richard mandella | Horse Racing Free Tips

United Earns Top Billing In ‘Win And You’re In’ Del Mar Handicap

L N J Foxwoods' United, a big, strapping racehorse who can run all day on the grass with the best around, will strut his stuff at Del Mar Saturday in the oldest stakes on the shore oval's roster – the Del Mar Handicap.

This is the 81st season of summer racing at Del Mar and this is the 81st running of the Del Mar 'Cap, a race that has been won by dozens of top class horses over the years and might add another to its ranks in the Giant's Causeway gelding United.

The race goes as the 7th on an 11-race program that offers more than $1-million in purses. It carries a $200,000 incentive, Grade II status and further encouragement because it is part of the “Win and You're In” program that grants its winner a guaranteed entry with fees paid in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Turf, the foremost event for grass runners nationally that will be contested this year on November 7 at Keeneland in Lexington, KY as part of the two-day Breeders' Cup championships.

Notably, United ran in that race last year when it was held at Santa Anita and lost a furious battle to Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar by a head. Trainer Richard Mandella circled this year's running of the Turf on his calendar and has been pointing his charge toward it again.

United will face 10 foes Saturday and they'll travel a mile and three eighths on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Here's the lineup from the rail out with weights, riders and morning line odds:

United (126, Flavien Prat, 8/5); Team Block's Another Mystery (119, Victor Espinoza, 20-1); Hronis Racing's Combatant (123, Ricardo Gonzalez, 8-1); Bran Jam Stable and Firsthome Thoroughbreds' Big Buzz (117, Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams' Ward 'n Jerry (120, Mike Smith, 10-1); Benowitz Family Trust and Madaket Stables' Proud Pedro (119, Juan Hernandez, 12-1); Little Red Feather Racing, Jacobsen, et al's Red King (120, Umberto Rispoli, 8-1); Team Work Horseman Group's New Year (117, Tiago Pereira, 20-1); Messineo or Sands' Oscar Dominguez (122, Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1); B G Stables' Originaire (121, Abel Cedillo, 5-1), and Messineo or Sands' North County Guy (118, Mario Gutierrez, 15-1).

United, who has banked $1,253,549 during a career that has seen him win six of 14 starts including a three-for-three run in stakes this year, scored most recently in the Grade II Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar on July 26. The chestnut's connections behind L N J Foxwoods are Larry and Nancy Roth and their daughter, Jaime, from Great Neck, NY.

It appears that Originaire and Oscar Dominguez – a pair of Irish-bred runners – are the chief threats to United.

Originaire, a 4-year-old by Zoffany, has chased United home in his last two starts, the Eddie Read and then the Whittingham at Santa Anita prior to that. The bay colt has finished in the top three in 12 of his 18 starts and is trained by veteran Jeff Mullins.

Oscar Dominguez won Del Mar's Hollywood Turf Cup at a mile and one-half here last fall. He has six wins, six seconds and six thirds and earnings of $464,214 to his credit. He's a 7-year-old gelding, also by Zoffany, and runs out of the Richard Baltas barn.

Combatant registered a big win earlier in the year when he was a photo-finish victor in the Santa Anita Handicap. The 5-year-old by the late sire Scat Daddy has just over $1-million in winnings. His trainer is John Sadler.

First post for the Saturday card is 2 p.m.

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Second Chances: Moonlight d’Oro

In this continuing series, TDN’s Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar.

Moonlight d’Oro (f, 2, Medaglia d’Oro-Venetian Sonata, by Bernardini) stamped herself as a 2-year-old to watch after rolling home through traffic to finish a strong second as the 3-5 favorite in her five-furlong unveiling at Del Mar Aug. 2 (video).

Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, the $620,000 Keeneland September yearling was outsprinted early and ridden in eighth heading into the far turn. On the move with a wall of horses in front of her as they straightened, the MyRacehorse.com and Spendthrift Farm colorbearer showed plenty of maturity gamely splitting horses in the stretch and rallied smartly late, coming home a field-best final eighth in :12.75, finishing 1 1/4 lengths adrift Roll Up Mo Money (Uncle Mo). Moonlight d’Oro earned a 49 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

“We knew going into the race that breaking out of the gate wasn’t necessarily her strong suit and all day long I was kind of pacing around the house going, ‘Man, I wish this race was 5 1/2 or six furlongs,'” MyRacehorse’s Racing Operations and Owner Experience Manager Joe Mishak said.

“Once she didn’t catch a flyer, it really stacked against her going five furlongs. She settled and took plenty of dirt in her face though. It took her a quarter of a mile or three furlongs to figure out what was going on, but the way she did respond and work her way in between horses was very impressive. It’s so intimidating for even older horses to do that, let alone a 2-year-old that doesn’t have the greatest size, either. That was really encouraging, especially knowing she wants to go a longer route of ground.”

Bred in Kentucky by Stonehaven Steadings, Moonlight d’Oro is a half-sister to impressive debut winner Olive Branch (Speightstown), who finished third in her final career start in Saratoga’s GII Adirondack S. as a juvenile for the late Rick Violette. Moonlight d’Oro was produced by a winning full-sister to GSW Wilburn and SW & GSP La Appassionata; and a half-sister to GSW Beethoven (Sky Mesa).

As for what’s next Moonlight d’Oro, Mishak said, “At this stage of the game, it will probably be the end of the Del Mar meet. I’m sure there will be options there, whether it’s another maiden going six or 6 1/2 furlongs or even a race like the [GI Del Mar] Debutante [Sept. 6]. It’s a discussion of how she works the next few times and getting together with Richard to see where he thinks she might be best suited.”

