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Tezzaray Gets The Bob In Jimmy Durante Stakes At Del Mar

After a flurry of challengers overtook a front running Liam's Dove in the stretch, it was Tezzaray (GB) who got her nose down on the wire in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. Stalking the pace early, the daughter of Bated Breath (GB) took to the outside to find racing room in the Del Mar straight and beat Awake at Midnyte and Toeris in the race's final strides.

Liam's Dove took the lead out of the gate, setting early fractions of :23.41, 48.52, and 1.13.32 as Awake at Midnyte, Half Past Twelve, and Tezzaray stalked the pace around the first turn and down the backstretch. On the far turn, Liam's Dove still held a tenuous lead, as Tezzaray under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. angled out from the rail and went two-wide into the stretch.

The race was wide open as Liam's Dove's lead began to shrink in the face of stretch challenges from first Awake at Midnyte and then Tezzaray and Toeris. Those three came down to the wire together, with Tezzaray getting up in the final strides to win by a nose. Awake at Midnyte was second, with Toeris third and the favorite Helen's Well fourth.

The final time for the one-mile Jimmy Durante was 1:37.56. Find this race's chart here.

Tezzaray paid $8.20, $5.00, and $3.60. Awake at Midnyte paid $8.80 and $7.00. Toeris paid $13.80.

“I had a good trip. I was in a little tight at the three-eighth pole, but that wasn't anything big. She's a very European filly; she likes to run covered up. When it came time to run – boom – she went,” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said after the race.

“I had confidence in her. She's one of those fillies that are very classy and does everything right. I thought we won, then I thought we didn't, but luckily we got the head bob. I thought all three of my fillies ran very well and all got great rides. Irad (Ortiz, Jr.) had a really clean trip and once he got her in the clear she really kicked home,” trainer Peter Miller told the Del Mar Press Office after the Jimmy Durante.

Bred in England by Lady Richard Wellesley, Tezzaray is out of the Cadeaux Genereaux (GB) mare Amber Queen (IRE). She is owned by Slam Dunk Racing and Roger H. Newman and trained by Peter Miller. The 2-year-old filly was consigned by Ballinvana House Stud and sold to Karl Burke for $29,408 at the 2020 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. With her win in the G3 stakes, her lifetime record is two wins in four starts for career earnings of $104,997.

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Ginobili Breezes Ahead Of Cigar Mile At Aqueduct

Graded-stakes winner Ginobili breezed five-eighths in :59.60 Friday at San Luis Rey Training Center in Bonsall, Calif., in preparation for next Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile presented by NYRA Bets.

Trained and co-owned by Richard Baltas with Slam Dunk Racing, Richard McClanahan, and Michael Nentwig, Ginobili is named for Manu Ginobili, a retired basketball player who starred for the San Antonio Spurs.

“It was an excellent work,” Baltas said on Friday evening. “He galloped out in 1:12 and 1 and out in 1:26 and did it in a gallop. I was really happy with the way he worked. He was more relaxed than usual.”

The 4-year-old Munnings bay, a $35,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, graduated at second asking sprinting six furlongs in August 2019 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., ahead of a fourth-place finish in the G1 Del Mar Futurity.

That effort was followed by a difficult run of form with Ginobili hitting the board just once in his next four starts to conclude his sophomore season in October 2020.

Ginobili was given a lengthy layoff and returned in May to finish off-the-board in a turf sprint and fourth in a main-track sprint in June at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. But the addition of blinkers and a stretch out in distance in July saw Ginobili end a nine-race losing streak with a two-turn score in a one-mile optional claimer at Del Mar that garnered a career-best 104 Beyer.

Ginobili followed that effort by besting multiple graded stakes winner C Z Rocket in the seven-furlong G2 Pat O'Brien in August at Del Mar, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Ginobili performed admirably in the Dirt Mile, completing the exacta behind Life Is Good.

Baltas said that Ginobili, who was gelded in June 2020, benefitted from a number of changes.

“I turned him out and we did a minor surgery [ankle chip] on him and gave him some time and brought him back as much sounder horse as a 4-year-old,” Baltas said. “The blinkers were a big deal and the stretch out – it's been a combination of things. We're excited that he's done what he's done this year and we're hoping that will continue.”

Baltas said Ginobili was slated to ship to New York on Saturday.

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Ginobli Win In Pat O’Brien A Slam Dank For Ownership Group

The colt by Munnings was a $35,000 purchase at the Keeneland September sale in 2018, a find that Richard Baltas first offered for purchase to the Slam Dunk Racing partnership headed by former jockey agent and basketball aficionado Nick Cosato.

“I loved him because even as an early 2-year-old he looked like a 3-year-old,” Cosato said this morning of the horse that produced a 1 ¾-length victory in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. “So we were in right away, and some other partners eventually came in as well.”

