Away at 7-1 while looking to provide trainer George Papaprodromou with a first Grade I victory, the runner-up in the 2019 GI American Pharoah S. kept the early leaders within his scope from his outside draw in sixth. He ranged up while five-wide rounding the far turn, hit the front at the top of the stretch and was never seriously threatened by the late rally of Get Her Number (Dialed In). Letsgetlucky (Munnings) was third.

A debut winner at two over the Del Mar main track, the gray ended a nine-race losing streak when cutting back in distance for the seven-furlong Triple Bend. He was a well-beaten sixth in both the GII San Pasqual S. and GI Santa Anita H. earlier this year.

Pedigree Notes:

In four North American crops of racing age, Horse of the Year and Coolmore stallion American Pharoah has 14 graded winners among his 27 black-type winners. American Theorem is the newest of his six Grade I winners, joining that highest-level group of As Time Goes By, Harvey's Lil Goil, Van Gogh (in France), Above the Curve (in France), and Cafe Pharoah (in Japan). A number of different broodmare sire lines are represented among American Pharoah's GISWs, with American Theorem his lone black-type winner out of a Maria's Mon mare. The late Maria's Mon, the source of American Theorem's gray coloring, was a sneaky-good sire who was responsible for two GI Kentucky Derby winners and is broodmare sire of 65 stakes winners.

The unraced Mighty Renee has produced five black-type performers out of her seven foals to race, including another Del Mar graded winner in 2011 GIII Sorrento S. victress Mighty Caroline. Her most recent foal is $210,000 Keeneland September yearling Captain Choochies (Classic Empire), an unraced now-2-year-old colt who worked July 28 at Del Mar, getting three panels in :36.60 (6/15). Mighty Renee's dam was also unraced, while her granddam was MGISW Over All (Mr. Prospector). Over All's extended family includes another Mr. Prospector star in Conquistador Cielo, 1982's Horse of the Year.

Saturday, Del Mar
BING CROSBY S.-GI, $402,000, Del Mar, 7-30, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.67, ft.
1–AMERICAN THEOREM, 124, r, 5, by American Pharoah
                1st Dam: Mighty Renee, by Maria's Mon
                2nd Dam: Margy, by Theatrical (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Over All, by Mr. Prospector
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($190,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Kretz
Racing LLC; B-Sierra Farm (KY); T-George Papaprodromou;
J-Joe Bravo. $240,000. Lifetime Record: 12-4-3-0, $531,967.
*1/2 to Viel Spass (Kitten's Joy), SP-Jpn, $336,462; 1/2 to
Mighty Caroline (Stormy Atlantic), GSW, $140,000; 1/2 to
Cyclogenisis (Stormy Atlantic), MSW, $198,750.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Get Her Number, 122, c, 4, Dialed In–Fancier, by Bernstein.
($45,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Gary Barber; B-Philip & Brenda
Robertson (KY); T-Peter Miller. $80,000.
3–Letsgetlucky, 122, g, 4, Munnings–My Cinsation, by Cindago.
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Brown, Edward Rusty J., Klein, Alan P.
and Lebherz, Philip; B-Premier Thoroughbreds LLC (CA);
T-Brian J. Koriner. $48,000.
Margins: 1HF, 4 1/4, 3/4. Odds: 7.80, 7.20, 9.40.
Also Ran: Shaaz, Principe Carlo, Drain the Clock, Diamond Oops, Bagboss, Howbeit. Scratched: Desmond Doss. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Quigley – whose paddock observations and handicapping tips from Southern California racetracks are a mainstay on Twitter at @Quigleys_Corner – points out that the Del Mar Derby was first run in 1945 as the Quigley Memorial. No, Tom Quigley is not THAT old; the race was named in honor of William A. Quigley, a former college football player and coach who lived in La Jolla, just a few miles south of Del Mar.

Inspired by Santa Anita's opening in December 1934, Quigley brought the idea of a racetrack at Del Mar to singer Bing Crosby in 1936 and was a founder of the seaside oval with Crosby and entertainer Pat O'Brien.

So there's the history of the Del Mar Derby's original name.

More importantly, who will win this year's renewal? Watch the video below to see who Tom, Michelle and I like in the 2021 Derby.

Beat Ray Everyday is a season-long free to play handicapping contest offering as first prize two VIP tickets to the 2021 Breeders' Cup world championships, to be run at Del Mar on Nov. 5-6. Contestants have had the opportunity to wager a mythical $100 in win, place and show bets on a selected race each day of the meet, and the winner will be the person who has the highest bankroll after Monday's closing day. Here are the current standings.

