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Colonial Downs Takes 108 Entries For Nine-Race Card On Opening Monday

Colonial Downs will usher in its second season of Thoroughbred racing under the ownership of the Colonial Downs Group on Monday July 27 with nine pari-mutuel races getting underway at 5:30 PM (EDT). There will be two non-wagering steeplechase events prior at 4:00 and 4:40 PM.

One hundred and eight horses were entered for opening night's card and $316,000 in purse money will be distributed. Seven of the nine flat races will be contested over Colonial's massive Secretariat Turf Course — the widest grass racing surface in the country at 180 feet across — and the other two will held over the 1 1/4-miles dirt track.

The featured race is a $42,000 turf allowance for 2-year-olds at 5½ furlongs. A field of nine will battle in the eighth race including seven last-time-out winners. The only two that did not prevail most recently were Sunshine City and Crown and Coke, who raced in stakes at Royal Ascot and Churchill Downs, respectively.

A jockey colony of some 30 riders will be based in New Kent for the six-week meet including Trevor McCarthy, last year's top jock with 15 wins. Through July 22 this year, McCarthy is ranked 30th in the country by purse earnings with $2,576,300. Daniel Centeno, who tied for second with 13 victories, is back as is Forest Boyce, who finished fourth in the standings. The trio will be busy on opening night. McCarthy and Boyce have nine mounts each while Centeno has eight.

Veteran jockeys Chuck Lopez and Alberto Delgado are part of the group. Lopez competed at Colonial in 2019 and collected seven wins. The 59-year-old has 4,301 wins from over 30,000 starts. Delgado will be riding for the first time since 2017. The 56-year-old, who has 2,932 victories from over 25,000 starts, rode California Chrome to his first two wins in 2013. Lopez has six mounts Monday while Delgado has two.

Mike Stidham and Jamie Ness, co-leading trainers at the 2019 meet with 10 wins each, have horses entered Monday. The former, who won the 2019 Virginia Oaks with Carnival Colors and Kitten's Joy with Doc Boy last summer, has Princess Grace in the seventh and Palio in the fifth. The latter sends Hazels Little Man out in the featured eighth.

Also supporting the opener are Graham Motion, whose English Bee captured the 2019 New Kent County Virginia Derby (G3), and Wesley Ward, whose Four Wheel Drive won the Exacta Systems Rosie's Stakes then went on the win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1). Motion's' Dance Recital appears in the seventh and Ward's Sunshine City competes in the feature. Both Ferris Allen, Colonial's all-time leading conditioner, and King Leatherbury, fifth leading all-time trainer nationally with 6,503 victories, have a pair entered.

The track will feature a nightly All-Turf Pick-5 wager that covers the program's final five races. Colonial is in a unique position because its track lights illuminate the grass course instead of the dirt oval. Three of the five legs in Monday's wager have either a 13- or 14-horse field.

The early steeplechase races will be a staple of every Monday card this summer. Opening day's pair feature 10-horse fields and seven in each raced most recently in Virginia — either at the Middleburg Spring Races or the Virginia Gold Cup at Great Meadow which both took place in June.

The 2020 race meet will be presented “spectator-free” out of an abundance of caution so Colonial Downs' personnel can focus extra care towards key operating areas, such as the jockeys' quarters, paddock supervision, racing office and the stabling area.

The season continues through September 2 with cards every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:30 PM. The Grade 3 Virginia Derby highlights the meet and will be contested on Tuesday September 1 along with other five stakes.

In Virginia, wagering on Colonial Downs races can be placed at any Rosie's Gaming Emporium or at any VA-Horseplay Off Track Betting location. Online betting is available through TVG.com, Xpressbet.com, Twinspires.com and NYRABets.com. All of Colonial's races will be aired on TVG. More details are at colonialdowns.com/wagering.

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Baffert Has ‘A Really Good Feeling’ About Maximum Security Ahead Of San Diego

The Del Mar barber's knowledge of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, whose distinctive white locks he was trimming, apparently did not extend to the horses in Baffert's deeply talented stable.

