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Trainer Jack Carava Announces Career Shift, To Serve As Agent To Jockey Tyler Baze

Popular trainer Jack Carava, who notched an upset win with his penultimate starter on Monday at Del Mar, has announced he'll hang up his morning stopwatch and embrace Santa Anita's Autumn Meet Condition Book One as he'll now serve as agent for jockey Tyler Baze, who is returning to ride full time at The Great Race Place after an eight month absence.

“The time is right,” said Carava, 54, who has operated both a public and private stable in Southern California for the past 33 years. “I've had a lot of success with Tyler over the years and he's probably the hardest working jock I've ever known. I love training, but my stable has contracted over the past couple years and when Tyler called me, I realized this is a great opportunity.

“He rode at Oaklawn this winter and he's been in Kentucky all summer. He's excited to be back home with his family and he's got a lot customers here that are anxious to get him back on their horses. It'll take a little time to let everyone know that we're working together, but with Tyler's work ethic, I know we're gonna be in good shape. The book is out, so I've already taken some calls and we'll just approach everything day by day.”

The son of a trainer, Carava worked under trainers Jerry Fanning and Joe Griffin prior to setting out on his own in 1987. With his win in Monday's fifth race at Del Mar with Harper's Gallop ($15.80), Carava, who was Hollywood Park's Spring Summer leader in 2001 and was leading trainer at Santa Anita's 2002 Oak Tree Meet, leaves his shed row with 1,107 career wins, which contributed to stable earnings of $32.4 million and also included five graded stakes victories.

Baze, 37, who was America's Eclipse Award winning apprentice jockey in 2000, won the $500,000 More Than Ready Stakes with longshot Barrister Tom ($90.00) for trainer Michael Ewing at Kentucky Downs on Labor Day, giving him 2,718 career wins. He and his wife Christina reside in nearby Monrovia with their two daughters, Emilia, six, and Isla, four, along with one son, Luca, three.

Santa Anita's 18-day Autumn Meeting will open on Saturday, Sept. 19 and run through Sunday, Oct. 25.

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Del Mar Wraps Up with Handle Increase; Prat Edges Rispoli for Jockey Title

During these unprecedented times of global pandemic and spectator-free stands, the 81st Del Mar summer meet wrapped up Monday with a gripping battle to the wire between Flavien Prat and Umberto Rispoli for leading jockey honors. They were tied at 49 races apiece going into the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, with Prat winning on Dr. Schivel (Violence) and Rispoli finishing fourth on Scooby (Fast Anna). It was the penultimate race of the meet and left Prat alone atop the rider standings with 50 wins and $2,968,918 in earnings. It marked the fourth leading jockey title at Del Mar for Prat in the last five years, who won 15 black-type events during the meet.

Trainer Peter Miller was a runaway winner of the trainer title, notching 28 wins and $1,498,472 in earnings. It was his fourth leading training title of Del Mar’s summer meet. Conditioner Phil D’Amato came in second with 20 wins. Leading owner honors went to both Reddam Racing and Hronis Racing with the former having higher earnings–$452,180–and the latter having more wins with seven.

Del Mar closed out the summer meet with an 8% increase in total wagering compared to last year, in spite of having 27 racing days in 2020 compared to the 36 days of 2019. Total wagering was $466.68 million, an increase of $34.71 million compared to the $431.98 million of 2019. Average daily handle was $17.28 million, an increase of 44% from 2019 when fans were allowed. Online wagering increased by 125% in the state of California, with out-of-state wagering growing by 65%. Del Mar was a first-time host of California’s wagering for the GI Kentucky Derby with the seaside track handing $24.8 million on the day, the fourth-highest wagering day in Del Mar’s history.

In addition, Del Mar field size increased from 8.0 runners per race last year to 8.4 runners per race this year.

“Given the extraordinary circumstances, we are very pleased with our results,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s CEO. “The racing product was first-rate and players around the country responded in kind. It is especially gratifying that we were able to achieve positive business results while maintaining our commitment to the health and safety of our workforce and our neighbors despite the obvious challenges.”

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Prat Edges Rispoli For Del Mar Riding Title; Miller Tops Among Trainers

A victory aboard Dr. Schivel in the Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity was the decider as Flavien Prat overcame the unwavering challenge of newcomer Umberto Rispoli to win the riding title of the 81st Del Mar summer season at the seaside track near San Diego, Calif.

Prat won twice on an 11-race closing day program Monday while Rispoli was blanked. A victory in the seventh race, on Joe L. Turner's Table for Ten for trainer Phil D'Amato, forged a 49-49 tie atop the standings.

The 1 3/4-length score in the Futurity, the traditional closing day feature and penultimate race of the meet, secured a title defense for Prat and his fourth championship, solo or shared, in the past five years. The Futurity was the 15^thstakes victory of the meeting for the 28-year-old native of France, a single-season record for a jockey.