Beach Boss will be back for the Bing Crosby meeting that opens on Nov. 3 and runs through Nov. 28. Details will be available here.

The post Beat Ray At Del Mar: Hanging Out At Quigley’s Corner appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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For the past two racing seasons, we've seen two top-rated United States 2-year-olds in each year maintain impeccable form for a period of about 12 months, straight through to a deep point in their sophomore campaigns. That's a fairly remarkable occurrence in this day and age.

Tiz the Law (Constitution) broke his maiden at Saratoga on Aug. 8, 2019, then prevailed in the GI Runhappy Travers S. exactly one year later. The compact bay who raced with a relentless swagger lost only once in seven starts during that time frame, racking up other tour-de-force Grade I victories in the Champagne S., Florida Derby, and Belmont S. during a campaign whose Triple Crown scheduling was convoluted by the pandemic.

Outside of missing a few days of training in early March because of a heel bruise, Tiz sailed all the way through to the Sept. 5, 2020, GI Kentucky Derby before getting outpunched in a stretch fight and finishing second. He subsequently was a no-factor sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which ended up being his final race prior to an unexpected retirement Dec. 30 because of bone bruising.

The charismatic colt's final two subpar races don't at all encapsulate the flair and panache with which he helped carry the sport through a difficult year.

The career arc of 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) neatly overlaps with Tiz's meteoric rise and gradual, two-race descent. This assertive, athletic gray broke his maiden on the 2020 Derby Day undercard at Churchill Downs–just hours before Tiz tasted defeat as the odds-on Derby favorite.

Then Essential Quality tore off back-to-back Grade I autumn wins, including a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile that earned him 2-year-old Eclipse Award championship honors.

Essential Quality, pretty much like Tiz, managed to avoid nagging setbacks during the transition from two to three. He scored smartly in both of his 2021 spring stakes preps before heading undefeated to the Derby, also as the fave.

Despite minor jostling at the break and a wide go into the first turn, he eventually settled into an in-the-clear, stalking stride that was reminiscent of Tiz's own no-excuse clean trip in the Derby. Essential Quality responded gamely when set down and very willingly dug in for a stretch fight. But, like Tiz the Law, he couldn't close the gap despite trying hard, and finished fourth.

Five weeks later, Essential Quality rebounded with a high-torque win in the Belmont S., launching a bold bid half a mile out and sustaining pressure through deep stretch before finally kicking clear a sixteenth from the wire.

The colt he beat, Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), came back to cross the finish wire first in the July 17 GI TVG.com Haskell S. but was DQ'd from the win for interference. Those two colts are clearly at the top of the sophomore pecking order heading into the back half of the season.

Essential Quality hasn't quite hit the one-year mark of sustained excellence the way Tiz the Law did. But he's close on the calendar (331 days) and his seven wins from eight starts resonate not only from a statistical sense, but because of the “how he did it” authority of those victories.

Saturday's GII Jim Dandy S. score at Saratoga by Essential Quality might have been a closer shave than his connections (and the betting public) cared to sweat out at 2-5 odds.

But I'm willing to shrug off that half-length narrow escape over the pesky 9-1 Keepmeinmind (Laoban) based on three factors:

1) Essential Quality wasn't fully cranked, training-wise, for a prep race designed to have him tight for the Aug. 28 Travers.

2) Keepmeinmind's brief seizing of the lead a sixteenth out was more attributable to a momentary focus lapse by the champ, which was evident when Essential Quality instantly flashed back into attack mode to polish off Keepmeinmind.

3) Essential Quality gave up copious real estate while wide around both turns, traveling 6,060 feet over nine furlongs according to Trakus, versus Keepmeinmind's mostly rail-running 6,022 (a difference of 38 feet over the course of the race).

The Jim Dandy victory was the second straight homebred score (and third win overall as an owner) for Godolphin, which won last year with Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and in 2012 with Alpha (Bernardini).

The last time a Jim Dandy winner won the Travers was when Alpha finished in a dead-heat for first with Golden Ticket.

First 'Vandy', then Dandy

The Jim Dandy was the second straight graded dirt stakes on Saturday's Saratoga card in which the winner lost the lead in deep stretch then roared back to snatch victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat.

Except Lexitonian (Speightstown)'s win in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. was way at the other end of the pari-mutuel spectrum. The five-year-old Calumet Farm color bearer was 34-1, the longest shot in the field of nine.

