Bing Crosby Season | Horse Racing Free Tips

Key Del Mar Names Reflect Upon 2021, Look Forward To 2022

The curtain comes down today on the Bing Crosby Season and, thereby, racing at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., for 2021. An appropriate time, it would seem, for a few key figures to, upon request, provide thoughts and comments on the summer and fall meetings this year, reflect back on COVID-marked 2020 and ahead to 2022.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper – “It has been a long couple years (2020-2021), but when all the dust settles, we've done terrific, and we've had a terrific year this year. I've learned not to count the people, just count the money on the tote board and there's your happy ending.”

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella – “The summer for our stable was wonderful (three stakes wins highlighted by United in the Eddie Read). The fall? It was nice to be down here, but we're packing up and heading north tomorrow licking our wounds…

“It was a big difference this year to have people back in the stands. That's what we need more of in racing is people to be here and have some fun and excitement. During COVID, it was just ourselves and the horses. With nobody to brag to after you won a race, it got pretty dull.

“Thankfully, we had racing and I don't want to take away from how lucky we were to have racing. A lot of businesses just stopped and we got to go ahead and continue to make a living without major job losses. But last year compared to this? There's no comparison. We need the people here.”

Trainer Peter Miller – “The summer was great (winning the training title and five stakes). The fall has not been up to our standards, but we've closed out with two wins on Friday and the (Jimmy Durante) stakes yesterday.”

Earlier this summer, Miller announced he was stepping back from racing and turning day-to-day operations over assistant Ruben Alvarado starting with the end of the Bing Crosby Season.

“Tomorrow morning I'm going to sleep in, have breakfast with my two boys and take them to school,” Miller said. “To say that has not been routine to this point is a real understatement.”

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert – “It was nice to be able to go to the track and have people there again. Clients love to win at Del Mar, and even when you lose, it doesn't feel as bad there. It's a fun atmosphere and they've done a good job of keeping it that way. ”

Baffert won four stakes in the summer, among them the Debutante and Futurity, and added four more during the Bing Crosby meeting – among them the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. It boosted his track record stakes victory total to 147.

“I have the sign that says record (victory) No. 75, seems like a long time ago,” Baffert said … “I'll have a lot of 2-year-olds again next summer…It's the best place to develop young horses.”

Trainer Bob Hess, Jr. – “Our summer meet started out pretty darn slow, but we finished with a flourish. The fall has been a bit slow but productive. We had a big winner (Saturday) in Miss Mattie B ($61.80), a 2-year-old filly we look forward to (campaigning) next year.

“For our barn and racing in general, I believe this Del Mar dirt surface is the safest in the country and it's even better in the fall than it is in the summer. That's why I personally like to have my horses down here in the fall. It doesn't make economic sense, but I think it makes a lot of horse sense.”

Trainer Phil D'Amato – “We've had a nice exciting year (26 wins overall, six stakes) and we're looking forward to 2022. I think it's only going to get better.”

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Verbal Rallies To Win Cecil B. DeMille Stakes At Del Mar

Verbal made the trip from New York to California a winning one, the son of Flintshire's stretch drive putting him on the wire first in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

On the final day of the Bing Crosby season at the Del Mar, Calif., racetrack, the field of 10 broke evenly from the starting gate, Groovy Huey showing his head first with Get Back Goldie second as they approached the first turn. The two leaders put seven lengths between them and the field on the backstretch, with Barsabas third and Cabo Spirit in fourth.

Approaching the far turn, Get Back Goldie assumed the lead, with Barsabas and Cabo Spirit back in second and third as Groovy Huey fell out of contention. Jose Ortiz moved Verbal from midpack on the backstretch to fourth on the far turn, going four-wide into the stretch. Cabo Spirit took the lead in the stretch, with Barsabas and Verbal driving down the center of the track. The favored Verbal hit the front in the last strides before the wire, taking the G3 by a half-length. Barsabas was second, with Cabo Spirit third. Lottery Pick, Optimising, Derecho Dandy, Khantaro d'Oro, Stotland, Get Back Goldie, and Groovy Huey rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the one-mile Cecil B. DeMille was 1:36.16. Find this race's chart here.

Verbal paid $4.00, $3.20, and $2.60. Barsabas paid $31.20 and $12.80. Cabo Spirit paid $5.00.

“He won easy last time, but that was against maidens. He was running against winners today, much better horses. I knew there would be speed in the race so, even though I had the outside post, I was able to drop over and save some ground. He came running when it counted. The boss (trainer Chad Brown) knows how to spot a horse. He had it right today,” jockey Jose Ortiz told the Del Mar Press Office after the race.