So, asking about the best horses Baffert had on hand for the Del Mar summer meeting was a logical conversation starter or extender.

“Well, I've got this horse Maximum Security …” Baffert said.

“Oh, I know THAT horse,” the barber exclaimed.

Maximum Security, the horse that crossed under the wire the apparent winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby before an extensively-chronicled disqualification, the first in Derby history. The multi-million-dollar earner that, also in extensively-chronicled circumstances, was transferred in March to the care of Baffert.

Maximum Security, the 4-year-old son of New Year's Day who will make his first start for Baffert, and first in nearly five months, in Saturday's $150,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

“He's a very famous horse,” Baffert said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I'm very excited and a little bit nervous for him to run. There's a lot of pressure when you're around really good horses and we always have that.”

Any trainer looks forward to a new horse in the stable and there are physical checks to be made upon arrival, which Maximum Security passed routinely. There was, however, one obstacle to overcome in the transition according to Baffert.

“Every trainer feeds a little differently and at first he was kind of a finicky eater when we got him,” Baffert said. “Which was strange, because he doesn't look like he ever missed a meal in his life. But once we got that worked out, he has been fine.

“He's very intelligent and around here he's been kind of quiet.”

Maximum Security had two works at Del Mar, one more than was originally planned after the race was delayed a week by COVID-19 positives in the jockey colony.

He covered five furlongs in :59.60 on July 11, fourth-fastest of 88 at the distance that day, and came back a week later – the original date of the San Diego – to work a bullet six furlongs in 1:11.60.

“He's a big, strong horse and I can't be happier with the way he's training,” Baffert said. “He trains like a really good horse.”

Maximum Security will be ridden for the first time by Del Mar-based Abel Cedillo. Luis Saez, aboard for the last seven starts, tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago at Keeneland and is subject to travel restrictions.

“When I got the word on Saez, I asked around about who was open.” Baffert related. “Some (jockey agents) said, 'If it's Maximum Security, maybe I could get open.' But I really didn't want to take anyone's rider.”

Trainer Mark Glatt had nominated the multiple-stakes winning 6-year-old gelding Sharp Samurai, a turf specialist, to both the San Diego on dirt and the Eddie Read Stakes the following day on grass. The obvious strategy: provide opportunity for Grade II honors on either surface and a way of avoiding Maximum Security.

“Bob thought that because Abel and Luis Saez have similar styles, Abel would be a good fit and was his first choice,” Cedillo's agent, Tom Knust, said. “I thought that was very complimentary of both Abel and Bob.

“We ride a lot for Mark Glatt and Sharp Samurai's owners (Red Baron Barn and Rancho Temescal). We told them we would hold the mount if they wanted to run in the San Diego. They were nice enough to say they didn't want Abel to miss having the opportunity to ride 'Maximum'.”

With Maximum Security committed to the San Diego, Cedillo – most recently aboard Sharp Samurai in a third-place effort in the American Stakes at Santa Anita on June 21 – was free to take the call from Baffert. Once, that is, Baffert got clearance from owner/breeders Gary and Mary West of Rancho Santa Fe and their partners.

“(Cedillo) is strong and aggressive,” Baffert said. “He won on Fighting Mad for Gary and Mary West, he's won other races for me and he seems like he can handle the pressure. I'm happy to have him.”

The victory by Cedillo for the West stable was in the Grade II $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita on May 31.

Cedillo, a 31-year-old native of Guatemala, was a dominant presence in Northern California before making a successful transition to the Southern California circuit a year ago. He's been doing the due diligence for what could be career-boosting opportunity.

“I was very excited when (Knust) said I have a chance to ride this horse,” Cedillo said. “Right now, I'm watching the replays of all his races. It looks to me like I'll have to kind of stay busy on him, but I'm going to try to talk to Luis Saez in the next few days and, of course, I'll talk to Mr. Baffert and see what they say.”

