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Del Mar’s Hollywood Turf Cup Could Have East Coast Flavor

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club racing secretary David Jerkens reports there is serious interest from several eastern trainers with likely runners for Del Mar's Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup scheduled for Friday, Nov. 27. The $200,000 race will be contested at a mile and one-half on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Trainer Brad Cox has indicated his multiple-stakes winner Arklow, most recently seen running sixth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, might be on board for the marathon. Trainer Mike Maker is considering two of his route runners in Big Agenda and Aquaphobia. The latter was a Grade 1 winner on the grass this year.

Also possible for the seventh local edition of the stakes is the German stakes winner Laccario for trainer Andreas Wohler, as well as trainer Graham Motion's Ziyad, a European import who ran third in the G3 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 15 in his initial U.S. start.

The Hollywood Turf Cup will be part of a seven-stakes-all-on-the-grass bonanza that starts on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) and runs through the track's closing afternoon on Sunday, Nov. 29.

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Quenane Posts $57.60 Upset In Millions Classic Preview At Gulfstream Park West

IAB Stables and Walter Fralick's Quenane, the longest shot in a field full of stakes winners, showed off his fondness for the course and conditions by splashing to a one-length victory over late-running favorite Noble Drama in Saturday's $60,000 Millions Classic Preview at Gulfstream Park West in Miami Gardens, Fla.

The Classic Preview for 3-year-olds and up, shortened to one mile this year, was the first of five dirt stakes for Florida-breds on the program, serving as a prep for the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Classic Jan. 16 during Gulfstream Park's Championship Meet.

Quenane ($57.60), a 6-year-old Algorithms gelding, led every step of the way to earn his 13th lifetime victory and fourth in seven tries at Gulfstream West. For his career, Quenane has a record of 4-4-1 in 13 attempts on an off track.

Jockey Angel Arroyo and Quenane raced to the outside of Debbie's Passion on the short run to the first turn and around the bend before taking over willingly into the backstretch, with defending champion Red Crescent also racing forwardly in third. The first quarter-mile went in 24.40 seconds as Red Crescent moved up to a pressing position.

Red Crescent continued to loom a threat through a half in 47.70, a half-length behind Quenane, with Debbie's Passion third and Noble Drama beginning to rev up along the inside after trailing early. Red Crescent appeared to nudge a neck in front between calls but Quenane responded by surging again and remaining in front after six furlongs in 1:11.97.

Arroyo hugged the rail turning for home and set sail for the wire while Noble Drama, a winner of back-to-back stakes but engaged in a long drive under Emisael Jaramillo, shifted to the far outside to make a belated bid for second. Debbie's Passion held third, followed by Garter and Tie and Red Crescent.

“Noble Drama is in terrific form and Red Crescent won this race last year, and so far Quenane in keeping company with them over the summer really hadn't been effective with them and faced some challenges when running against them,” winning trainer Tamara Levy said. “Not to slight Quenane – he's a very good horse and he's exceeded our expectations of him time and time again. If he can work it out and find away, he'll get it done.”

Claimed by Levy as a 3-year-old for $6,250 out of a third-place finish July 9, 2017, in what was his 10th start, Quenane moved over the $300,000 mark in lifetime purses with Saturday's win. Levy plans to point him to the 22nd Claiming Crown Dec. 5 on opening day of the 2020-2021 Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park.

“He's never won gate to wire in his career. He knows the pace, he's an older horse. He knows where the wire is. He knows the job, so you've got to kind of let him decide. Sometimes he knows best,” Levy said. “Angel did a terrific job today.”

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Bittersweet Ending To The Season For Trainer, Co-Owner Of Top Pacer Bettor’s Wish

For Chris Ryder, the next few weeks are going to be bittersweet.

Bettor's Wish, a moderately priced pacing colt Ryder picked up as a yearling for $20,000, will end his racing career. After more than 20 wins and $2.4 million in earnings, Bettor's Wish will head off to stud at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania in 2021.

Sunday's Potomac Pace Invitational at Rosecroft will be one of the 4-year-old's last starts.

“Oh, it's going to be tough,” said trainer and co-owner Ryder. “He's part of the family. He's a beautiful horse to have around the barn. He's never any trouble, always does everything right. He's been a real gift.

“What do you say? He shows up every week. He's a horse of a lifetime.”

“He's like an old mate,” said driver Dexter Dunn.