Previous standouts featured in ‘Second Chances’ include: GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P. (Honor Code), Royal Ascot G2 Norfolk S. runner-up Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), MGISW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Paradise Woods (Union Rags), GSW Backyard Heaven (Tizway), MSW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. runner-up Candy Tycoon (Twirling Candy).

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Jolie Olimpica to Beat in Yellow Ribbon

Fox Hill Farms’ speedy Jolie Olimpica (Brz) (Drosselmeyer), a close runner-up to division leader Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) last out, will go postward as the horse to beat in Saturday’s eight-horse GII Yellow Ribbon S. at Del Mar.

Undefeated in three starts in her native land, capping her Brazilian career with a dominant win over males in the G1 Jockey Club Brasileiro at Gavea last June, the chestnut got off to an auspicious start Stateside when annexing the GIII Las Cienegas S. going 5 1/2 furlongs Jan. 11 at Santa Anita. Getting a clear lead in the GII Buena Vista S. when stretching out to a mile Feb. 22, however, she couldn’t quite stay and settled for second. Rebounding with a score in the GII Monrovia S. back sprinting May 25, she again attempted to stretch her speed in the GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. July 11 at Keeneland and again just gave it up late, finishing a narrow second in Rushing Fall’s course-record-setting performance. Drawing outside in a field without other clear speed, she figures to get a dream trip here.

The veteran Beau Recall (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) also comes in off a runner-up finish to a division leader as she tries for a Yellow Ribbon repeat. Upset winner of last spring’s GII Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S., she captured this event two starts later before closing her 5-year-old account with a second in the GI Rodeo Drive S. Ninth, while only beaten 2 1/4 lengths, in the GIII Old Forester Mint Julep S. in her seasonal debut May 30 in Louisville, she most recently closed from last to complete the exacta behind wire-to-wire victress Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the GI Just A Game S. June 27 at Belmont.

Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ Keeper Ofthe Stars (Midnight Lute) will attempt to rebound after quickly developing into a division player earlier this year. Last year’s GIII Autumn Miss S. heroine was the one who chased down Jolie Olimpica in the Buena Vista to score a 36-1 upset, then showed that effort was no fluke when taking the GI Gamely S. May 25 in Arcadia. Last time out, however, she finished a dull fifth in the June 20 GIII Wilshire S.

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Mandella May Try Pacific Classic Next After United’s Eddie Read Score

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella fired one of his big guns Sunday at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif., and the boom shook the grounds and might reverberate forward to the shore track's biggest race of the season.

The veteran trainer gave Flavien Prat a leg up on his turf ace United for the $200,000 Eddie Read Stakes at nine furlongs on grass and watched him walk his beat for an impressive half-length tally.

Then he shook up a couple of turf writers afterwards when he said he's seriously considering Del Mar's signature race – the $500,000, Grade 1 TVG Pacific Classic – as a next start for his ace even though the big chestnut son of Giant's Causeway has never run on the dirt.

“…this horse is training so well on the dirt, month after month, that I'm going to consider running him in the Pacific Classic,” Mandella said immediately following the victory. “I've been thinking all summer about it.”

That surprise set up a potential showdown between possibly the best grass horse on the grounds with possibly the best dirt horse in Maximum Security, who won his TVG Pacific Classic prep yesterday in a photo-finish thriller in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap.

United ran the Grade 2 Read distance in 1:46.71 and, as the 7/5 favorite, paid $4.80, $3.40 and $2.60 across the board. The $120,000 share of the winner's purse pushed his bankroll to $1,453,549 for owner Larry, Nanci and Jaime Ross, who race under the name LNJ Foxwoods.

Finishing second in the Read was Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's Sharp Samurai and third was CYBT, Gevertz, Gitomer, et al's Neptune's Storm.

United, a 5-year-old gelding, is racing in some of the best form of his life. He's now three-for-three on the year after winning a pair of Grade 2 turf tests at Santa Anita earlier in the year.

Mandella, it is recalled, surprised folks at Del Mar previously in 2015 when he unexpectedly entered his filly Beholder in the TVG Pacific Classic against the boys and she proceeded to towrope them by more than eight lengths in a stunning performance.

The trainer has four wins in the Pacific Classic already.

FLAVIEN PRAT (United, winner) – “The race came up perfect. He broke real well and we got a great spot. We went along fine and when I asked him, he just went on with it. When you ride a really good horse like this, it makes things easier. Good horses do good things; they put you in good spots. It's all easier with his kind.”

RICHARD MANDELLA (United, winner) – “We ran him short (less distance) just to pick his head up. Sometimes you run them long too many times they get stale. But this horse is training so well on the dirt, month after month, I'm going to consider running him in the Pacific Classic. (United has run 12 times on turf and twice on synthetics in his career). I've been thinking all summer about it. We'll think about the Del Mar Handicap on turf, too, but if he keeps training on dirt as well as he has been…”

FRACTIONS: :23.88 :47.84 1:11.68 1:35.27 1:46.71

The victory in the Eddie Read was the third stakes win of the session so far for rider Prat and his third in the race itself. He now has 47 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The victory in the Eddie Read was the first stakes score of the meet for trainer Mandella, but his third in the Read. He now has 65 stakes wins at Del Mar, sixth most among all trainers.

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