Tag: Del Mar

Del Mar Summer Meet Set New Records on Multiple Fronts

Highlighted by the buzz around Flightline (Tapit)'s stellar GI TVG Pacific Classic performance in the track's signature event, Del Mar had record wagering and field size for the 31-day summer meet that ended Sunday, as well as a continued excellent safety record for the fourth consecutive year. There were no catastrophic injuries among 2,688 starters in the meet's 294 races.

The 83rd summer meet at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) set new records for average daily handle with $18.69 million a day, an increase of 1.5% from last year's $18.41 million, which was the previous record. Total wagering for the meet increased to $579.24 million, compared to the $570.78 million wagered during the 2021 summer session. In addition, on-track business increased with average daily wagering of $1.52 million, which represented a 4.8% growth from 2021. Total attendance of 278,702 was up 16.1% from 2021's total of 240,030.

With an average of more than $800,000 in purses per day, field size reached 9.77 for turf races and 8.67 for main track races. Together they combined for a Del Mar record of 9.14 horses per race, well above last year's average of 8.45 and among the top in field size for the entire country.

“Just an incredible meet on all levels,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar's CEO. “All season long the racing was ultra-competitive and extremely safe. Our racing office, led by Tom Robbins and David Jerkens, was phenomenal. We're also very appreciative of the support we received from our fans and our players both here on track and all across the country.”

In addition, Del Mar's “Ship & Win” program had its best season yet with 222 new runners shipping in to race well ahead of last year's record 186 shippers.

“This meet is the culmination of a year-long plan to revitalize California racing and return it to its rightful place as one of the best circuits in America,” said Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) chairman Gary Fenton. “A big thank you to our partners at DMTC and our members. Without owners there is no California racing and they continue to make a strong statement that Del Mar is their favorite place to be.”

Rider Juan Hernandez, who won five graded races at the meet, captured the jockey title in a runaway with 49 total victories. Umberto Rispoli trailed in second with 27 wins for the meet. Hernandez won his first rider's title at Del Mar last fall.

In contrast, the trainer's title was so close that it came down to the last day of the meet. Bob Baffert got a victory with Cave Rock (Arrogate) in the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, a win that put him on even terms with Phil D'Amato. The two finished the day tied with 19 wins apiece. It's D'Amato third summer title at Del Mar and his fourth overall, as well as Baffert's eighth (but first title at Del Mar since 2003). A total of 70 different trainers won races at the meet.

The leading owner crown went to the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, who finished first both in number of wins and money won. They won a total of nine races (35%) and purses of $849,680. Hronis Racing was the runner-up with wins (six) and J. Paul Reddam's Reddam Racing was second in purses ($628,834).

Racing will return to Del Mar for the Bing Crosby meet, which runs Nov. 11 through Dec. 4.

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Cave Rock Rolls in Runhappy Del Mar Futurity

Made the 2-5 jolly to follow up on a giant, 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut, for which he earned a towering 101 Beyer Speed Figure, Watson, Weitman and Pegram's Cave Rock (Arrogate) made it a sweep of the weekend main-track juvenile Grade Is for his late sire and gave trainer Bob Baffert an unprecedented 16th victory in the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity.

Having graduated by a half-dozen lengths on his Aug. 13 debut, the $210,000 Keeneland November weanling and $550,000 Keeneland September yearling was squeezed back between fellow 'Rising Star' stablemate Newgate (Into Mischief) to his inside and the commonly owned GIII Best Pal S. hero Havnameltdown (Uncaptured) to his outside, but he easily made up the length or so he'd lost to shade Havnameltdown for the lead through a quarter that was posted in a strong :21.56. Dueling heads apart around the turn as the pace remained breakneck, Cave Rock and Havnameltdown pulled well clear of the remainder as they hit the stretch, but the former found extra–particularly when switching his leads at the eighth pole–and went on to score by an imposing margin before galloping out strongly. Skinner (Curlin) picked up the pieces for third. The final time of 1:20.99 for the seven furlongs breaks the previous stakes record of 1:21.29 set by future champion Declan's Moon (Malibu Moon) set in 2004.

“He's a good horse; very professional,” said jockey Juan Hernandez, winning his meet-leading 12th stakes event. “And he's fast. He broke a step slow, but then he got right in gear and made the running. I tried to slow him down some, but he wasn't having it. So I just let him go on and do his thing. When we hit the quarter pole, I asked him and he changed leads and took off. He just wanted to go. He's something.”

Pedigree Notes:

Cave Rock is the third graded winner–all Grade I winners–and the sixth black-type winner overall for the much-missed Arrogate. Like Saturday's GI TVG Del Mar Debutante heroine And Tell Me Nolies, Cave Rock was prepared for his first trip through the sales ring by Mulholland Springs, and like the Debutante victress, the colt also hails from a Danzig-line dam. Danzig also appears on the bottom side of the pedigree of Arrogate's other black-type placegetters Catiche and Caragate.

Cave Rock's yearling full-brother topped this year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale on a bid of $700,000 from Tom McCrocklin, agent for Champion Equine, and 2011 GIII Schuylerville S. winner Georgie's Angel produced an Improbable filly this year before being bred back to Connect.