Lexitonian was hell-bent for the lead in the six-furlong sprint but appeared pressure-cooked by the quarter pole.

Yet the pursuers who looked certain to swallow him up couldn't seal the deal, and Lexitonian clawed back a half-length win for his first trip to the winner's circle in 14 months.

The win also was the first leg of a dirt-stakes double at Saratoga for homebreds.

In an era in which we lament that horses don't race as frequently or robustly as they once did at the top end of the sport, Calumet homebreds seem to dance every dance, and have accounted for some pricey graded stakes upsets over the last decade.

Prime examples are Oxbow's 15-1 GI Preakness S. win in 2013, Bravazo's 21-1 GII Risen Star S. score in 2018, and Everfast's 29-1 near-miss second in the 2019 Preakness. And just three months ago, we witnessed Bourbonic (Bernardini)'s 72-1 last-to-first thriller in the GII Wood Memorial S.

“I have to give Lexitonian a ton of credit,” trainer Jack Sisterson said. “He ran in the [GI] Met Mile and he was eased. You'd think a horse that was eased and thrown in some clunkers, you'd sit back and think let's drop him down a grade and give him a confidence builder. But I've run him in every Grade I and been hard on him and this is how he responds today. I have to give credit to Lexitonian.”

So which Grade I sprint was best?

Dr. Schivel (Violence) powered home first in a multi-horse photo to win the GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar later on Saturday, running his record to 3-for-3 at Del Mar in advance of a presumptive start in the Gi Breeders' Cup Sprint that will be run over that same surface Nov. 6.

The $6.80 win by a neck marked the second straight year that the trainer/jockey tandem of Mark Glatt and Flavien Prat won the Bing Crosby. The colt was one of only two 3-year-olds entered against older rivals.

A fondness for the seaside oval must run in Dr. Schivel's family. His dam, Lil Nugget, was 2-for-2 at Del Mar, with both wins coming during the 2007 campaign against claiming company. The modest offspring she produced via her first seven foalings (three career maidens and four lower-level claiming winners) didn't suggest a multiple Grade I-winning colt like Dr. Schivel was in the pipeline.

Dr. Schivel ran a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, and the two horses hot on his heels at the wire, Eight Rings (Empire Maker) and the favored C Z Rocket (City Zip), both delivered emphatic second- and third-place performances that were otherwise good enough to win.

Back East at the Spa, Lexitonian earned a 102 Beyer (Coincidentally, Lexitonian was second, beaten only a nose in the 2020 version of the Bing Crosby).

The sense from this vantage point is that Dr. Schivel's race featured stronger competition but the weaker speed figure.

Lexitonian's triple-digit Beyer trumps that performance numbers-wise, but the heavy-hitting competition in his race for the most part failed to fire.

Ordinarily I'd rate those two performances more or less as equal based on the above-outlined reasoning.

But because the Breeders' Cup is at Del Mar this year, the longer-term track-familiarity edge goes to the horses who'll be running back out of the Bing Crosby.

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The Crosby, named for the crooner who once owned Del Mar racetrack, is this week's Beat Ray Beach Boss event, where a guest handicapper takes his or her turn attempting to out-handicap me with a mythical $100 bankroll. So far, guests Scotty McKeever and Billy Koch have done very well, leaving me 0-for-2 and wondering if I'll ever find a winner.

British broadcaster Nick Luck, currently covering the Tokyo Olympic equestrian events for the BBC but well-known to American viewers of racing telecasts, joins host Michelle Yu and me this week to handicap the Crosby. While I'm relying on morning line favorite C Z Rocket to bail me out, Nick has done his due diligence on some of the other runners and come up with a pair of longshots he is backing.

It's not too late to sign up for the daily Beat Ray Everyday Beach Boss competition (sign up here) and qualify for the two VIP Breeders' Cup tickets awarded to the player with the largest bankroll at the end of the meet.

Watch the video below for Ray, Nick and Michelle's thoughts on this week's Bing Crosby.

The post Beat Ray At Del Mar: Do You Believe In Luck? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Vanderbilt features reigning sprint champion Whitmore seeking his first win of his 8-year-old campaign, while Firenze Fire will attempt to turn the tables after finishing third behind Whitmore in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Morning-line favoritism goes to Michevious Alex, the G1-winning sprinter who shortens back up to six furlongs after running third in the Met Mile.

