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Del Mar Boosts Ship & Win Program To Record Levels For 2021

Del Mar's highly successful Ship & Win program will increase to record levels this year as part of the seaside track's 82nd season which kicks off on Friday, July 16.

Ship & Win will provide horsemen and horsewomen who bring in out-of-state runners to race at Del Mar this summer a $4,000 starter bonus for their initial outing with a further 50% purse supplement for all dirt starters and a 40% purse supplement for all races run on turf. Those are the highest incentives provided since the program began in 2011.

The purse bonuses extend to additional starts at the summer meet and are designed to enhance all purses won by first through fifth finishers. Further, should a Ship & Win horse be claimed out of its first outing and subsequently run back at the meet, the original owner will receive all bonuses.

“The Ship & Win program has been essential to Del Mar's racing program and for racing in California,” said Del Mar's racing secretary David Jerkens. “Our local owners and trainers are our biggest backers of the program, providing over 70% of the runners. Doubling the bonus levels this year has got people really excited. My phone is ringing off the hook.”

Del Mar has been working in conjunction with Santa Anita to attract runners to Southern California and this year the seaside track will extend purse benefits to a horse which makes its initial Ship & Win start in either May or June at Santa Anita. Further, that same horse may make up to two starts during that period and still have its purse benefits extended through the Del Mar summer meet.

The simple rules for Ship & Win runners are as follows:

Horses must have made their last start outside of California
Horses cannot have raced in California in the past 12 months
First-time starters are not eligible
$4,000 first-race starter fee to all qualifying horses
50% purse bonus for dirt finishers first through fifth; 40% purse bonus for turf finishers; bonuses stay the same for subsequent
starts at the meet
If a Ship & Win horse is acquired after its initial S & W start, the original owner earns purse bonuses for subsequent outings through the summer meet
Stakes runners (including overnight stakes) are not eligible for the 50% or 40% purse supplement, but will receive the $4,000 starter bonus
Those with questions concerning the program are encouraged to contact Jerkens or Del Mar's executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins at (858) 792-4230 or via e-mail: david@dmtc.com or tomr@dmtc.com.

“Del Mar's Ship & Win program benefits owners, and the entire ecosystem,” said Thoroughbred Owners of California chairman Gary Fenton. “Del Mar Ship & Win graduates have accounted for over 100 starts during the first 10 weeks of racing at Santa Anita Park 2021. TOC is very appreciative of Del Mar's continued efforts in providing great opportunities for everyone.”

In February Del Mar announced a major purse increase for the 2021 season. The track expects to average more than $700,000 per day in purses. Del Mar will begin its 31-day summer meet on July 16 and race through Labor Day Monday, September 6.

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New Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale To Be Held at Park Paddocks

Following the success of the 2020 Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale staged at Park Paddocks, the sale will now be a permanent fixture in Newmarket and will be renamed the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, in recognition of Somerville Tattersall.

The inaugural sale will be held on Sept. 7, combining the same emphasis on carefully selected, precocious yearlings as its Ascot predecessor and the unique advantages of the Tattersalls Park Paddocks complex in the “Home of Horse Racing.” All Tattersalls Somerville, yearlings will also be eligible for the ever-popular £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes.

Famously stepping up to the rostrum for the first time at age 22 during the 1885 July Sales when his ailing father's voice failed, Somerville Tattersall was the final member of the eponymous family to lead the company and was pivotal in shaping the modern Tattersalls.

Alongside the innovations that have transformed its physical home, the Tattersalls roster of sales has evolved in tandem with the wider bloodstock world and the Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale was launched in 2017 to showcase a select offering of forward, athletic yearlings to purchasers. The sale has quickly established a reputation as a consistent source of top-class juvenile talent.

In the last two years, the sale has produced an impressive nine group/listed performers led by the Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Miss Amulet and the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes scorer Steel Bull in 2020. The roll of honor also features Group 2 winner Shadn, Group 3 winner Liberty Beach, and five further listed winners including £2,000 purchase Summer Sands, who was subsequently resold as a 2-year-old at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale for 625,000 guineas.

Underpinned by the success of its graduates, the sale has enjoyed remarkable growth year-on-year and last year's renewal posted a record average, median, top lot and turnover with 17 lots selling for 30,000 guineas or more.

Commenting on the new Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said;

“The catalyst for launching the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale at Park Paddocks was the extraordinary vibrance of last year's relocated Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale. The new Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale will benefit not only from the outstanding facilities at Park Paddocks, but also from Newmarket's unique infrastructure and we are confident that the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, named in honor of one of the central figures in the history of Tattersalls, will harness the momentum established by its predecessor.”

Nominations are currently open for the 2021 Tattersalls Yearling Sales and will close on March 26.