The race between Prat and Rispoli, a 32-year-old native of Italy in his debut season at Del Mar, had drama like the final minutes of a tense NBA playoff or NCAA tournament basketball game. There were four ties and seven lead changes from the second weekend of the meeting through closing day. Three of the lead changes came on the last three days of a four-day, Labor Day weekend to end the meet.

On Saturday, Prat won four while Rispoli was blanked to take a 46-45 advantage in wins. But Rispoli responded the next day with four wins to Prat's two to take a 49-48 lead into the final day.

Rispoli had incredible success on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, winning 35 of 115 races on the surface, a 30 percent victory rate. Over one weekend in the middle of the meeting he went 7-for-14 in turf events.

Miller, a resident of nearby Encinitas, notched his fourth summer meeting title, equaling the number of fall championships he has logged in the six years Del Mar has been a venue for that session.

Miller saddled 28 winners from 116 starters, an eight-win margin over Phil D'Amato and 13 over third-place Bob Baffert.

The 28 wins was the second-most in securing a summer title for Miller. He had 21 to prevail in 2012; 20 in tying Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer in 2014 and 31 in 2018.

Miller and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert tied for most stakes wins with six each. One of them was the third stakes dead heat in Del Mar history when Miller's Proud Emma and Baffert's Message couldn't be separated at the wire in the Tranquility Lake Stakes.

Miller went wire-to-wire for the meeting. He saddled four winners on the opening weekend to get a lead by two and it was only threatened briefly. D'Amato put together back-to-back two-win days on August 14-15 to move within one, 15-14, of the top of the leaderboard.

But Miller padded the lead with three-win days on August 23 and August 28 and maintained a comfortable margin through the final seven days of racing.

Jockey	Mounts	1st	Purses
Flavien Prat	216	50	$2,968,918
Umberto Rispoli	203	49	$2,326,254
Abel Cedillo	246	30	$2,240,567
Juan J. Hernandez	213	29	$1,513,034
Tiago Josue Pereira	141	21	$863,202
Drayden Van Dyke	132	17	$1,224,242
Ricardo Gonzalez	132	16	$829,040
Mario Gutierrez	103	14	$781,150
Victor Espinoza	66	7	$628,454
Mike Smith	59	7	$506,012

Trainer	Starts	1st	Purses
Peter Miller	116	28	$1,498,472
Philip D'Amato	83	20	$1,010,690
Bob Baffert	63	15	$1,432,102
Doug F. O'Neill	118	13	$843,545
Richard Baltas	94	12	$735,930
John W. Sadler	73	12	$709,370
Simon Callaghan	32	11	$461,240
Mark Glatt	74	8	$718,632
Peter Eurton	50	8	$327,540
William Spawr	29	8	$152,020

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Maximum Security Unanimous Choice As Del Mar Horse Of The Meet

Gary and Mary West and partners' Maximum Security was unanimously voted the Horse of the Meet for Del Mar's 81st summer season in a poll of racing media.

Victories in the San Diego Handicap and the TVG Pacific Classic by the 4-year-old West Stables homebred son of New Year's Day made the choice for Horse of the Meet and Top Older Horse easy for voters, some of whom casts ballots electronically since COVID-19 rules limited on-site attendance.

The first two starts for Maximum Security since being transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert – also comeback efforts following a five-month layoff after a disputed victory in the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup — were scintillating for racing aficionados.

In the San Diego on July 25, “Max,” as he's known around the stable, had to dig deep into his competitive spirit to edge Midcourt by a nose. Given a month more of training under Baffert, Maximum Security produced a dominating wire-to-wire, 3-length victory in the $500,000 TVG Pacific Classic, the winner's share of the purse putting him over $12 million in career earnings.

Maximum Security was not the only unanimous choice in the voting.

The West's solely owned homebred Fighting Mad, a 4-year-old daughter of New Year's Day trained by Baffert and, like Maximum Security, ridden by Abel Cedillo, was marked on every ballot for Top Older Filly/Mare as a result of her victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on August 2.

Unanimity was also expressed for the winners of the Grade I, $250,000 stakes for 2-year-olds which highlight the final two days of the meeting. Princess Noor earned Top 2-Year-Old Filly honors off her win in the Del Mar Debutante and Dr. Schivel was Top 2-Year-Old via his victory in Monday's Del Mar Futurity.

Other divisional honors went to Bing Crosby winner Collusion Illusion (Sprinter); Shared Belief Stakes champion Thousand Words (Top 3-Year-Old); Del Mar Oaks victor Red Lark (3-Year-Old Filly), and Red King, who took a close vote for Top Grass Horse via victory in the Del Mar Handicap.

Champions of Del Mar 2020

Horse of the Meeting	Maximum Security
Top Sprinter	Collusion Illusion
Top Grass Horse	Red King
Top Older Horse	Maximum Security
Top Older Filly/Mare	Fighting Mad
Top 3-Year-Old	Thousand Words
Top 3-Year-Old Filly	Red Lark
Top 2-Year-Old Filly	Princess Noor
Top 2-Year-Old	Dr. Schivel

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