Meanwhile, the Bing Crosby offers a deep field of nine including divisional leader C Z Rocket. After twice defeating Whitmore at Oaklawn Park over the winter, C Z Rocket will race without Lasix for the first time in his career during this “Win and You're In” contest for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

The New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring action from historic Saratoga Race Course as well as competition from Woodbine Racetrack and Monmouth Park.

Here's a quick snapshot of this weekend's graded stakes schedule (all times Eastern):

Saturday

5:03 p.m. – $350,000 Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga

Champion Whitmore faces eight rivals in this spot, most notably Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mischevious Alex, both of whom are listed at lower odds on the morning line. Special Reserve has been facing lesser company but has won four of his five starts this season, while live longshot Lexitonian ran extremely well to finish second in his last start at six furlongs, in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes, and returns to the sprint scene after a poor start and sixth-place finish in the Met Mile.

Vanderbilt Entries

5:39 p.m. – $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga

Essential Quality has done little wrong thus far in his career, and it would take a monster effort from one of the five rivals in this race to defeat him on Saturday. That said, Masqueparade is an improving sort for the very patient Al Stall, Jr., and Weyburn being entered in this race instead of the Plate Trial (he's Ontario-bred) should say something about what trainer Jimmy Jerkens thinks of his chances. Keepmeinmind would benefit from a hot pace up front, should one develop.

Jim Dandy Entries

6:12 p.m. – $250,000 G2 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga

Three sons of English Channel make up three of the top four choices on the morning line in the Bowling Green, a 1 3/8-mile contest over the Saratoga lawn. Channel Maker is the favorite, making his first start since running a big second in Saudi Arabia's Neom Turf Cup and then finishing off the board a month later in Dubai; the Bill Mott trainee, one of three in this race, was third in this race last year and usually seems to hit his best form around the fall. The ever-dangerous Chad Brown enters a pair in Rockemperor and Breakpoint, while the red-hot Mike Maker has New York-bred Cross Border in with a chance.

Bowling Green Entries

9:30 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar

Even if C Z Rocket proves he can run without Lasix, it may not be enough to secure him the victory in this “Win and You're In” contest for the Breeders' Cup Sprint this fall. Eight others are signed on for the six-furlong affair, with a trio from the barn of Mark Glatt including last year's winner, Collusion Illusion. Brickyard Ride will try to steal the race on the front end, while the Glatt-trained Dr. Schivel would seem likeliest to take advantage of a hot early pace.

Bing Crosby Entries

Sunday

5:39 p.m. – $200,0000 G2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga

Restricted to 3-year-olds, the Amsterdam features a rematch between Drain the Clock and Jackie's Warrior, the 1-2 finishers separated by a neck last out in the G1 Woody Stephens. They'll have a sixteenth of a mile less to travel this time, which should give the advantage to the speedy and determined Jackie's Warrior as his Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen approaches Dale Baird's all-time leading trainer record.

Amsterdam Entries

9:00 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar

Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil ships in from Ellis Park to contest the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch for trainer Brad Cox, chasing the expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff granted to the winner. The regally-bred local divisional leader As Time Goes By, an American Pharoah half-sister to Will Take Charge and Take Charge Indy, will enter off a two-race win streak for trainer Bob Baffert. Venetian Harbor has won a pair of graded stakes races sprinting in the past year, but stretches out here, and Warren's Showtime switches to the dirt after winning the G3 Wilshire last out.

Hirsch Entries

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A broadcast team including Todd Schrupp, Christina Blacker, Britney Eurton, Joaquin Jaime, Mike Joyce and Scott Hazelton will be trackside with exclusive interviews, insights and handicapping selections.

Saturday's $300,000 Bing Crosby (G1), which will earn the winner a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), has drawn a field of nine of some of the fastest sprinters in the country including graded stakes winner C Z Rocket for trainer Peter Miller. The 7-year-old gelding was second in the 2020 edition of the Breeders' Cup Sprint and will have Flavien Prat aboard.

Sunday's featured $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) has drawn a field of seven fillies and mares vying for a berth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). The contenders include Shedaresthedevil, the 2020 Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine for trainer Brad Cox. A four-year-old daughter of Daredevil, she will be ridden by Florent Geroux as she tries to earn her third victory of the year.

The Breeders' Cup will be held November 5-6 at Del Mar.

Thursday will also mark the beginning of a month-long partnership with Old Friends, a popular equine retirement facility in Kentucky that is home to retired champions including Silver Charm, Alphabet Soup and Game on Dude.

