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Del Mar To Add Monday Card On July 27 As Make-Up Date; Reschedules Stakes For July 25-27

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., received approval from the California Horse Racing Board to add Monday, July 27, to the live racing calendar to make up in part for the three lost days (July 17-19) due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the Southern California jockey colony.

The track is expected to request two additional as-yet undetermined days later in the meet that runs through Sept. 7. The regular schedule is Fridays through Sundays, with racing now scheduled on Monday, July 27, and closing day, Monday, Sept. 7.

“We're looking forward to resuming racing on Friday, July 24,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins. “Adding a race card on Monday, July 27 provides our horsemen and women with additional opportunities to run their horses.”

Racing secretary David Jerkens said entries for the July 27 card would be drawn on Friday, July 24.

“We applaud Del Mar's management for quickly adapting during these unprecedented times,” said Nick Alexander, chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. “Winning a race at Del Mar is special and a four-day race week will provide our members with additional opportunities to do so.”

Three days of racing were cancelled this weekend after 15 jockeys tested positive for COVID-19. The tests were ordered after Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza and current leading Southern California jockey Flavien Prat tested positive last week. Swabs of all jockeys were taken on Tuesday, July 14, and protocol in San Diego County is that those who test positive may resume regular activities after an immediate 10-day quarantine, provided they are asymptomatic.

According to Del Mar officials, all but one of the Southern California jockeys who tested positive were at Los Alamitos on July 4, when Luis Saez and Martin Garcia – who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 – flew to Southern California from the Midwest to ride that day's card.

Del Mar has rescheduled the four stakes scheduled for this weekend, including the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap expected to feature the return of last year's 3-year-old male champion, Maximum Security, making his debut for trainer Bob Baffert.

The new stakes lineup for the July 24-26 weekend:

Friday, July 24: Daisycutter Handicap (originally scheduled July 18) for fillies and mares, 3 and up at five furlongs on turf; the Fleet Treat Stakes for Golden State eligible California-bred or sired 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs.
Saturday, July 25: G2 San Diego Handicap (originally scheduled July 18) for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles; G2 San Clemente Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going one mile on turf; Smiling Tiger Stakes for 3-year-olds going six furlongs.
Sunday, July 26: G2 Eddie Read Stakes (originally scheduled July 19) for 3-year-olds and up going nine furlongs on turf; California Dreamin' Stakes for Golden State eligible California-bred or sired 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on turf.

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Del Mar Cancels July 17-19 Racing After 15 More Jockeys Test Positive For COVID-19

With caution its primary concern, Del Mar has preemptively canceled its next three days of racing, July 17-18-19, after 15 jockeys tested positive for COVID-19. All of Del Mar's jockeys and jockey room personnel were tested on Tuesday by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency staff as requested by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“Assuming these individuals continue to show no symptoms, they will be isolated for a total of 10 days and should be able to resume their usual activities, including riding after that time,” said Dr. Eric McDonald, Medical Director, Epidemiology & Immunizations Services, County of San Diego.

“Racing will return on July 24,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar's CEO. “Canceling this weekend's races will give us additional time to monitor the situation and give the individuals who tested positive additional time to recover.”

On Tuesday, based on DMTC protocols, as well as direction from medical advisers and county public health officials, the testing was administered by county medical staff. Fifteen of the jockeys tested positive and all were believed to be asymptomatic. Contact tracing procedures are underway in conjunction with the San Diego Health & Human Services Agency. However, a common factor among all but one of the riders that tested positive is that they rode at the recently concluded Los Alamitos meet.

Del Mar officials ordered the testing of all the jockeys and jockeys' room personnel after two riders, Flavien Prat and Victor Espinoza, tested positive for COVID-19.

“Even though our jockey colony did not exhibit symptoms when they arrived at Del Mar, we made the decision to test everyone as part of protocols we have developed in conjunction with local medical experts and the San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar Thoroughbred President and COO. “We put these measures in place to help ensure the safety of all workers at Del Mar and our surrounding community.”

