Bob Baffert | Horse Racing Free Tips

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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$700K Curlin Filly Takes Career Debut at Del Mar

2nd-Del Mar, $70,500, Msw, 7-31, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.67, ft, 3/4 length.
GRACE ADLER (f, 2, Curlin–Our Khrysty {GSW, $313,260}, by Newfoundland), sent off the 2-5 choice for this unveiling, broke outward for the six hole, but rallied into contention before settling into fourth as Sugar Sugar (Twirling Candy) led through a :22.80 half. Asked for more by Flavien Prat and giving it passing the quarter pole, the chestnut was the widest of three with Valentina Ghada (Practical Joke) and Sugar Sugar turning for home, ground to the front in the final sixteenth and got the best of Valentina Ghada by 3/4 of a length at the wire. The winner is out of a half-sister to GISW Bullsbay (Tiznow), who is also responsible for GSP Virginia key (Distorted Humor), an unraced 3-year-old colt by Malibu Moon named American Smooth and a yearling colt by Into Mischief. This season, she foaled a filly by Uncle Mo and was bred back to War Front. Sales history: $700,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $42,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Willow Grace Farm & Michael Petersen; B-Blue Heaven Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

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As Time Goes By Seeks Third Straight in Clement Hirsch

Tabor, Magnier and Smith's As Time Goes By (American Pharoah) looks for her third straight win–and an automatic berth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff–in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar Sunday. The Bob Baffert trainee, second in the Mar. 13 GI Beholder Mile, romped home by 9 1/4 lengths in the Apr. 24 GII Santa Margarita S. She was all out to hold off This Tea (Curlin) in the May 22 GII Santa Maria S., but has been freshened since then and is training strongly for her return.

Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) invades from the East to try out the Del Mar surface which will host the Breeders' Cup in November. Winner of last year's GI Kentucky Oaks, the bay filly returned to win the Mar. 13 GI Azeri S. by a head over divisional leader Letruska (Super Saver) and added the Apr. 30 GI La Troienne S. at Churchill Downs. She pressed Letruska on the lead before settling for third in the June 5 GI Ogden Phipps S. last time out.

Venetian Harbor (Munnings) returns to the main track after a front-running victory in the 6 1/2-furlong GII Monrovia S. at Santa Anita June 5 in her only 2021 outing to date. First or second in five straight graded events last year–including runner-up efforts in the GI Ashland S. and GI Test S. and a win in the GII Raven Run S.–the bay filly was sidelined following an eighth-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint in November.

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Del Mar: Shedaresthedevil Faces Top Local Challengers In Sunday’s Hirsch

The Grade 1, $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes will have its 51st running Sunday at Del Mar and seven high class fillies and mares have signed up to give it a go. The winner will earn an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff to be held at the track later this fall.

Three of the femmes have special credentials and will draw the most attention at the wickets and on the racetrack. The trio consists of Qatar Racing and Flurry Racing Stables' Shedaresthedevil, Tabor, Magnier and Smith's As Time Goes By, and Ciaglia Racing and Highland Yard's Venetian Harbor.

The mile and one-sixteenth main track headliner will go as the ninth of 10 races on the Sunday program, which has a first post of 2 p.m.

Shedaresthedevil has shipped in from the east coast to contest the Hirsch, which has been won by such top distaffers as Stellar Wind (twice), Beholder, Zenyatta (three times), Azeri (twice), and Paseana. The shipper races out of the red-hot barn of trainer Brad Cox and sports a record of seven wins in 14 starts and earnings of $1,867,318. The 4-year-old daughter of the More Than Ready sire Daredevil has won five graded stakes, including a pair of Grade 1s. She'll come with her regular rider, eastern-based Florent Geroux.

As Time Goes By is a bay filly by Triple Crown champion American Pharoah who'll be making the eighth start of her career. The Bob Baffert trainee was last out on May 22 in the Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita, a mile and one-sixteenth that she won by a nose. Hall of Famer Mike Smith is signed on to ride the multiple stakes winner of $380,600.

Venetian Harbor also comes into the Hirsch off a stakes victory, hers being the Grade 2 Monrovia at Santa Anita on June 5. It was her fourth overall victory and enhanced her bankroll to $633,400. The quick daughter of Munnings has primarily been sprinting and her speed could prove dangerous in the Hirsch. Trainer Richard Baltas has drafted Mario Gutierrez to handle the 4-year-old Sunday.

Here's the full field for the race in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Michael Rosenmayer's Clockstrikestwelve (Kyle Frey, 30-1); As Time Goes By (8/5); Mathiesen Racing, Feghali or Mathis' Paige Anne (Flavien Prat, 15-1); 5th Street Stables, Saldana or Urbina's Cover Version (Abel Cedillo, 30-1); Venetian Harbor (2-1), and Shedaresthedevil (7/5).

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