Any existing account holder that refers a friend to sign up and make a deposit before the end of August will receive a $50 referral bonus and TVG will make a $50 donation to Old Friends for each referral received.

It was announced on Friday that the TVG Pacific Classic (G1), scheduled for August 21, will get a purse increase back to its original level of $1 million. The TVG Pacific Classic is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

In addition to racing from Del Mar, TVG will also be featuring Monmouth Park, Gulfstream Park, Pimlico and more. Fans can tune in on TVG, TVG2 and the Watch TVG app which is available on Amazon Fire, Roku and connected Apple TV devices.

The post TVG: Live Coverage Of Del Mar’s ‘Win And You’re In’ Races, Launch Of Old Friends Promotion appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The prestige and panache contributed by these gentlemen to the heyday of the Turf lingers even against popular inattention or distaste today. Obviously they rode very different trails to the social summit: one the scion of capitalist royalty, the other a son of a Spokane bookkeeper. But both shared a conviction that the heartbeat of the sport–in an era when it truly enjoyed mass appeal–was measured not so much in its bluebloods as among its blue-collar fans.

Crosby, as founding father, famously manned the turnstiles for Del Mar's opening day in 1937. And Vanderbilt, who took over Pimlico the following year, would sometimes plunge into the crowd incognito to sample their experience, and recount any dissatisfactions at the next board meeting.

Though unshaven and tieless, it's surprising nobody recognized him: “Say, don't I know you? You're Jimmy Stewart!” The resemblance, an enviable one of course, was quite uncanny. Stewart would seal his rise with The Philadelphia Story (1940), the screwball classic which burdens the 1956 musical remake, High Society, with a nearly insurmountable air of desecration. In this version the patrician sportsman C.K. Dexter Haven, originally played by Cary Grant, was awkwardly reprised by Crosby as a jazz composer. To be fair, a similar anomaly was even then being achieved just down the road, where the producer John Hammond–whose mother actually was a Vanderbilt–had helped to set up the Newport Jazz Festival. But if that was an exercise in bringing proletarian culture to the plutocrats, then the reverse challenge was being embraced by Vanderbilt and Crosby: how to achieve public engagement with the sporting rivalry of millionaires?

Both came up with a very similar answer. They recognized how the Thoroughbred, though the ultimate emblem of pedigree, could transcend class. And that was how both Vanderbilt and Crosby featured as impresarios in the saga of the Depression hero Seabiscuit.

Crosby's partner in Binglin Stable, Lindsay Howard, was the son of Seabiscuit's owner Charles S. Howard, himself a founding director of Del Mar alongside Crosby. In 1938, only its second year of operation, together they posted a $25,000 match between Seabiscuit and Binglin's Argentinian import Ligaroti. Crosby went into Hollywood overdrive and the place was packed out. A section of the clubhouse was roped off for those rooting for his horse, while Clark Gable and Spencer Tracey were among the hundreds brandishing pennants in the Binglin colors. In a finish of notorious rough riding, Seabiscuit won by a nose.

Del Mar had put itself on the map. But that, of course, was only the prelude to Seabiscuit's showdown with War Admiral at Pimlico that November. Vanderbilt had been lobbying the owners for months. He had, in fact, just married the niece of Charles Howard's second wife, Marcela, herself the sister of Lindsay Howard's wife Anita. (Lindsay and Anita divorced soon after–and she then married Vanderbilt's brother!) Vanderbilt landed the match of the century by chasing War Admiral's owner Nelson Riddle through Penn Station and preventing him from boarding his train until he had signed the contract.

But while both understood showmanship and spectacle, Vanderbilt and Crosby first and foremost trusted the inherent narrative power of the sport. It was just a case of improving access. At Pimlico, that meant a public address system, and leveling off the mound that gave Old Hilltop a nickname but deprived its patrons of a backstretch view. A starting gate was also introduced to promote wagering confidence.

At Del Mar, meanwhile, Crosby had hired an optical engineer from Paramount Pictures to inaugurate the photo-finish camera. And he persuaded NBC to broadcast a radio show from the track every Saturday, so that celebrities could say what a splendid time they were having.

Apt, then, that Vanderbilt should have raced the sport's poster boy for the television age, Native Dancer, who made the cover of Time in 1954. And likewise that Del Mar still bookends the day with Crosby, himself a breakout star of multimedia, singing “Where The Surf Meets The Turf.”

