14-horse Del Mar Derby may end in mad scramble
The final two races Saturday at Del Mar offer a contrast – a low-odds career debut by a high-profile colt in a maiden race for 2-year-olds, and a high-odds scramble that is the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby to end the card.
Bob Baffert trains principals in both races, and first-time starter Corniche has as much to prove in race 10 as Hudson Ridge in the Del Mar Derby, race 11. Finding the likely winner is easier in the maiden race than the Del Mar Derby.
Corniche breezed a furlong in 10 flat at a spring sale of 2-year-olds, sold to Speedway Stables for $1.5 million, and posted strong works this summer at Del Mar. Sired by Quality Road and produced by six-time graded winner Wasted Tears, Corniche is expected to go favored under Mike Smith in the 5 1/2-furlong race.
As for stakes winner Hudson Ridge, he aims for his first graded victory in the $250,000 Del Mar Derby, a mile and one-eighth turf race with almost as many contenders as starters. In the field of 14, not many are toss-outs.
Hudson Ridge missed by a neck in the Grade 3 La Jolla at a mile and a sixteenth and is 2 for 2 at the 1 1/8-mile derby distance. No Foolery Here also benefits by distance after finishing third in the one-mile Oceanside Stakes; Sword Zorro won the La Jolla but was disqualified and placed third for interference. Zoffarelli finished second in the La Jolla in his U.S. debut and inherited the win via disqualification.
Stakes winner Cathkin Peak may improve second start back; Crew Dragon ran well twice this summer including a runner-up finish in the Oceanside. Stakes winners Jimmy Blue Jeans and None Above the Law are entered, in addition to Barraza, Hockey Dad, Optimistic Valor, and Petruchio.
Richard Baltas entered two, including No Foolery Here, who will be making his first start since July 16 when third in the surprisingly productive Oceanside – three next-out winners, two next-out runners-up. But it’s been seven weeks since No Foolery ran.
“I skipped the La Jolla because I was pointing him for this race,” Baltas said. “I think running three races at Del Mar is a little much. He’s won going a mile and an eighth.”
Geovanni Franco rides No Foolery Here. Baltas also starts Lincoln Hawk.
Trainer John Sadler entered two, both compromised by post. The disqualified La Jolla winner Sword Zorro drew post 13; Oceanside runner-up Crew Dragon drew post 12. The past seven years at a mile and one-eighth on turf, posts 10-14 are a combined 4 for 84.
Sword Zorro is “an honest, solid capable horse,” Sadler said.
“He runs well every time,” he said.
In spring at Santa Anita, Sword Zorro won the Singletary Stakes and finished second in the Cinema. Crew Dragon also is reliable, but idiosyncratic. He followed his second in the Oceanside with a head victory in an allowance race.
“He kind of pulls up when he hits the front,” Sadler said. “We thought he’d win the Oceanside. I thought he’d win the allowance easily. Hopefully he can make that last move. He has to have that superb timing.”