Under normal circumstances, Cedillo's assignment would be a one-race replacement for the proven Saez. But these are not normal times, with COVID-19 protocols curtailing jockey travel. And, Baffert said, Maximum Security is staying put for the summer.

“It's a challenge. We've got this great horse and we've got this race as a prep for the (TVG) Pacific Classic,” Baffert said. Del Mar's signature race, the Grade I, $500,000 mile and a quarter is scheduled for Saturday, August 22.

Back when Quarter Horse racing was the name of Baffert's game, he had a good one named Gold Coast Express transferred to his stable.

“The first time he ran for me, I was so excited when I gave (jockey) Danny Cardoza a leg up I almost threw him over the horse,” Baffert said. Gold Coast Express won eight races in a row and was the 1986 World Champion.

Unlike most Del Mar stakes races, especially the ones for juveniles, the San Diego has not been good to Baffert. He's won it once (Fed Biz, 2014) and had a couple of seconds (Paynter, 2013, Dr. Dorr 2016). But there were a couple of nasty ones, too.

In 1998 he ran his Triple Crown star and champion Silver Charm in the San Diego at odds of 3-10. Alas, they had to send out the proverbial search party to find him at the end of that one. Then, even more uncomfortably, there was 2017.

Arrogate came into the San Diego as the No. 1 ranked Thoroughbred in world, having won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup. Arrogate went off at odds of 1-20 but was never much of a factor and finished fourth, beaten 15 lengths, by the John Sadler-trained Accelerate.

“The track can be tricky. Some horses like it and some don't,” Baffert said. “Arrogate didn't. But this horse has worked well on it and I think he likes this track.

“I have a really good feeling about this horse and I really want him to run well. What he's gone through in his career is not his fault.”

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Del Mar’s Friday Program Features Daisycutter Handicap, Fleet Treat Stakes

In the racing vernacular, a “daisycutter” is a grass horse, one whose high action makes him or her especially adept on the greensward. Thus the name of Friday's overnight stakes at Del Mar, the $65,000 Daisycutter Handicap offered at five furlongs over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course as as the San Diego area track returns to action following a weekend lost to COVID-19 circumstances.

Racing will be conducted Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday this week, with the weekend's stakes highlight being the return of Maximum Security, the 2019 3-year-old male champion, making his first start for trainer Bob Baffert.

Friday's card also includes the $125,000 Fleet Treat Stakes that drew a closely matched field of five California-bred 3-year-old fillies.

Topweight in the field of nine fillies and mares in the Daisycutter goes to Driver or Driver's Stealthediamonds, a 4-year-old daughter of the late champion California sire Unusual Heat, who was a good grass horse himself and sired a slew of top turf runners.

The steady Stealthediamonds – in the top three in 15 of her 19 lifetime starts – will pack 124 pounds and get the saddle services of veteran Agapito Delgadillo. Her trainer is Mike Puype, who haltered the quick and consistent lassie for $80,000 for her current connections last October at Santa Anita. She's been hung the 5/2 morning line favorite for the Daisycutter.

Here's the field for the 18th edition of the Daisycutter from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

LNJ Foxwoods' Lighthouse (Drayden Van Dyke, 10-1); Fairview's Tomlin (Roberto Gonzalez, 10-1); Stealthediamonds; Michael House's Mischiffie (Rubin Fuentes, 12-1); Ten Broeck Farm's Mucho Amor (Juan Hernandez, 15-1); Andrew Farm or O'Connor's Jo Jo Air (Flavien Prat, 7/2); Tim or Kelley Goodwin's Storming Lady (Aaron Gryder, 8-1); Rockingham Ranch's Surrender Now (Abel Cedillo, 4-1), and Hronis Racing's Artistic Diva (Victor Espinoza, 8-1).

The Daisycutter will be the ninth of 11 races on the Friday card.

First post Friday – as it will be for all days at the 2020 Del Mar summer meet – is 2 p.m.

