Tag: red carpet

Del Mar: Special Thanksgiving Day Card Topped By Red Carpet Handicap

Del Mar will present a special Thanksgiving Day card on Thursday with a first post at 11 a.m. The eight-race program will finish at approximately 2:30 p.m., leaving plenty of time for fans to make it back home for a turkey dinner.

The day's feature is the eighth local running of the Red Carpet Handicap, a marathon of a mile and three eighths that will be contested on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. The Grade 3 test is for fillies and mares and has brought out five long-winded distaffers who'll be shooting for the lionesses' share of the $100,000 purse.

Three of the five runners have European backgrounds and one of them, L N J Foxwoods' Luck, figures to go favored off her two sharp efforts this year since coming stateside. The 4-year-old daughter of the top American grass sire Kitten's Joy smartly won an allowance race at Del Mar in August, then came back on Oct. 2 in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita to just miss to the multiple-stakes winner Going to Vegas.

Luck, who previously had won twice in France from four starts, will be handled Thursday by leading rider Flavien Prat. She currently trains out of the barn of Hall of Fame conditioner Richard Mandella.

Here's the full lineup for the headliner from the rail out with riders and weights:

  1. West Point Thoroughbreds, Mercedes Stables or Mooney, et al's England's Rose (Victor Espinoza, 120 pounds)
  2. Luck (121)
  3. Madaket Stables, De Seroux or Naify, et al's Neige Blanche (Juan Hernandez, 121)
  4. Ryan, Drown or Team Hanley's Single Soul (Joe Bravo, 115)
  5. Katsumi Yoshida's Nicest (Umberto Rispoli, 117)

Neige Blanche finished fourth in the Rodeo Drive in her most recent try. The French-bred 4-year-old by the Irish sire Anodin captured the CTT & TOC overnight handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 14 at the same 11-furlong distance on grass as the Red Carpet. Earlier this year she won the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Sakes at a mile and one-half on the grass at Santa Anita.

England's Rose comes into the affair off two straight wins, the most recent being the Swingtime overnight stakes at Santa Anita. Her previous victory was at a mile and three eights on the lawn at Del Mar on Sept. 3.

Single Soul is in from the east coast to try her luck Thursday. She was an allowance winner at Belmont Park on Oct. 22 in her most recent effort.

Nicest was a distant fourth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland Oct. 16 in her first U.S. outing. The 3-year-old by American Pharoah had been taking on stakes horses in England and Ireland prior to that.

The early Thanksgiving card will be the first of four days of racing going through Sunday, Nov. 28 that will served as the climax to` the 2021 Bing Crosby Season. First post on the other three programs will be at 12:20 p.m.

The post Del Mar: Special Thanksgiving Day Card Topped By Red Carpet Handicap appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Grade 3 Red Carpet Draws Competitors From All Across The Country To Del Mar

Ten fillies and mares will test their lung and leg power over a mile and three eighths on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course Thanksgiving Day at Del Mar in the seventh edition of the $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap. Racing on Turkey Day traditionally starts early – 11:00 a.m. – with the thought of getting fans home in time to sit down for their big dinners. There will be no fans this year, but nonetheless the early racing holds, meaning the stakes – Race six on the eight-race program — should go off at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The Grade 3 Red Carpet has drawn a pair of east coast invaders from the potent barns of trainers H. Graham Motion and Chad Brown and they both appear to be serious contenders in the 11-panel testing. Motion's horse is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Cloonan and Thornton's Blame Debbie, a 3-year-old daughter of Blame currently working on a three-race win streak. Brown has sent out Dubb, Madaket Stables or Wonder Stables' Orglandes, a 4-year-old French-bred filly by the Irish stallion Le Harve who clicked on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park in her second stateside start. Also coming west to handle the riding assignments on those two are a pair of top New York reinsmen, Manny Franco for Blame Debbie and Irad Ortiz, Jr. for Orglandes.

There's a trio of local ladies who plan to lead the not-in-my-backyard contingent – Barber or Wachtel Stable's California Kook, Charles or Gordon's Never Be Enough and Bederian, Kamberian or Nakkashian, et al's Going to Vegas.

California Kook has been tackling tougher of late and has been competitive while doing so. The 3-year-old Boisterous filly was second in the G1 Del Mar Oaks on August 22, then a close-up fourth to colts in the G2 Del Mar Derby on September 6 and finally fifth, beaten only three lengths, in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland on October 10. Thursday she'll have the saddle services of another east coaster in Joel Rosario for trainer Peter Miller.

Never Be Enough, a 5-year-old British-bred mare by Sir Percy, tallied on opening day (Oct. 31) of the Bing Crosby Season in the Kathryn Crosby Stakes at a mile on the grass. The stretch runner has reeled off three victories in a row in the past three months, two of them against allowance horses at Golden Gate Fields. Tiago Pereira was aboard the chestnut for her Kathryn Crosby score and trainer Manuel Badilla will have him on once more on Thanksgiving.

Going to Vegas has turned in a series of sharp efforts of late while just missing finding the winner's circle. The 3-year-old by Goldencents most recently missed in a photo to the tough filly Warren's Showtime in the G3 Autumn Miss Stakes on the lawn Oct. 17 at Santa Anita. Trainer Richard Baltas sticks with her regular rider of late, Mario Gutierrez.

Here's the full field for the Red Carpet from the rail out with riders:

California Kook; Never Be Enough; Branham, Baltas or McClanahan's Colonial Creed (Flavien Prat); Orglandes; Going to Vegas; St George Farm Racing's Woodfin (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Jay Em Ess Stable's Aunt Lubie (Victor Espinoza); Blame Debby; C R K Stable's Hollywood Girl (Mike Smith), and Hronis Racing's Quick (Umberto Rispoli).

Trainer Motion won the Red Carpet with his mare Rusty Slippers in 2015. The stakes record for the 11-furlong distance was set by India Mantuana in winning the 2018 edition of this race in 2:14.50. The course record was set by Spring House in 2008 at 2:11.14.

The post Grade 3 Red Carpet Draws Competitors From All Across The Country To Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights