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Equibase Analysis: Can Anyone Stop Going Global’s Win Streak In San Clemente?

Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar racetrack near San Diego, Calif., brings together a field of 12 fillies led by Going Global (IRE), who was imported from Ireland to the United States this winter and has since won four straight stakes on the turf including the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes in May.

Among the other 11 there are many with stakes credentials, including Madone, who won the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes in early May before a sixth-place finish in the Honeymoon. Closing Remarks has finished first or second in five of seven career races including when second and very close behind Going Global (IRE) in the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes this past April. Karakatsie ships cross-country from Gulfstream Park where she just missed by a neck when second in the Martha Washington Stakes while Pizzazz attempts to rebound off a fifth-place effort in the Honeymoon and run more like she did just before that when winning the California Oaks in Northern California.

Another with a good effort in stakes is Nimbostratus (FR), who finished second in the Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes last summer at Del Mar and finished third behind Going Global (IRE) in the Grade 3 Sweet Life Stakes this past February. Tetraganol (IRE) missed by a neck to Madone last October in the Surfer Girl Stakes and deserves some respect, as might California Oaks runner-up Freedom Flyer. Equilove (IRE) imported to the United States after five losing efforts in Ireland last year and has won two of three since then; while Jibber Jabber (IRE) was just second and beaten a half-length by Tetragonal (IRE) so may fit in this race as well. Founder's Day and Dramatizer round out the field.

Main Contenders:

Nimbostratus (FR) is my pick to post the upset over likely heavy betting favorite Going Global (IRE) in this year's San Clemente. After importing to the U.S. last summer, Nimbostratus (FR) showed she had a lot of talent when leading late and settling for second behind Madone in the Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes at Del Mar. After finishing second in a six-furlong allowance race on turf in January, Nimbostratus (FR) rallied for third behind Going Global (IRE) in the Sweet Life Stakes, then was a nose best in a six-furlong dash on the Santa Anita turf on March 6. Following a poor effort in the one-mile Senorita Stakes in May (won by Madone), Nimbostratus (FR) shortened up again and bettered her career-best with a 104 Equibase Speed Figure effort. Jockey Abel Cedillo was aboard for the first time in that race and rides back.

The latter race was an allowance/optional claiming race and I'm pretty sure no one expected Nimbostratus (FR) to be claimed as her price tag was $150,000, but she was. Now in the hands of up-and-coming trainer Leonard Powell, who saddled Flashiest to win the opening day Oceanside Stakes last week, Nimbostratus (FR) can win the San Clemente if she repeats that last effort as the 104 figure is on par with the figure favorite Going Global (IRE) earned in her most recent effort winning the Honeymoon Stakes.

Going Global (IRE) doesn't need much talking up as she's won four straight races since coming to the U.S. in February. All were stakes and her consistent figures of 99, 95 and 99 then most recently 104 show she's holding top form. Trainer Phil D'Amato (who also saddles Equilove (IRE)) has given the filly a series of steady workouts since her last start on May 22 and as the most recent of those were on the Del Mar turf, this filly has every right to run another “A” race good enough to win under jockey Flavien Prat, who has been aboard for all four of her local wins.

Equilove (IRE) fits at the level and may be a horse at higher odds near post time given the nature of this full field. She's never run in a stakes race but her last race was a 102 figure, earned when sprinting last month on turf, and demonstrates she fits with these as it's nearly on par with the 104 figures Going Global (IRE) and Nimbostratus (FR) earned in their most recent races. Equilove (IRE) came to the U.S. over the fall and made her first start for D'Amato in March. She won that race nicely with a 94 figure, then stumbled at the start in her next race and lost all chance but still managed to finish fourth. Next was the breakout race last month in which she led from start to finish under jockey Ricardo Gonzalez, who rides her today. Considering Equilove (IRE) had won her first local start when fifth early and her most recent on the lead from start to finish, that kind of versatility bodes well for her chances to be in the mix at the end of this year's San Clemente Stakes.

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Honorable mention, and some consideration for bets we make involving this race, goes to Madone, Karakatsie and Closing Remarks. Madone won the similar Senorita Stakes at a mile in May but the figure was just 89 so she would need to improve to be competitive. However, she won the first three starts of her career including two stakes, one at Del Mar, so that type of improvement is not out of the question. Karakatsie ran the best race of her career last month when second and beaten a neck in the Martha Washington Stakes at Gulfstream Park, earning a 98 figure. She is on a pattern for more improvement in her third start off a layoff and she is sired by Breeders' Cup Mile winner Karakontie so may have what it takes to be in the mix here. Closing Remarks has finished first or second in five of seven races including her last four. All four were stakes on turf and in one of those, the Providencia Stakes, Closing Remarks was only a neck behind Going Global (IRE) so she has shown enough to be respected when considering exacta wagers in this race.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Dramatizer (80), Founder's Day (83), Freedom Flyer (84), Jibber Jabber (IRE) (88), Pizzazz (89) and Tetragonal (IRE) (93).