The 34th edition of the seven-furlong Fleet Treat drew the one, two, three finishers from the Melair Stakes going a mile and one-sixteenth at Santa Anita on June 21 and that trio figures strongly in considerations for the Del Mar dash.

The third-place horse that afternoon – Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temesca's Big Sweep – has been established a slight 9/5 favorite over the other two, mostly off her two-for-two sprint credentials and the presence of top rider Flavien Prat.

Following close behind is Brown Jr., Klein or Lebherz's Smiling Shirlee at 2-1 and the Melaire winner, Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime, at 7/2.

Rounding out the field are KMN Racing's Been Studying Her and Nick Alexander's Loud Loud Music.

Here's the field from the rail out with riders and weights:

Been Studying Her (Abel Cedillo, 125); Smiling Shirlee (Mike Smith, 120); Warren's Showtime (Jorge Velez, 125); Loud Loud Music (Tiago Pereira, 120), and Big Sweep (120).

The Fleet Treat goes as the fourth race.

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Saturday’s Marine, Selene Stakes Serve As Preps For Woodbine’s Queen’s Plate, Oaks

A pair of Grade 3 events, the $125,000 Marine Stakes and $125,000 Selene Stakes, share the spotlight this Saturday at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.

A key prep on the road to this year's Queen's Plate (September 12, at Woodbine), the 1 1/16-mile main track Marine, for 3-year-olds, has attracted some noteworthy Canadian-breds hoping for a spot in the Plate starting gate.

Queen's Plate eligibles Dotted Line (18-1 in the Queen's Plate Winterbook), Glorious Tribute (40-1), and Perfect Revenge (40-1) are set to contest to the Marine.

The 65th running of the Marine will be complemented by the 67th edition of the Selene, a 1 1/16-mile race over the Tapeta for 3-year-old fillies, an important fixture ahead of the Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, on August 15.

Merveilleux (25-1 in the Queen's Plate Winterbook) and Owlette (30-1) are among the Selene notables.

John Oxley's homebred Lucky Curlin chases his second straight win, this time in the Marine, after a sharp score on June 14 at Woodbine.

The Mark Casse trainee, in his ninth career start and first test on the Toronto oval Tapeta, rallied from fifth at the stretch call of the seven-furlong race to win by a length under Kazushi Kimura.

It was the second win for Kentucky-bred chestnut son of Curlin, who broke his maiden last December at Fair Grounds.

The well-traveled colt, who has raced at Churchill Downs, Saratoga, Keeneland, and Fair Grounds, appears to feel right at home on the Woodbine Tapeta.

Casse hopes the trend continues.

“He's a horse that's disappointed me, to be honest. We were always thinking, 'If he ever gets his act together…' He was a horse early on that we thought was as good as Enforceable. And of course, Enforceable is going to the Kentucky Derby.

“His last race, from a Beyer standpoint, was very good. I wasn't surprised, but it was pleasant. He's been extremely frustrating for us because we've had high hopes for him. There are horses whose abilities are limited. He hasn't been that way. So, we'll see how he handles two turns. I'm still not positive that he isn't a come-from-behind sprinter. But we're going to give it a try.”

Casse's other Marine starter is Untitled, a Florida-bred son of Khozan, owned by Gary Barber and Michael Sebastian.

The bay colt is 2-3-0 in seven starts.

In his first Woodbine appearance, on June 13, Untitled was second to Newstome in the Woodstock Stakes.

“He's kind of a mystery horse,” offered Casse, who won the 2017 Marine with Souper Tapit. “He won very impressively first time out and he's run some good races. I think watching him run… we didn't have the luxury of getting a breeze over the track before his last start. He got up there and we ran him. I didn't think he cared for it that much. In fact, I was thinking about running him on the grass, but there really wasn't a grass race for him. He trained so well afterwards on the synthetic, so we thought we'd give him a try.”

Other Marine contenders include trainer Barb Minshall's improving Glorious Tribute.