Cosato did the naming honors, coming up with the surname of Manu Ginobili, the native of Argentina who was a four-time NBA champion while starring with the San Antonio Spurs.

Unlike his namesake, Ginobili the horse wasn't a consistent winner. He came into the Pat O'Brien with two wins from 12 lifetime starts, a maiden score here in August of 2019 and a mile allowance tally on July 17, the second day of the current meeting, by an impressive 9 ¾ lengths.

“The Munnings line is kind of curious,” Cosato said. “He throws a variety (of runners); they tend to be good on the turf but that's not true for all of them.”

So finding the right surface and distance took some doing. But input from jockey Joe Bravo following a fourth-place finish in a 6 ½-furlong race at Santa Anita on June 19 led to a 9¾-length victory in a mile event here on July 17 that generated thoughts of bigger things.

“Did the mile wake him up? Possibly, but I think adding blinkers and a couple other things contributed too,” Cosato said.

Following the July 17 race, the partnership was ready for a step up to stakes, but not unified on just which one and where. The TVG Pacific Classic, the Charles Town Classic, and the Pat O'Brien were discussed before settling on the latter, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $1 million Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on November 6.

With Bravo committed to riding Flagstaff for trainer John Sadler, jockey Drayden Van Dyke got the call on Ginobili and executed a best-case scenario, positioning outside front-runner Brickyard Ride for the first half-mile, opening up 3 ½-lengths at the top of the stretch and holding on nicely from there.

Craig Lewis, trainer of Brickyard Ride, was disappointed that the stall gate, which should have been shut, was left open and his horse bolted through before the start. Brickyard Ride was reined in and deemed still worthy to race, but the premature exertion probably contributed to his tiring after a half-mile and finishing last.

“These are things we don't have any control over and you wish wouldn't happen,” Lewis said.

Ginobili reportedly came out of the race in fine fettle as did runner-up and 2-1 favorite C Z Rocket and third-place Flagstaff.

“The horse ran great, I have no fault with the horse or the rider,” said Peter Miller, trainer of C Z Rocket. “Hats off to the winner.

“But I'd like to have seen what they could have done on a (different) racetrack. Hopefully, we get that for the Sprint Championship (Stakes) at Santa Anita and for the Breeders' Cup. More importantly for the Breeders' Cup.”

Sadler on Flagstaff: “We thought he ran a good race. He didn't win but he ran a good race. Props to the winner, who ran a great race. (Flagstaff) might run again at Santa Anita and then come back for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.”

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Drain the Clock Prepares For H. Allen Jerkens, Mischevious Alex For Forego On Travers Card

Drain the Clock, the winner of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens and the last-out runner-up in the Grade 2 Amsterdam, recorded his final work on Saturday ahead of the $600,000 Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens on Runhappy Travers Day on August 28 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Maclean's Music colt registered a four-furlong breeze in :47:47 in company with 2020 Grade 1 Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic over the Saratoga main for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock finished second behind top divisional contender Jackie's Warrior in the 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam on a sloppy and sealed track August 1.

The ultra-consistent Drain the Clock enters the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens with momentum, posting four wins and a pair of second-place finishes through the first six starts of his 3-year-old campaign. He won the Grade 3 Swale, contested at the Jerkens distance, by 6 1/4 lengths in January at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., and tallied consecutive wins on the NYRA circuit with a 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Bay Shore in April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., before edging Jackie's Warrior by a neck in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes Day June 5.

“He had a good work going in company with Ny Traffic and galloped out pretty strong,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Obviously, last time he was well-beaten fair and square by Jackie's Warrior. Now, you have Life Is Good in this race, so, hopefully, we can get outside this time. I think the draw will have a lot to do with it. But we're willing to give it another chance.”

Joseph, Jr. also saw two contenders for the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego work Saturday at Saratoga, with Chance It and Mischevious Alex logging four furlongs in :48.12 and :48.48, respectively, on the main track.

The Forego, for 4-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs, will give four-time graded stakes-winner Mischevious Alex a chance to add to that total, with the Into Mischief colt posting wins in last year's Grade 3 Swale and Grade 3 Gotham as a sophomore before continuing to improve as a 4-year-old, winning the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint in February and romping by 5 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Carter in April at the Big A.

After running third in the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day, Mischevious Alex [owned by Cash is King and LC Racing] ran eighth in the six-furlong Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on July 31 at Saratoga. Joseph, Jr. said his charge has continued to work well as he readies to stretch back out to seven furlongs next week.

Shooting Star Thoroughbreds' Chance It, second last out in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint going six furlongs on July 3 at Gulfstream, has compiled a 4-4-0 record in nine starts entering his Saratoga debut. The 4-year-old son of Currency Swap is looking for his first graded stakes victory.

“They worked by themselves and they seem to be coming into the race in good order,” Joseph, Jr. said.

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