Along with victories this year in the Sam McKee Memorial, Dayton Pacing Derby and the Allerage Open Pace, where he set a track record, Bettor's Wish finished second Oct. 31 in the $500,000 Breeders Crown Open.

Recipient of the 2019 Dan Patch Award for best 3-year-old male pacer, Bettor's Wish has rewarded Ryder and his connections with some special memories. Last year Bettor's Wish won the Art Rooney Pace, the Matron Stakes, and a division of the Tattersalls Pace. His second-place finishes came in the North American Cup, Meadowlands Pace, Messenger Stakes and TVG Series Open Pace.

Not bad for a $20,000 yearling. “I guess he slipped through the cracks,” Ryder said.

“He's such a gutsy horse,” said Dunn before the Breeders Crown in October. “His attitude is amazing and makes my job easy because he's so versatile. It's not an easy move [from ages 3 to 4], but you know he's going to go out there and give you 100 percent.

“I'll miss him, that's for sure.”

Considered the top older pacer this year, Bettor's Wish enters the Potomac Pace after finishing behind Century Farroh in the Breeders Crown as the betting favorite. Bettor's Wish, who drew post 9 in the Breeders Crown, will leave from Post 5 Sunday evening while Century Farroh leaves from Post 4. Backstretch Shadow (third in the Breeders Crown) and This Is The Plan (fourth in the Breeders Crown), both trained by Ron Burke, will also leave inside Bettor's Wish.

Despite the loss in the Breeders Crown, Ryder is optimistic heading into the Potomac Pace.

“He's doing fine and came out of the Breeders Crown fine,” Ryder said. “The post killed us [in the Breeders Crown]. The horse who beat us is a good horse and had a good trip. We're looking forward to the race at Rosecroft. Hopefully, we'll get a good trip.”

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Million Dollar Baby: Spielberg Tops Sunday’s Bob Hope At Del Mar

SF Racing, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables, et al's Spielberg, a $1-million yearling purchase at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, takes the next step in his racing career at Del Mar on Sunday as he heads a field of six juveniles in the seventh edition of the G3 Bob Hope Stakes, a seven-furlong spin that carries a $100,000 purse.

Del Mar's morning line maker Jon White has hung the chestnut colt as the 6-5 favorite in the extended sprint, a race named for the show business icon who laid the path for his big Hollywood breakout when he became good pals with Bing Crosby during post-race parties at the shore oval in its first season (1937). Crosby and Hope went on to make nine “Road to….” movies, considered by many to be the most successful “buddy” pictures ever.

Spielberg, of course, has a Hollywood connection all his own, having been named for Steven Spielberg, the towering Tinsel Town figure who has proven to be one of cinema's quintessential figures as a director, producer and screenwriter with dozens and dozens of major movie credits on his ledger.

Spielberg, the racehorse, is a son of the top stallion Union Rags and has had a four-race career this season that has seen him twice go stakes-placed in Grade I races and then finally find the winner's circle in a straight maiden race at Del Mar on November 1. Trainer Bob Baffert sends his charge back two weeks later and will have the meet's leading rider, Abel Cedillo, in the tack for his run in the Hope.

Here's the full field for the Sunday stakes in post-position order with riders and morning line odds:

Reddam Racing's Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 7/2); Spielberg; Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1); Saratoga West's Coastal Kid (Tyler Baze, 15-1); Tina and Jerome Moss' Red Flag (Victor Espinoza, 6-1), and Eric Homme's Uncle Boogie (Flavien Prat, 5-1).

Spielberg's chief threat would appear to be Weston, a gelded son of the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb who has a pair of wins under his belt, including a tally in the Best Pal Stakes during the Del Mar summer meet. His last start saw him chase home Dr. Schivel and Spielberg in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity on September 7. The bay since has put in a series of sharp workout at Santa Anita for trainer and part-owner Ryan Hanson.

Ambivalent will have his backers in the sprint, too. The Constitution colt, a $550,000 2-year-old-in-training purchase earlier this year in Florida, is still a maiden, but it isn't for want of trying. This will be his sixth start and he's got a pair of stakes placings on his resume, as well as a pair of second-place finishes in straight maiden races. He runs out of the stable of trainer Doug O'Neill.

First post Sunday is the usual 12:30 p.m. with the featured Hope scheduled to go off at approximately 4 p.m.

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