Ascendancy eyes start in Clement L. Hirsch Stakes

Ascendancy is bound for the Del Mar summer meeting after her third stakes win in Saturday’s $53,350 She’s a Tiger Stakes at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif.

Trainer O.J. Jauregui is contemplating a start in the meeting’s championship race for older fillies and mares, the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 3, he said Sunday.

Jauregui is realistic about the potential start, acknowledging that Ascendancy will have a difficult time beating a mare such as Adare Manor, who won the 2023 Hirsch and is rated as a leading contender for this year’s race. Trained by Bob Baffert, Adare Manor has won her last two starts – the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in April and the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes on May 26 at Santa Anita.

The objective with Ascendancy is to gain a Grade 1 placing in the $400,000 Hirsch Stakes.

“If I run second or third, it’s not bad, if I can get there,” Jauregui said.

Ascendancy won the She’s a Tiger Stakes for the second consecutive year, ending a four-race losing streak since a victory in the Luther Burbank Stakes on turf at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa last August.

Earlier this year, Ascendancy was third in the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes on turf at Santa Anita in April, but later sixth in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs and last of five in the Grade 3 Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico in May.

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At Del Mar, Ascendancy has options on turf in races such as the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes at a mile on July 21, or the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 10.

Ascendancy was eighth of 14, beaten three lengths in the 2023 Osunitas.

“It’s always tough down there,” Jauregui said of racing in Southern California. “I’ll see how they look on the dirt.”

Last summer, Jauregui sent a small stable to Del Mar and won the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Dreamfyre, who is being prepared for a comeback later this summer. She was sidelined earlier this spring with a foot abscess.

Dreamfyre has not raced since a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita last November.

“Her foot is doing well,” Jauregui said. “She was working, and I stopped on her.

“I’m hoping I can get her fit at the end of August and try a five-furlong turf race.”

Jauregui may run Kamaina Cruiser in Saturday’s $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles. Kamaina Cruiser won a maiden race at a mile in his first start around two turns on June 1 at Golden Gate Fields, the colt’s third start.

The Los Alamitos Derby drew only six nominees, including Imagination, who was second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and later seventh in the Preakness Stakes; Tapalo, the easy winner of the Lazaro Barrera Stakes at seven furlongs on May 12 at Santa Anita; and Wynstock, who has been well-beaten in three starts this year following a win in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity last December.

Imagination, Wynstock, and Cornell, a maiden winner who is also nominated, are trained by Bob Baffert, who has won the Los Alamitos Derby the last seven years.

Jauregui knows Kamaina Cruiser will rate as a longshot, even in a small field.

“I’m really thinking about” running, he said. “If I run second or third, I’d be happy. It gives me an idea of where I’m at.”

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