San Clemente Stakes –$200,000, Grade 2
Race 10 at Del Mar, Saturday, July 24, Post Time 9:30 p.m. ET
One Mile on Turf; Fillies, Three Years Old

Win Contenders:
Nimbostratus (FR)
Going Global (IRE)
Equilove (IRE)

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase

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Smooth Like Strait, Going Global Headliners In Saturday’s Del Mar Stakes Doubleheader

Del Mar will present a stakes doubleheader Saturday with the 48th running of the Grade 2, $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes being one of the offerings and the 54th edition of the Grade 2, $200,000 San Clemente Stakes being the other.

The pair of black type, added-money affairs will highlight an 11-race card that has a first post of 2 p.m.

The Eddie Read, named for Del Mar's long-time publicity director, has drawn a field of seven solid older stakes aces, including Cannon Thoroughbred's Smooth Like Strait and LNJ Foxwoods' United. They'll run a mile and one-eighth on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in Race 8 on the program.

Then the San Clemente, named for the Orange Country beach town just above the Marines' Camp Pendelton base north of the track, will go forth with a dozen 3-year-old fillies in the gate for a one-mile spin on the grass that is scheduled to be Race 10.

The Irish filly Going Global, a stakes winner of all four of her U.S. starts this year, appears a stout choice and surely the one to beat in the San Clemente, which serves as a key prep for the track's championship race for sophomore fillies – the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks at nine furlongs on Saturday, Aug. 21.

Here's the field for the Eddie Read with weights and riders: OXO Equine's Vintage Print (121, Adam Beschizza); United (121, Flavine Prat); Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word (123, Mike Smith); Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Count Again (121, Joe Bravo); Amerman Racing's Award Winner (123, Juan Hernandez); Smooth Like Strait (125, Umberto Rispoli), and Brinkerhoff or Grayson Jr.'s Restrainedvengence (121, Tyler Baze).

The San Clemente lineup looks like this: Perry and Ramona Bass' Pizzazz (120, Kyle Frey); Dubb, Gevertz or Nentwig, et al's Going Global (1232, Prat); Bernsen, Lambert or Hale's Founder's Day (118, Baze); Branham or Naify's Freedom Flyer (120, Victor Espinoza); Slam Dunk Racing or Platts' Tetragonal (120, Bravo); Strand Beach's Equilove (120, Ricky Gonzalez); Derrick Fisher's Jibber Jabber (118, Geovanni Franco); Roncelli Family Trust and Roney's Dramatizer (118, Edwin Maldonado); Kaleem Shah's Madone (123, Henandez); Schumer or Screnci's Karakatsie (118, Kent Desormeaux); SF Racing's Nimbostratus (120, Abel Cedillo), and Harris Farms' Closing Remarks (123, Rispoli).

Smooth Like Straight, trained by Mike McCarthy, comes into the Read off a front-running tally in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 31. The handy 4-year-old by sprint champion Midnight Lute is a seven-time winner who has banked $933,823 and could take a bunch of catching Saturday.

United has won eight races and more than $1.5 million over a 19-race career thus far. The 6-year-old gelding by Giant's Causeway won the Eddie Read last year.

In the San Clemente, Going Global, a daughter of the Irish stallion Mehmas, won only one of four starts in her native land as a 2-year-old, but has done nothing but win with her shift stateside. She is conditioned by Phil D'Amato.

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High-Class Field Of Six Remain For Saturday’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes

The 2021 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes at Ascot looks set to provide a memorable battle of the generations as a high-class field of six is headlined by the star 4-year-old filly Love (Aidan O'Brien), who will take on this year's Derby winner Adayar (Charlie Appleby).

The Group 1 contest offers the winner an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Longines Turf this fall at Del Mar.

A dual-Classic winner last year, Love returned to action this season by winning the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. She will be joined by her Group 1 winning stablemate Broome.

Wonderful Tonight (David Menuisier) is also declared for the race, having gotten the better of Broome when winning the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at the Royal Meeting in June.

Further intrigue is provided by Mishriff (John & Thady Gosden), who has recorded international success this year in Saudi Arabia and Dubai and steps up to a mile and a half in this country for the first time.

Completing the line-up is Lone Eagle (Martyn Meade), the other 3-year-old runner in the race who was second in the Irish Derby, form which has already been franked by the winner Hurricane Lane.

Ahead of the race, Adayar's trainer Charlie Appleby, said: “I'm delighted with his preparation; he looks a million dollars. It's going to be a fantastic race to watch hopefully and whoever wins it will be top of the mile and a half division.

