for the horse. That makes a difference in the opportunities that a young stallion has.”

With a first crop of “only” 49 foals, Texas Red had a very respectable number of foals for an earlier time, but in today's stallion environment with popular stallions having superbooks of 200 mares or more, the son of Afleet Alex is overachieving to have a graded stakes winner already.

In addition, another daughter of Texas Red, Somuchsugar, finished second in the restricted Miss Ohio Stakes on Aug. 8 to the Constitution filly Alexandria.

Like Texas Red, Hit It a Bomb (War Front) was a Breeders' Cup winner as an unbeaten juvenile, winning the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf by a neck from Airoforce (Colonel John). Laid off until August of his 3-year-old season, Hit It a Bomb returned with thirds in the G2 Solonaway Stakes and G3 Desmond Stakes and ended his career unplaced in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile.

Sold to stand at Spendthrift Farm, Hit It a Bomb got a tepid reception from dirt-oriented breeders and has only 38 foals from his first crop. Some of them looked the part of quality racers at last year's sales of yearlings, as Makai brought $140,000 at the Keeneland September sale from Jordan Blair Racing, and Miss Costa Rica brought $95,000 at the same auction. Too many of the yearlings by Hit It a Bomb, however, did not receive the seal of approval from American trainers and pinhookers, with a sales median price of $12,000 from 23 sold.

One of those below the median price was Weston, who sold to Chris Drakos for $7,000 at the Keeneland September sale. Now the winner of the Best Pal Stakes, the bay has improved a lot, and he may not be the only one. Miss Costa Rica returned as a 2-year-old in training at the OBS March sale and sold for $200,000 in this year's strongly depressed market. She and a couple other well-regarded members of the first crop by Hit It a Bomb are reported to be training well and should make starts soon.

A winner on debut, Weston won the Best Pal after laying up with the pace the whole trip and was ahead by a neck at the wire, defeating Girther (Brody's Cause).

Weston is out of the stakes-placed Elke (Dixie Union), and the Hit It a Bomb gelding is the mare's first stakes winner. Elke has also produced the stakes-placed Miss Segovia (Paddy O'Prado) and two other winners of more than $100,000.

As the progeny of a high-class racer who showed his form on turf, gamblers will want to pay special attention to the stock by Hit It a Bomb when they get a chance to race on turf.

Both My Girl Red and Weston were the first winners by their sires, and now they have become the first stakes winners and graded stakes winners for those young stallions trying to secure a future in the breeding world of Kentucky. To secure a position in the stallion hierarchy for 2021, Hit It a Bomb and Texas Red needed to show success early, and they have done well to sire graded winners from relatively small crops very early in their first inning at stud.

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Weston’s Best Pal Score Gives Trainer Hanson, Sire Hit It A Bomb First Graded Stakes Victories

Chris Drakos and Ryan Hanson's Weston got up in the final stride to triumph in the 50th running of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif., on Saturday.

The gelding became the first stakes winner for the freshman sire Hit It a Bomb, just getting the best of 32-1 longshot Girther, owned by Altamira Racing Stable. Finishing third via disqualification of the original third-place finisher Ambivalent

Chris Drakos and Ryan Hanson's Weston got up in the final stride to triumph in the 50th running of the Grade II Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar Saturday.

The gelded son of the young stallion Hit It a Bomb just got the best of 32-1 longshot Girther, owned by Altamira Racing Stable. Sonic Breeze was awarded third when the original third-place finisher, Ambivalent, was disqualified for interference and placed fourth.

The 1-2 race favorite, Breeze Easy's Roderick, who had shipping in from New York and was coming off an impressive victory there, failed to fire in the lane and finished last of the seven runners.

“Boy, I had to work hard for that one,” said Van Dyke. “But I'm glad I did. I was happy to win it for (trainer) Ryan Hanson. He's such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him (prior to the race), but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I'm real glad I did.”

Weston is trained by co-owner Hanson and the bay's score was the first graded stakes win in Thoroughbred racing for the conditioner, as well as his first stakes victory at Del Mar.

“He broke sharp, just like we wanted him to, but then it looked like he just sat there for a minute,” said Hanson. “I got a little nervous when he got shuffled back, but then he got back up there and fought on. The time was not very impressive, but that doesn't matter. I didn't think we were going to win it. I thought we'd be second to the Peter Miller horse, who had had a trip over the track. But I'm just really happy. We'll see how he looks tomorrow and let him tell us what to do (regarding the $250,000, Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, September 7). ”

Weston paid $12.20, $6.80 and $4.60 across the board and picked up a check for $90,000 from the $151,000 purse.

Final time for the six furlongs was 1:12.72.

The winner was a $7,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September Sale in 2019. He captured his only previous start when he flashed speed and tallied by a length and a quarter in a four and a half furlong straight maiden race at Santa Anita on June 21.

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