Del Mar: Lucky Primo will get one summer prep before California Cup

Benoit & Associates

Lucky Primo, winning the Golden State Cup in 2011, is likely to make one start this summer at Del Mar.

Lucky Primo, who returned from an eight-month layoff to win an allowance race on Saturday at Hollywood Park, will be pointed for the California Cup this fall, with just one start at Del Mar, trainer Joshua Litt said Tuesday.

Litt and Marty Jones, who trained Lucky Primo for Litt earlier in his career, have done an outstanding job with Lucky Primo, who has had his career interrupted several times by injury. Litt said Lucky Primo came out of the race “not too bad, for him.”

“He’s the kind of horse that always needs a lot of time to recover,” Litt said. “Ideally, I’d like to run him once at Del Mar, then give him about two months to train into the Cal Cup. He’s got a heart of gold.”

A gelding, Lucky Primo, 6, has now won 5 times in 14 starts. He is one of just eight horses trained by Litt, whose small stable owns 7 wins in 21 starts this year.

Belvoir comfortable in California

Trainer Vann Belvoir brought 16 horses to Del Mar last year, and it changed his life. Belvoir won with 5 of his 32 starters, and picked up enough business to relocate from Washington state.

“We came to this meet looking to see what would happen,” Belvoir said Tuesday morning. “Everything worked out. I’ve got 31 here now. We’re here to stay.”

Adjusting to Southern California has involved some sticker shock.

“We’re looking for a place to buy now. You see a place for $600,000 that would be $150,000 some other place,” he said.

Belvoir is the son of trainer Howard Belvoir, and the brother of Heath Belvoir, who works for Equibase at Saratoga.

Paddock sale following Sunday races

More than 30 horses of racing age are scheduled to be sold in the paddock following the races on Sunday in a sale Del Mar is holding in conjunction with the sales company Barretts.

The horses who will be sold all have been training at Del Mar in recent days and are wearing special training towels corresponding to their hip numbers. The sale is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., approximately a half-hour after the final race.

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