“It looks at the moment as if it was a good Derby. It [winning the King George and the Derby] hasn't been done since Galileo so for Adayar to turn up here is a huge occasion for everybody.

“It's a challenge and now we're stepping up into the big boy division so it's going to be a fascinating race. We're looking forward to it and excited to see what Adayar does.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Improving Miss Marissa Could Bring Ryerson To Del Mar

It may have been more than a decade since Jim Ryerson has had a graded stakes winner in his barn, but he certainly hasn't forgotten what to do with one. The 4-year-old filly Miss Marissa proved that fact decisively with her victory in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 10.

“You have to train the horses that you have and you try to do the best you can for the owners that you have,” Ryerson said of the in-between years. “Then at times a nice one comes along, I think we have an idea of what to do with them when we get them. But if you should ever think that it's a given to always have nice horses in the barn, you're in the wrong business!”

With the filly now pointing to the Grade 1 Personal Ensign near the end of the Saratoga meet, 68-year-old Ryerson is remembering to savor the experience along the way.

The trainer had to take his time developing Miss Marissa for owner Alfonso Cammarota, to whom Ryerson was recommended by Frank and Patricia Generazio three years ago. A New York-bred daughter of He's Had Enough, Miss Marissa needed four starts to break her maiden as a 2-year-old, then the pandemic last year caused major interruptions in the first half of her 3-year-old season.

Miss Marissa really started to put it all together last July, winning an allowance race at Ryerson's old stomping grounds of Monmouth Park to kick off a three-race win streak that culminated in the G2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico in October.

“That all followed stretching her out to two turns, which really helped her,” Ryerson explained. “She then ran a pretty good second in the Ladies (Handicap) in January, got beat by a filly of Todd (Pletcher's), and I didn't think the track was to her liking at all that day. We had made up our minds to give her a break after that, and she's come back very well.”

After a five-month layoff, Miss Marissa ran second to Dream Marie in the listed Obeah Stakes at Delaware on June 9, then stepped up to capture the G2 Delaware 'Cap a month later by 1 ¼ lengths.

“You like to see a filly progress from three to four – she's gonna have to run faster and all – and I think you can see signs that she's doing that,” said Ryerson. “You have Letruska, Swiss Skydiver, some other fillies that ran a good bit faster than her last year, but she's narrowed the gap. I think she has controlling speed, she's not one-dimensional where she has to have the lead, but she can carry her speed and there aren't a lot out there that have done that.”

Miss Marissa wins the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park.

He acknowledges that the Personal Ensign will be a big step up in class, but Ryerson thinks Miss Marissa is capable of continuing to progress in what will be her third start off the layoff.

“We're stabled here (at Saratoga) and she won here last year, so that goes into it,” the trainer explained. “I think her effort in the Delaware Handicap puts us there. It's a pretty big jump but I think it's time to try and make it, and we've got about six weeks to get ready for that.”

The Personal Ensign is a “Win and You're In” race which offers the winner an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff this fall at Del Mar.

Should Miss Marissa earn a trip to the West Coast, it won't be Ryerson's first experience at the Breeders' Cup. He saddled the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1995: Unbridled's Song.

Later a champion sire, Unbridled's Song also won the 1996 Florida Derby and Wood Memorial before a well-publicized foot issue leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The colt wound up finishing fifth in the Run for the Roses.

Ryerson also had multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Park Avenue Ball run in his hometown's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park. in 2007.

“I haven't had too many opportunities in the Breeders' Cup, but this filly, looking at her going into this year, I think if she can win a couple this year, she can get herself in that discussion,” Ryerson said of Miss Marissa.

No matter how this season pans out, Ryerson has come a long way from the 15-year-old kid who walked onto the Monmouth backstretch looking for a summer job. He became a well-known figure on the New Jersey circuit for several decades, but made the decision to move his stable to New York full time about 10 years ago.

“I was looking for a place that I could continue doing what I love doing; because of the lost dates in New Jersey, there were a lot of opportunities lost in the state,” said Ryerson. “My wife and all my kids still live in Monmouth County, along with all our grandchildren, so it wasn't an easy decision to make.

“My wife understands, but she stays there while I work in New York because it keeps her happy, and I then try to be the grandfather I want to be. You try to make the time. It's not as much as I would like, of course, because it's hard sometimes, but it's doable.”

With 17 horses at Saratoga and another 13 at Belmont, Ryerson said he definitely still enjoys coming to work every morning.

“I know that I'm not getting any younger, but I love doing it and I think that I can offer clients a good option as a horse trainer. I'm probably as busy now, even though I don't have a huge outfit, compared to five years ago, 10 years ago, so I think it's been a good move (to New York).”

Besides, you just never know when the next good horse will walk into your barn.

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