But their real legacy is example. Yes, we face heavy challenges. But don't forget that it was between Depression and war that Vanderbilt and Crosby went out and captured imaginations with the racehorse as a conduit of hope, or at least escapism, for ordinary people.

In its essentials, the game was much as it remains today: a contest of horses and horsemen in repeating, mesmerizing circles. They didn't try to gimmick it into something different. They just swung open the theater doors and turned on the footlights. So often deplored as too arcane for an urban, 21st Century audience, the Turf is actually hugely accessible–if only you provide that access.

Many of our problems now boil down simply to whether we have or not have a show we can display with pride. Cheating trainers, for instance, don't just cheat their honest rivals and imperil the noble agents of their corruption. They also validate a sense, in the world beyond, that our community has something to hide.

Conversely, our community's nearly universal devotion to the horse needs only to be seen to be understood and, very soon, to be shared. We have all, surely, seen friends outside our business become intrigued, once the door has been prised open to them.

Admittedly the sprint division doesn't quite offer the layman the kind of slower-burning drama that tends to unfold round a second turn, but there's no lack of character development. And that's especially precious at a time when Thoroughbreds tend to be sighted about as frequently as Halley's Comet, a trend plainly inimical to fan engagement. These, in contrast, are horses on whom you can really hang your hat. Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) and Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior) bring to the Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. a joint record of 29 wins in 75 starts for a few cents short of $7 million. I love the fact that the reigning GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner ran in the Derby won by Nyquist. Meanwhile the 7-year-old C Z Rocket (City Zip), who chased home Whitmore at Keeneland last fall, takes his 11-for-26 record into the Bing Crosby S.

Whitmore and C Z Rocket are geldings, of course, which is one obvious reason why both should have stuck around. Thoroughbreds may be born to run but nowadays that is seldom why they are conceived. So many of them are brought into the world for a purpose that is accomplished the moment they walk out of the sale ring, yet to feel a saddle on their back.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much how some racetrack operators view their own participation in our sport–as the bottom line in a page of numbers. Crosby and Vanderbilt both had their local loyalties, on either coast, but what would men of their time and stamp think to see the home of the Derby in the hands of what appears to be primarily a gaming corporation?

No doubt the accountants cashing in another of the sport's jewels, at Arlington Park, can only see demographic disaster coming down the tracks. As Crosby sings with Frank Sinatra, in High Society: “Have you heard, it's in the stars, next July we collide with Mars?” But if horseracing becomes merely an incidental adjunct to the soulless stimulations plied to casino addicts, then the only “match of the century” we'll ever know will be the one lighting the bonfire of our heritage.

Vanderbilt and Crosby, remember, were brilliant promoters precisely because they were communicating their own excitement, their own belief. So let's get out there, while we can, and tell everyone just “what a swellegant, elegant party this is!”

The post This Side Up: Old Stagers Keep Us to the Script appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Given a slight nod on the morning line at 5-2 is C Z Rocket (City Zip). Claimed for $40,000 last spring at Oaklawn by Peter Miller, the gelding has been a new horse since, winning seven of nine races while finishing second in the other two. That streak includes a score in last summer's GII Pat O'Brien S. over this oval. The 7-year-old most recently was second when stretching out in the GIII Steve Sexton Mile S. May 31 at Lone Star.

California-bred Brickyard Ride (Clubhouse Ride) rates a big chances breaking from the outermost stall. Earning a shot at open company after a convincing score in the California Cup Sprint S. Jan. 16 at Santa Anita, the Alfred Pais homebred didn't disappoint, cruising to an impressive four-length victory despite setting a scorching pace in the GII San Carlos S. Mar. 6. Well-beaten in his next two, he rebounded with a 4 3/4-length success in the Cal-bred Thor's Echo S. last out June 12.

Dr. Schivel (Violence) takes on older horses in just his fifth career start. Taking three tries to break his maiden, he came right back to annex the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity for Luis Mendez, but went unseen for over nine months after that before eventually returning with a narrow allowance/optional claiming tally for new trainer Mark Glatt June 18 at Santa Anita.

Defending Bing Crosby champion Collusion Illusion (Twirling Candy) makes his 4-year-old debut here. Runner-up in the GII Santa Anita Championship S. after his local heroics, he was 12th in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint before rebounding some to be third in the GI Runhappy Malibu S.