Sunday, Del Mar
RUNHAPPY DEL MAR FUTURITY-GI, $302,000, Del Mar, 9-11, 2yo, 7f, 1:20.99 (NSR), ft.
1–CAVE ROCK, 120, c, 2, by Arrogate
1st Dam: Georgie's Angel (GSW, $129,564), by Bellamy Road
2nd Dam: Lalka, by Dynaformer
3rd Dam: Celmis, by Bold Ruckus
'TDN Rising Star' 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($210,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $550,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Michael E Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman; B-Anne & Ronnie Sheffer Racing LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J Hernandez. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $228,000. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: First SW this cross. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Havnameltdown, 123, c, 2, Uncaptured–Ashley's Babe, by Put It Back. 1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. ($16,000 Ylg '21 OBSOCT; $200,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Michael E Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman; B-Katherine S Devall (FL); T-Bob Baffert. $60,000.
3–Skinner, 118, c, 2, Curlin–Winding Way, by Malibu Moon. 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. ($40,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $510,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-C R K Stable LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-John A Shirreffs. $36,000.
Margins: 5 1/4, 4 1/4, 1. Odds: 0.40, 6.50, 13.50.
Also Ran: Newgate, The Big Wam, Mixto, Classical Cat, Agency, Pop d'Oro. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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NorCal Trainers Clean Up at Del Mar

Edited Release from Del Mar

It has been a meet to remember for several Northern California trainers who like to summer at Del Mar, as well as one trainer who came to Southern California from Northern California and stayed.

Jonathan Wong rattled off seven wins in a week last month at Del Mar, winning 'Trainer of the Week' honors and climbing into the Top 10 in the trainer standings. He never left. Going into Sunday's final day of the Del Mar summer meet, Wong had notched 13 victories, good for a tie for sixth in the trainer standings and only six off the pace set by Philip D'Amato.

“Beyond pleased,” Wong says. “It's definitely exceeded expectations. I was hoping we could win six to eight and we've won 13 so far, so we've doubled what we were hoping for. Just amazing.

“We've had great help,” Wong continues. “We had owners that let us place horses where they could win, a great group of guys working back here for us, making sure everything was taken care of. Fortunately, we got lucky. Horses were just clicking at the right time, they got into their races and everything worked out perfectly.”

Wong still calls Golden Gate Fields his base, but he's training full time in Southern California. He's currently tied for first in the trainer standings at Golden Gate.

“I live down here, but a majority of our barn is up in the Bay Area,” Wong says, “and we're thinking about taking a string out to Keeneland for the meet and spreading out into the Kentucky area.”

Trainer Andy Mathis had his best meet ever at Del Mar this summer, winning 12 races, good enough for seventh in the trainer standings. Unlike Wong, Mathis has already returned to Northern California but he takes lasting memories of the 2022 meet.

“So much better than I would ever have imagined,” Mathis says. “It hasn't totally sunk in yet how good it worked out. I thought it would be more likely that I would win zero races than 12.

“It was one of those deals where we won a few races early and I thought if we could win six or seven races that would be really good,” Mathis added. “The next thing you know you're at six or seven and you say, 'Boy, nine would be a huge number' and then it was 10 and then last week we landed on 12.”

Mathis says he appreciates how difficult the summer meet is and how it takes a lot of good luck.

“It was a lot of good fortune throughout the whole meet,” he states. “Whether it was pace scenarios or horses that got into races and not on the also-eligible lists. Del Mar is hard. Training starts early, you have the later post times. You really need everybody on the same page. All the grooms and the riders. It's long days and hard work.”

That being said, Mathis says he'll probably be back next year.

“It's like playing blackjack and you're on a big roll,” Mathis says. “You can't just get up and leave. Once I recover from it, I'll be wanting to go back.”

Two other trainers at Del Mar for the summer are leaving town with victories under their belt. Quinn Howey calls Northern California home, but brought a string of horses to Del Mar and won three races. O.J. Jauregui did the same and pocketed one victory.

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Sunday Insights: There’s ‘Magic’ In the Air at Del Mar

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

3rd-DMR, $80K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, post time: 5:00 p.m. ET
Of the 94 first-crop yearlings by Good Magic reported as sold in 2021 (110 ring), no horse cost more than REINCARNATE, who gets his career going at what has been a soggy Del Mar over the weekend. The Apr. 1 foal, a $775,000 purchase out of last year's Keeneland September sale, is out of the stakes-winning Allanah (Scat Daddy), who was acquired by Peter O'Callaghan's Woods Edge Farm for $105,000 in foal to Street Boss at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale. Trained by Bob Baffert for SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stable, the gray colt must overcome a high draw in a race that could be washed onto the main track. American Empire (American Pharoah) is a son of Team Block's 2012 GIII Pucker Up S. victress Leading Astray (Belong to Me), a half-sister to the Illinois-based operation's GIII Kentucky Turf Cup hero Suntracer (Kitten's Joy), MGSW turf marathoner Free Fighter (Out of Place) and a full-sister to SW/MGSP Corrupt (Belong to Me). TJCIS PPs

 

 

 

2nd-KD, $150K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2fT, post time: 1:58 p.m. ET
ZED (Arrogate) is the first foal out of Shane's Girlfriend (Adios Charlie), who made an enormous splash as a juvenile for trainer Doug O'Neill with a dominating 13 1/4-length victory in the GIII Delta Downs Princess S. The dark bay races in partnership for WC Racing, who was also part-owner of Shane's Girlfriend. The dark bay prepped for this with a bullet half-mile in :47 3/5 over the Keeneland main track Sept. 3. Permafrost (Frosted) is a half-brother to three-time graded winner Divine Oath (Broken Vow) and GSW Auntie Joy (Uncle Mo) and counts the irrepressible Personal Ensign (Private Account) as his third dam. TJCIS PPs

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