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Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: A Life-Saving Rescue In Italy That Changed The Fair Grounds Oaks

Forty-five years ago, a specific incident was essential to the existence of Travel Column (by Frosted), winner of the 2021 Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 20. That incident was the recovery of the filly's fourth dam, champion filly Carnauba, from a knacker's yard in Italy, scarcely 24 hours before the filly would have become rather less-valuable chops and such.

In the dead of night in August 1975, Carnauba had been secreted out of the training yard of Luigi Turner. He was the racing trainer in Italy for Nelson Bunker Hunt, the international oil tycoon and financier who owned the filly and had purchased her as a yearling at the 1973 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale for $20,000.

For Hunt, Carnauba had won eight of 14 starts at two and three, and she was ranked as the top filly in Italy both seasons. At three in 1975, Carnauba had won the Group 1 Oaks d'Italia and had ventured afield to win the G3 Fred Darling Stakes at Newmarket. As a big, dark-coated daughter of leading sire Noholme, Carnauba was a valuable racer and a high-quality broodmare prospect, as well.

So, her disappearance was a stunning blow to the filly's immediate connections, and then the thieves demanded a ransom. Variously reported as $250,000 or more, the ransom was never going to be paid by Hunt, who reportedly feared he would be encouraging more mischief of this sort and resolved not to reward the theft.

The great columnist Red Smith expanded on the situation after Carnauba's recovery and wrote that, “Turner kept in contact with the kidnappers, and finally he made a deal to pay $13,000,” to get her back. Turner arranged with the police to pretend to get money from a bank, then actually to place bundles of newsprint in a valise, which was thrown over a hedge to be recovered by the thieves. This worked effectively enough to capture them, and a half-dozen were jailed as a result.

Carnauba, however, had not been found.

The trainer's son, Frank Turner, had made a mission of tracking down the filly, and eventually, he got a tip about a horse that seemed out of place. The thieves had sent the race filly to a riding academy, cropped her mane, and removed her racing plates to make her less obviously a racehorse; she had not prospered there because the young riders couldn't handle a high-energy racehorse, and either out of spite or desperation, the thieves had sent Carnauba to a butcher's yard, where Turner discovered her in January 1976, reportedly just 24 hours before she would have gone up to auction for meat.

Identified and returned to her owner, Carnauba was flown back to the States, and in March 1976, the young mare was covered by Hunt's great Arc de Triomphe winner Vaguely Noble (Vienna). Carnauba got in foal on a single cover.

The result was a filly named Spirited Away, who did not race. The mare's next two foals, Rich and Riotous (Empery) and Lyphard's Holme (Lyphard) were winners, but by the time of the silver market crash that claimed Hunt's fortune, Carnauba had a modest production record. So, at the dispersal of the Bluegrass Farm stock at Keeneland in 1988, Carnauba brought only $35,000 from Harry Mangurian, who knew a bargain when he saw one.

Having slipped twins to Hunt's stallion Dahar (Lyphard), Carnauba was even less attractive as a commercial proposition, but Mangurian bred racing stock, as well as some sales horses, at his Mockingbird Farm in Florida. The mare's first foal for Mockingbird was the stakes winner Valid Carnauba (Valid Appeal), whom Mangurian sold as a yearling for $35,000 at the 1990 OBS August yearling sale, then was resold for $60,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February auction of 2-year-olds in training in 1991. Valid Carnauba became a winner later that year, then progressed to win a stakes at three and place in two more, earning $110,292. She later sold, in foal to champion Unbridled, for $290,000 at the 1996 Keeneland November sale.

Valid Carnauba became one of four daughters of Carnauba to produce stakes winners; the others were Spirited Away, Rich and Riotous, and Lyphard's Holme. One who did not was Pay the Ransom (J.O. Tobin), who did not race and did not produce even a black-type horse. Her best winner was Free Ransom (Our Native), and this mare produced a pair of stakes winners, including Swingit (Victory Gallop), the dam of Travel Column.

Bred in Kentucky by Bayne and Christina Welker, Travel Column was an $850,000 Saratoga select yearling in 2019, and she has earned more than a half-million with three victories in five starts, including the G2 Golden Rod Stakes last year at Churchill Downs. Swingit also produced Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday), who earned $2.2 million and is at stud. She has a 2-year-old colt, Corton Charlemagne (American Pharoah), who sold for $1.25 million last year, and a yearling colt by City of Light (Quality Road). She was bred back to Audible (Into Mischief).

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Dubai World Cup Notes: Jesus’ Team, Mystic Guide Take It Easy After Paddock Schooling

The following notes detail contenders in Saturday's $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse, and were provided by members of the Dubai Racing Club media team:

Ajuste Fiscal – Had an easy workout on the Meydan dirt track at 5am on Wednesday.

“He is fit and well and really just having a leg stretcher before the big day,” said trainer Antonio Cintra.

Chuwa Wizard – The Japanese challenger was hand-walked for 60 minutes at the quarantine stable area and did not come out on the track this morning.