“I liked the way he was coming into this race, he's been training well. It worked out like we thought. He's got a really good turn of foot and he got there. We didn't have much luck yesterday, but this is a really good start for today,” Juan Hernandez, assistant to trainer Chad Brown, said after the Cecil B. DeMille.

Bred in Kentucky by owner Juddmonte Farms, Verbal is out of the Bernardini mare Endless Chat. The G3 Cecil B. DeMille is Verbal's second win in two career starts for career earnings of $109,500.

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Princess Grace Favored In Del Mar’s Closing Day Matriarch

Del Mar's Bing Crosby Season #8 will come to a sweet close Sunday with a nine-race card topped by the Grade 1, $400,000 Matriarch Stakes.

Besides the filly and mare grass feature, there also will be the Grade 3, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds. The Matriarch has lured seven for its mile journey, while the DeMille has brought out 11 for its eight furlongs on the green.

The 15-day Crosby Season at the seaside track north of San Diego, Calif., featured the 38th edition of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which established a new betting mark for the two-day, 14-race extravaganza. Additionally, the seaside track put on its own 13-day session climaxed by a seven-stakes, all on grass, four-day finish that puts a fine bow on a fine racing run.

Heading the 41st edition of the Matriarch – the last seven of which have been held at Del Mar – is Susan and John Moore's Princess Grace, a 4-year-old filly by the Japanese-bred stallion Karakontie who has won six of her eight lifetime starts, including a tally at Del Mar this past summer in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap. Trainer Michael Stidham sticks with Kent Desormeaux as her rider.

Princess Grace will have to have her running shoes on tight Sunday, though, with trainer Chad Brown having entered two of his mares in the test, including last year's winner Viadera.

The Matriarch will be seventh race on the Sunday card.

In the Cecil B. DeMille, which goes as Race 3, the horse to beat appears to be another Brown runner in Verbal, who has only made one starts, but it was a goodie. He won easily over a field of straight maidens at Belmont Park on October 10 at a mile on the grass and will have Jose Ortiz back again on board on Sunday.

Here are the full fields for both races from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Matriarch Stakes: Princess Grace (8/5); Calvin Nguyen's Bodhicitta (John Velazquez, 12-1); Juddmonte's Viadera (Flavien Prat, 5/2); Aoshiba Corporation's Fast Jet Court (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Heider Family Stables' Zofelle (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1), and Peter Brant's Regal Glory (Jose Ortiz, 9/5).

Cecil B. DeMille Stakes: Red Baron Barn or Rancho Temescal's Optimising (Umberto Rispoli, 3-1); Merecado Racing's Khantaro d'Oro (Juan Hernandez, 12-1); Alvarez Racing Stables' Groovy Huey (Edwin Maldonado, 30-1); West Point Thoroughbreds or Barker's Derecho Dandy (Joe Bravo, 5-1); Drakos or Hanson's Barsabas (Tyler Baze, 12-1); Homme or DeMaio's Il Capitano (John Velazquez, 20-1); Kretz Racing's Cabo Spirit (Victor Espinoza, 6-1); Featherston, Lambert or Underhill, et al's Stotland (Kent Desormeaux, 30-1); Glenn Sorgenstein WC Racing and Great Friends Stable, et al's Get Back Goldie (Kyle Frey, 6-1); Verbal (5/2), and Exline-Border Racing, Wilson, et al's Lottery Pick (Flavien Prat, 8-1).

First post for the Sunday finale will be 12:30 p.m.

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Acclimate, Rockemperor Among Seven Entered For Friday’s Hollywood Turf Cup

Phil D'Amato-trained Acclimate, John Shirreff's Astronaut, and Chad Brown-conditioned Rockemperor, last seen at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., in the $4 million Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, are among seven entered today for Friday's $250,000 G2 Hollywood Turf Cup.

A victory, or high placing, for Acclimate, Astronaut, or Rockemperor, would salve the sting of ill-starred efforts in the Breeders' Cup, in the case of Astronaut and Rockemperor after gaining entry through “Win and You're In” victories.

Astronaut rallied in the stretch for a half-length victory in the Del Mar Handicap at odds of 24-1 on Pacific Classic Day in August. Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza found no clear path in the BC Turf, however, had to check hard before the quarter pole and finished 12th of 14. Rockemperor won the Turf Classic at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., in October but was in tight quarters throughout in the BC Turf and finished eighth.

Acclimate, with one win and three narrow losses in graded events leading up to the BC Turf, was close to the pace early before fading to last.

The post position draw was scheduled this afternoon. The entrants, in alphabetical order: Acclimate (Ricky Gonzalez); Astronaut (Espinoza); Award Winner (Juan Hernandez); Cupid's Claws (Abel Cedillo); Friar's Road (Umberto Rispoli), Rockemperor (Flavien Prat), and Say The Word (Kent Desormeaux).

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