Other contenders include Vertical Threat (Tapiture), last seen romping by 7 1/2 lengths with a 102 Beyer in last November's Steel Valley Sprint S. at Mahoning Valley, Quick Tempo (Tapizar), who did his name justice when setting splits of :21.44 and :43.35 before setting for second in the Iowa Sprint S. at Prairie Meadows July 3, and Eight Rings (Empire Maker), who's winless in four starts since capturing the GI American Pharoah S. as a juvenile but shows a sharp worktab for Bob Baffert that includes a five-furlong bullet in :58 3/5 (1/91) July 10 in Arcadia.

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And the resultant victory celebration was, as Glatt mildly puts it: “Kind of subdued, with no one around.

“We couldn't go out to dinner or anything, there weren't many restaurants even open, and we had to wake up early the next day.”

Blame COVID which, although racing went on, precluded crowds, winner's circle presentations or even close-contact celebrations by the connections of the victorious horses. So Glatt was relegated to socially distanced media interviews and loosely-posed pictures with family members and stable employees.

Not that it mattered all that much.

“A Grade 1 is a Grade 1, no matter where (or under what circumstances), you win,” Glatt said.

On Saturday, Glatt will be back for another Bing Crosby seeking the second Grade 1 score of his career. He entered the same two horses, Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen, from 2020 and one more, 3-year-old Dr. Schivel, to boot.

Late in the week he was still giving all three consideration. But Glatt indicated the most likely scenario would be that Collusion Illusion and Dr. Schivel would start and Law Abidin Citizen would be held out for another assignment.

Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen are both sons of Twirling Candy that Glatt picked out for clients from Kentucky sales.

“I was stabled next to John Sadler when Twirling Candy was running and just thought he was an amazing looking animal and certainly a very good racehorse,” Glatt said. “I thought that maybe when he went to stud I'd have an opportunity to pick up one or two of (Twirling Candy's progeny).”

He picked both Law Abidin Citizen and “Collusion” for a group based in his native state of Washington – Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, John Xitco and Dr. Rodney Orr.

In the 2020 Crosby, 6-year-old Law Abidin Citizen, ridden by Abel Cedillo, didn't wilt after being close to a fast early pace and held on for third as 3-year-old Collusion Illusion, given a heady ride by leading jockey Flavien Pratt, rallied along the rail in the final furlong to edge Lexitonian on the wire.

The horses are a year older. The riders are different. And there was not an ounce of nostalgia involved in Glatt's thoughts of doubling back to the cast of 2020.

“The race is different from one year to the next, the horses and the way they're coming into the race is different. That's what you base it on,” Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion earned an automatic berth into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint via last year's Bing Crosby victory. A traffic-troubled 12th of 14 result in the BC Sprint at Keeneland in November was sandwiched between a second in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship in September and third in the Grade 1 Malibu in December.

Collusion Illusion's six-race 2020 campaign ended with earnings of $317,800, boosting his career total to $474,751. The Bing Crosby will be his 2021 debut.

Law Abidin Citizen followed the Bing Crosby with a start in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien, the second in Del Mar's summer sprint stakes series, and was third to C Z Rocket. He made his 2021 debut with a fourth-place result in the Grade 3 Daytona at Santa Anita on May 29 then won the Oak Tree Sprint at Pleasanton on July 3.

“He's a hard-trying horse and maybe he can pull a little bit of an upset,” Glatt said.

Dr. Schivel won the Del Mar Futurity last September for trainer Luis Mendez after it had been reported that the ownership partners — Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal — were soon to turn the Violence colt over to Glatt.

The media voted Dr. Schivel the top 2-year-old of the meeting and Collusion Illusion the top sprinter, giving Glatt two returning division champions to saddle in the Crosby.

Dr. Schivel started his 3-year-old campaign with a neck victory in an allowance sprint at Santa Anita in June. Prat, who has won five of the last six runnings of the Bing Crosby – missing only in 2019 – will be aboard.

“He had a very good comeback race and he has trained very well since,” Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion became Glatt's fifth Breeders' Cup starter and a Crosby victory with any of the horses would put him in the enviable position of “home track” advantage when the BC Sprint is held at Del Mar as part of the 14-race, $28 million, two-day fall championships on November 5-6.

Collusion Illusion joined Eddie Haskell (11th, 2019 Turf Sprint) and La Tee (10th, 2008 Filly & Mare Sprint) as short-distance race Breeders' Cup starters for Glatt. He also had Blackjackcat (3rd, 2017 Mile on turf) and Sharp Samurai (3rd, 2020 Dirt Mile).