Because of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA), Del Mar is not allowed to release the names of the affected riders.

In a further safety measure, only jockeys based in California will be permitted to ride at Del Mar for the remainder of the meeting. Jockeys from jurisdictions outside of California will not be allowed to ride at Del Mar. The measure to restrict the riding colony follows a similar announcement Tuesday by the New York Racing Association concerning jockeys at Saratoga Race Course. Under Del Mar's new policy, until further notice, local jockeys who leave the track to ride at other venues will not be allowed to ride again at Del Mar for the remainder of the summer racing meeting.

Additionally, Del Mar officials are re-configuring and expanding the track's jockeys' quarters, including moving some of the functions that normally take place in the jockeys' room to an adjacent area.

Del Mar has been providing health screening, monitoring and testing resources for barn area workers and essential personnel during its summer meet, which is being held for the first time in the track's 81-year history without spectators. The meet began Friday July 10th and will conclude on Labor Day, September 7.

Del Mar's health and safety protocols have been formulated with direct input from medical experts in the community.

“We have worked with Del Mar to apply practical health protocols for its essential personnel and we applaud the track's continued vigilance to help provide a safe environment for its work force,” said Dr. Ghazala Sharieff, MD, Corporate Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at San Diego's Scripps Health. “We can reasonably expect that there will be some additional positive tests. The key is to provide strategies and protocols for testing, quarantining, containment and management, all of which Del Mar is doing in cooperation with local public health experts and officials.”

Del Mar's racing officials have said that many of the races that had been scheduled for the upcoming weekend will be shifted to the following weekend. That includes the Grade 2, $150,000 San Diego Handicap and the Grade 2 $200,000 Eddie Read Stakes.

The Thoroughbred Owners of California said they are in agreement with Del Mar's measures. “TOC strongly supports the actions taken today by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in conjunction with the San Diego County Department of Health. The health of our riders is our top priority now.”

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‘Very Excited, And A Little Bit Nervous’: Baffert Readies Maximum Security For San Diego Handicap

Asked about champion Maximum Security during Wednesday's media teleconference organized by the NTRA, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert admitted to mixed feelings ahead of the colt's start in Saturday's Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

“When I see him train, he trains like a really top horse,” Baffert said. “That's what I see, and I'm actually very excited, and a little bit nervous. I feel a little added pressure; there's a lot of pressure when you're around good horses.”

In his most recent start, the Gary and Mary West homebred won the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup over Midnight Bisou. Since that effort at the end of February, the story around Maximum Security shifted from his historic Kentucky Derby disqualification in 2019 to the federal indictment of his former trainer, Jason Servis, on March 9, 2020.

Maximum Security was given a full medical evaluation and some down time, then transferred to Baffert's care in Southern California. His first gallop for Baffert was in late April; his first work not until June 1.

In his first start for Baffert, the 4-year-old son of New Year's Day will face a field of six others going 1 1/16 miles over Del Mar's main track. Maximum Security will break from post position five under a new rider, Abel Cedillo.

Regular jockey Luis Saez would be aboard the colt, except that he recently returned a positive test for COVID-19 and will be quarantined for the next two weeks. That left Baffert searching for a new rider, and his go-to big race jockey Mike Smith was already booked to be in New Jersey to ride Authentic in the Haskell.

Cedillo had committed to ride a horse for Mark Glatt in the San Diego, but Glatt let him out of the commitment when the trainer decided not to run his horse against Maximum Security.

“He sort of has the same kind of style [as Saez]; he's a strong rider, he's aggressive,” Baffert said of Cedillo. “He won on Fighting Mad for Gary and Mary West [the G2 Santa Maria on May 30 at Santa Anita], and he's won some races for me. He can handle pressure. I'm happy that I have him here.”

