Oaklawn Opener: 10 Races With 109 Entrants Carded For Friday

Oaklawn is scheduled to run 10 races Friday, which would equal an opening-day record for a track that conducted its first meeting in 1905.

Oaklawn has opened with nine-race cards every year since 1956, with the exception of 2003 when 10 races were run for the first time. That 10-race card attracted 114 entrants and 109 starters after scratches.

Friday's card drew 109 entrants (including also eligibles) in an era when foal crops are declining and much lower than 20 years ago. Entries were taken and post positions drawn last Friday.

“Yesterday, you saw entries went very well,” Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said Saturday morning. “Look at the type of races we're making. I mean, three special weights and you're splitting allowance races.”

At least 10 horses were entered in eight races, including a full field of 12 in the featured $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-olds. Oaklawn raised the purse of maiden special weight races to $115,000 and allowance events to at least $140,000 – both record levels to open a season – in 2023-2024.

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Stay Hot Returns From Breeders’ Cup Loss To Post First Stakes Win In Cecil B. DeMille

Stay Hot took the overland route heading for home and came away a neck best in the $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille (G3) for 2-year-olds Sunday at Del Mar.

The winner, owned by the partnership of Burns Racing LLC, Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing, the Estate of Brereton C. Jones, and William Dan Hudock, won by a neck and covered the one-mile turf test in 1:35.89 under Antonio Fresu. The Summer Front ridgling is trained by Peter Eurton.

Finishing second in the nine-horse field was Rothschild, who had a head on third-place finisher Miracle Mark.

Stay Hot was winning his first stakes, and the winner's share of the purse pushed his total earnings to $116,940. He's now been victorious in two of five starts and entered Sunday's race off a 10th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita but rebounded with aplomb. In his race prior to the Breeders' Cup, he broke his maiden Oct. 7 at Santa Anita in his third outing.

Stay Hot paid $6.60 for the victory.

Bred in Kentucky by late Kentucky Gov. Brereton C. Jones of Airdrie Stud, Stay Hot is out of the Smart Strike mare Etsu and was sold by his breeder for $130,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling sale.

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Surge Capacity Leads 1-2-3-4 Finish For Brown In Del Mar’s Matriarch

Klaravich Stables' homebred Surge Capacity, benefitting from a daring rail-skimming ride by Joel Rosario, captured Sunday's Matriarch (G1) at Del Mar, leading a one-two-three-four finish for trainer Chad Brown in the $300,000 fixture for fillies and mares.

The eastern-based conditioner, who has had great success shipping horses west as part of the seaside track's Autumn Turf Festival, pulled off his biggest score yet in the closing-day headliner as he registered his sixth victory in the race in its seven most recent editions.

His top four finishes have never been accomplished in a Grade 1 race at Del Mar before.

Rosario, who previously was a three-time riding champion at Del Mar, won the Matriarch for the fifth time, getting his mount home by a head over Fluffy Socks, who was 1 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Beaute Cachee, who was a head to the good of Whitebeam in fourth in the field of 12.

Surge Capacity covered the one-mile test in 1:33.95, the fastest mile grass race of the meeting.

“I kind of had no choice but to stay inside (in the stretch),” Rosario said. “I was just trying to save the ground and then go from there. I was very lucky with her kick. She is a very nice horse.”

The winner is a 3-year-old daughter of the British sire Flintshire bred in Kentucky by her owner, Seth Klarman of Boston, Mass. Her dam is the Warrior's Reward mare Strong Incentive.

On Saturday, Klarman and Brown combined to win the Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar with Program Trading under Flavien Prat.

Surge Capacity was winning her third graded stakes, but her first Grade 1 in her initial outing against older rivals. Her $180,000 winning share of the purse pushed her bankroll up to $518,975.

The filly entered the Matriarch off a victory in the Valley View (G3), in which she was bottled up behind rivals in the stretch but burst through an opening along the rail and scored by three-quarters of a length Oct. 27 at Keeneland.

“She always does that (sits in behind horses),” said Brown's assistant trainer Jose Hernandez. “The same thing in Keeneland. She got in trouble, and then when she gets in the clear, she just takes off. It's just her; I've never seen that before. Fillies get intimidated a little bit, but when she gets in the clear, she takes off again.”

The 4-1 second betting choice behind favorite Whitebeam, Surge Capacity returned $11.40 for the victory.

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