Work rider Kota Kato said: “He has settled well and is physically fit. He weighed 490kg today, about the same as when he won the Group 1 Champions Cup, which means he is in really good form. He will have a piece of work on the dirt track at 5am and will have a gate schooling tomorrow.”

Jesus' Team – A couple of new experiences characterized the last 24 hours for Jesus' Team and Venezuelan trainer Jose Francisco D'Angelo.

Around 6pm on Tuesday night the colt was able to familiarize himself with the Meydan paddock.

“He looked a little sharp, a little nervous because all of it is new for him. It's a long walk and the transportation from the barn is in a truck. So that is new for him,” said D'Angelo.

“He will be more focused and more professional for the race because Jesus is always better the second time around.”

The following morning Jesus' Team took two turns around the dirt, followed shortly by a first look inside the starting gates.

D'Angelo said: “Today he improved on the track, every day he is going better. He did two laps, slow to a bit faster. Similar to how we are going to run [in the race]. He's doing perfectly. We went to the starting gate today with him and he looked very professional, very focused, not nervous. I like what I see.”

The Claiming Crown Jewel victor has quite the character, with D'Angelo having many a tale to tell.

“Yesterday before he was working, he put his feet on my back,” he said. “Before the Preakness one day he tried to escape when he was being hand-grazed. Jesus is a very delicate horse. You have to be able to deal with him.”

Magny Cours – The André Fabre-trained contender made his first appearance on the dirt track at Meydan on Wednesday morning where he cantered on the back stretch before going a bit quicker in front of the grandstand.

Richard Lambert, the travelling head lad who looks after the son of Medaglia d'Oro, said: “His rider was very happy with him this morning. Everything went well and he looks in good form. He will not come back to the dirt track but will remain on the training track.”

Mystic Guide – Godolphin's Mike Stidham-trained Mystic Guide did not come to the track on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday evening, the son of champion Ghostzapper and five-time Grade 1 winner Music Note went through the schooling process at Meydan, which involves vanning over from the international quarantine barn to the receiving barn, walking the 800m tunnel, saddling, parade-ring walking and then returning.

“Based on the schooling process we gave him the morning off,” Stidham said. “He had trained in the morning and then went over there for two hours of schooling, so we just felt like it would be best to give him an easy day. We walked and grazed him. Tomorrow he will gallop and stand in the gate.

“It's a lot different; the total opposite of what we do in the States,” he continued. “Doing all this in a week's time is very demanding on a horse and their routine, so you have to adapt your training with this extra activity and that's what I'm doing. He's plenty fit. I don't want to put him over the top and have a flat horse on race day.”

Salute The Soldier – Jockey Adrie de Vries had a positive bulletin on the Fawzi Nass trainee.

“He is a very exciting horse and we are all really looking forward to Saturday,” he said. “If you remember, this time last year he was favorite for the Godolphin Mile, now he has a live chance in the big race. His final work was very good and he seems in great form. Fawzi and his team have done very well keeping him fresh and happy. I am really looking forward to Saturday.”

Sleepy Eyes Todd – To the joy of the media, Sleepy Eyes Todd posed for the cameras after gate schooling, followed by an easy gallop. Trainer Miguel Angel Silva watched intently from the rail.

“This is the first time [in the gates]. They told me the gates are different than the ones in America. We just wanted to make sure he's OK in there, because they said they are smaller,” Silva elaborated.

“He was a gentleman like always, he was perfect. Today he just galloped around to stretch his legs. The job is done. We just keep him happy. We will continue with the easy canters, easy gallops over the next few days,” Silva continued.

Regular rider Jose Sandoval was aboard Sleepy Eyes Todd, the pair having been travelling everywhere together.

As for Saturday, Silva is ready to roll.

He continued: “I have been saying this a lot, we just need racing luck. We had a few issues with other horses in Saudi Arabia, they cut us off. All of a sudden, we were 15 lengths behind. Ideally, I would like to see him four or five lengths off the speed. And in front at the wire!”

Thegreatcollection – Continued his preparation at the Doug Watson stable with jockey Pat Cosgrave excited about his chances.

He said: “I am delighted be back on him and have a decent record on the horse this season. Look, I am not saying we are going to win but I certainly think he will run a big race.”

Title Ready – Charles Fipke's homebred Title Ready came to the dirt track at 7am and had an easy hack around with his owner in town to watch. Trainer Dallas Stewart was also on hand for the first time this week.

“The horse looked great,” Stewart said. “He's doing well. The horse came in good and we're excited to see what he can do on Saturday. He looks like he's getting over the track good. Like any of them, he's going to have to step his game up. It's a good race. He's a very nice horse who's six now and he's training well and coming off his best race. His best races might be ahead. Hopefully he'll step up to this level.

“I think the competition is solid. Mystic Guide is a wonderful horse coming off a win and you have to worry about him. The other American horses are really solid, as well.”

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