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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