The performances of Blackjackcat and Sharp Samurai should serve as a shield for Glatt, a 48-year-old native of Washington, from being typecast as a “sprint” trainer. Not that he's worried about that either.

“If that's the worst thing they call me, I'm doing all right,” Glatt said.

Equibase statistics show Glatt is No. 42 in North America for earnings in 2021. Entering the third week of Del Mar racing on Thursday, July 29, he had 34 wins from 160 starters with stable purse earnings of $1,739,366. His career numbers: 6,774 starters, 1,039 wins (No. 1,000 was recorded last November 20 at the Bing Crosby fall meeting with Zestful) and earnings of more than $34 million.

With one Grade 1 victory on the record, he has loaded up for another on Saturday.

And this one, if it happens, won't be so quiet.

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Instead, favoritism is likely to go to C Z Rocket with career earnings of nearly $1.4 million, much of that earned when second in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint last fall and when winning the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar last summer. Law Abidin Citizen was third in last year's Bing Crosby behind Collusion Illusion then four weeks later finished third in the Pat O'Brien behind C Z Rocket. He enters the race off a win in the Oak Tree Sprint Stakes four weeks ago at Pleasanton.

Vertical Threat is another with strong stakes credentials, last seen winning the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes in November and having also won the Smiling Tiger Stakes at Del Mar last summer. Quick Tempo returned from nearly seven months off four weeks ago for a strong second place effort in the Iowa Sprint Stakes, while Brickyard Ride easily won the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes in March and enters the race off a win in the Thor's Echo Stakes.

Shooters Shoot is yet another with good credentials in similar sprint stakes as he was second in the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes when last seen at the end of May. Eight Rings finished fourth in that race as the eight to five favorite and hasn't run since. Dr. Schivel rounds out the field, but has to be considered a contender as he won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last summer and returned from nine months off to win just last month.

Vertical Threat is a perfect three-for-three in sprints. Each of those three wins came at the six furlong distance of the Bing Crosby. One of those wins came at Del Mar last summer when, in only the second start of his career, Vertical Threat won the Smiling Tiger Stakes. That effort earned him a career-best 107 Equibase® Speed Figure off a 102 figure one month earlier. After a failed attempt at a longer distance in the Pat Day Mile last September, Vertical Threat rested two months and shipped to Ohio for a dominant performance with a field high 118 figure winning the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes in a field of 12. In this year's Bing Crosby there is likely to be a contested early pace battle between Quick Tempo and Brickyard Ride, who have only won when leading from the start. Considering Vertical Threat closed from off the pace to win last June then again in July in the Smiling Tiger, the colt could get first run on the tiring leaders and hold off any horses farther back in the early stages. Additionally, he's very likely to be stronger as a four year old so having put in some superb workouts for his comeback, Vertical Threat has a fine chance to keep his perfect record at the distance intact to win.

C Z Rocket has won 11 of 26 career races including four of eight at this distance. He also won the only time he ever raced at Del Mar. That win came last year when taking the Pat O'Brien Stakes at seven furlongs in August with a 110 figure. C Z Rocket is even faster at this six furlong trip, as he earned a 117 figure last September when victorious in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Not disgraced one bit when second behind Whitmore in the Breeders' Cup Sprint last fall, C Z Rocket won his first two starts of 2021, first with a 111 figure in the Hot Springs Stakes then a 114 in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. Stretching out to a mile and running over a sloppy track, C Z Rocket was second in the Steve Sexton Mile in May and on the cut back to his best distance has every right to rebound to a winning effort.

Dr. Schivel, like Vertical Threat, has only run five times. He improved markedly last summer at Del Mar when easily winning to break his maiden in his third career start (with a 108 figure) before victory in the Del Mar Futurity as the betting favorite. Taking his time to get back to the races, Dr. Schivel returned in June as if he had never been away as he relaxed in fourth in the early stages before getting up by a neck right on the wire. That effort earned him a new career best 109 figure from which he should improve in his second start off the layoff, and as a previous grade 1 stakes winner, Dr. Schivel could certainly run well enough to win.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Brickyard Ride (115), Collusion Illusion (111), Eight Rings (104), Law Abidin Citizen (108), Quick Tempo (107) and Shooters Shoot (101).

Win Contenders:
Vertical Threat
C Z Rocket
Dr. Schivel

Bing Crosby Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Del Mar
Saturday, July 31 – Post Time 9:30 PM E.T.
Six Furlongs
Three Years Olds and Upward
Purse: $300,000

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