As is typical of Servis' style, Maximum Security had been used to turning in slow and steady morning workouts, more like two-minute licks than speedy breezes. Over the past six weeks, Baffert has focused on acclimating the colt to his style of training, working a bit faster, and his most recent breeze was a sharp five-furlong move in :59.60 on July 11 at Del Mar.

“To be around, he's a big, strong, beautiful horse,” Baffert said. “He's been doing everything well.”

Still, Baffert told the Paulick Report over the weekend that the colt may need a race, coming off the five-month break since the Saudi Cup.

“I feel I've done as much with him as I can for this,” Baffert said on Sunday. “I've been working him in company. He's a lazy horse in the morning and I can see now why they may ran him for $16,000 (maiden claiming) first out. He's a really smart horse; a lot of class, and a really intelligent horse.”

Maximum Security has been assigned 127 pounds under the handicap conditions of the 1 1/16-mile San Diego, five more than Higher Power (winner of the G1 Pacific Classic in 2019) and Midcourt (G2 San Pasqual winner in 2020). No horse since Native Diver toted 131 pounds in 1965 has carried more weight in winning the San Diego Handicap. California Chrome won under 126 pounds in 2016 in his first start since winning the G1 Dubai World Cup.

The San Diego Handicap field from the rail with jockeys and weights in parenthesis: Higher Power (TBD, 122); Ax Man (J.C. Diaz, Jr., 118); Midcourt (Juan Hernandez, 122); Dark Vader (Umberto Rispoli, 118); Maximum Security (Abel Cedillo, 127); Combatant (Drayden Van Dyke, 121) and Sharp Samurai (Edwin Maldonado, 119).

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Former Jockey, Media Specialist Ken Church Dies At Age 90 After Contracting COVID-19

Ken Church, a prominent national rider from the 1940s to the 1960s who then transitioned to racetrack Media work in Southern California, died this morning at a hospital in Reno, Nevada, his daughter, Debbie Anderson, reported. He was 90.

Anderson said her father had suffered a case of pneumonia a week ago at the retirement home where he lived in Reno and was moved to a local hospital. The cause of death was listed as the result of him contracting COVID-19.

Church, who was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on March 24, 1930, came to the racetrack as a teenager at Woodbine in Toronto, then began riding in the U.S. shortly thereafter. He rode in Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and Kentucky before finished his career in California. He rode in more than 14,000 races and had more than 2,000 winners.

Among the top horses he partnered with were Crafty Admiral, Oil Capitol, Old Hat, Bornastar, Native Diver, Mr. Consistency and Viking Spirit. He was the leading rider at Arlington Park and Washington Park in Chicago and a solid force wherever he competed.

When he retired from racing in 1967, he used his racing knowledge, good looks and personable ways to easily transition into a Media role for the three Southern California tracks, doing television and radio work along with speaking engagements as a racing goodwill ambassador for Del Mar, Santa Anita and Hollywood Park.

He and his late wife Nancy finally settled in Olivenhain near Del Mar and he confined his Media roles to the seaside track, working there from the 1970s through the 1990s. He was extremely popular among San Diego Media representatives who loved his ready laugh and his many racetrack tales. He retired from that role in the late '90s and moved to Reno to be near old friends.

Among his involvements with racing promotions was his participation in Del Mar's unique “Rocking Chair Derby,” the Thoroughbred version of baseball's Old Timers Game. Retired riders came back for a day to ride in a special race and the event, organized by Del Mar director of publicity Dan Smith, proved hugely popular with racing fans during its run from 1973 to 1978. Church rode in those races and won the 1974 version much to the delight of his fellow riders.

He is survived by his married daughters Debbie Anderson of Encinitas, CA, and Laurie Kurluk of Phoenix, AZ, as well as a son, Michael. Additionally, he is survived by nine grandchildren.

The family has indicated that his preference was that there be no services. They have said he will be cremated and his ashes will be combined with those of his wife of 63 years, Nancy, and that they will be scattered together at some point in the future.

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