The Ontario-bred son of Congrats has one win and a pair of thirds from seven starts.

“His last race as a two-year-old [a maiden-breaking win at one mile and 70 yards on the Woodbine main track], he got a good trip and we got to stretch him out,” said Minshall. “I thought he ran really well. I took him down south all winter so I knew he was good and fit. I ran him once, on the turf, but the race was just a little too tough at that given time for him. But, I've always liked him.”

Minshall, Canada's champion trainer in 1996, remains a big fan of the dark bay.

“I wanted to make sure he was good and fit because I really had a good feeling that he would get a mile and a quarter [Queen's Plate distance]. He's got a nice stride and a good mind. He's a very laid-back horse. I'm pretty happy where he is right now. He's a big, sound horse, so I figured let's get him in, see how he is, get another race, and hopefully from that step go on to the Plate Trial [August 15] and hopefully we end at the Queen's Plate, and we've got a bit of a shot.”

Sam-Son Farm has the most Marine wins (six) for owners, while Sandy Hawley holds the riding record with five Marine crowns. The most recent horse to notch the Marine-Plate double was Shaman Ghost, who achieved the feat in 2015. Last year's winner, Global Access, went on to earn year-end divisional honours at the Sovereign Awards.

Ten Broeck Farm's Owlette, a bay daughter of Frac Daddy, goes after her fourth Woodbine stakes crown in the Selene.

The Wesley Ward trainee took last year's Shady Well and Victorian Queen, and then added another stakes title to her record with a win in this year's Star Shoot on June 13.

Merveilleux, owned by Al and Bill Ulwelling, seeks her first added-money win in what will be her seventh start.

The daughter of Paynter lost by a neck to Cool Shadows in last year's Princess Elizabeth and by a head to Curlin's Voyage in the Ontario Lassie.

Owlette and Merveilleux will be tested by five other rivals, including the Casse trio of American Tap, Diamond Sparkles, and Two Sixty.

A Florida-bred daughter of Uncaptured, Two Sixty, owned by Gary Barber, finished fourth in the Star Shoot Stakes.

“She's another one since that race who trained much better after being there for a little while,” noted Casse.

Diamond Sparkles, a Kentucky-bred daughter of War Front, made her North American debut in last year's Grade 1 Natalma Stakes, finishing fourth to Abscond.

The bay's most recent race, seven furlongs on the Woodbine main track on June 13, yielded a second-place finish.

“She came over from Europe, ran pretty good in the Natalma, and then struggled a little bit through the winter,” said Casse, of the filly owned by Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “I thought her last race was good and she's training well. We're going to give her a shot.”

American Tap, bred by Tall Oaks Farm, is also owned by Barber.

Casse and Barber teamed to take the past two runnings of the Selene. Miss Mo Mentum won in 2018, while Power Gal was victorious last year.

A victory by any Casse starter would tie him with Yonnie Starr for the most Selene wins by a trainer, with six.

The Marine is Race 3 on Saturday's 10-race card and the Selene is scheduled as Race 8. First post time is 1 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

FIELD FOR THE $125,000 GRADE 3 MARINE
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – Lucky Curlin – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse
2 – Glorious Tribute – Leo Salles – Barbara Minshall
3 – Lookinatamiracle – Patrick Husbands – Sandra Dominguez
4 – Dotted Line (S) – Justin Stein – Sid Attard
5 – Perfect Revenge – Daisuke Fukumoto – John Charalambous
6 – Untitled – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse
7 – Shirl's Speight – Rafael Hernandez – Roger Attfield

FIELD FOR THE $125,000 GRADE 3 SELENE
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – Owlette – Luis Contreras – Wesley Ward
2 – Saratoga Vision – Simon Husbands – Alexander Patykewich
3 – Livin in the Six – Justin Stein – Mike De Paulo
4 – Diamond Sparkles (S) – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse
5 – American Tap – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse
6 – Two Sixty – Emma-Jayne-Wilson – Mark Casse
7 – Merveilleux – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard

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