Bernier: How I'd play Del Mar for Saturday, Nov. 21

The feature on Saturday’s card at Del Mar is the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap. It’s scheduled as the eighth race of a nine-race card, and it’s the middle leg of the late pick three sequence.

RACE 7

During this fall meeting at Del Mar, horses have needed to be quite close to the lead on the main track in order to win – sprinting or routing. STEALTH DRONE (3) projects to be forwardly placed with Rafael Bejarano aboard, and she exits a fine second-place effort here on Oct. 31. Another filly who figures to be close throughout is WHEATFIELD (7) for Martin Jones. This daughter of Lone Star Special won her maiden her on Nov. 6 going 6 1/2 furlongs, and she looked good doing so. Santiago Gonzalez has the mount, and he’s arguably been the best rider during this Del Mar meeting.

HORSES: 3, 7

RACE 8

The Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap is a total skull-buster. On paper it looks like a group of fillies and mares that are very evenly matched, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see anyone win. That being said, I’ve always been fond of THREE HEARTS (2) and I’ll be using her again here. Her most recent start was the Kathryn Crosby, a race that would appear as though it was nothing more than a prep for this – a race which she won in 2014. As much as I like her, I’ll also use Treve’s little sister TROPHEE (5) in my play. Christophe Clement sends this filly to the West Coast for the first time, and a questionable ride in the Grade 3 Dowager at Keeneland last out may have been the difference between an in-the-money finish and her fourth-place finish. She doesn’t need to be a superstar to win here, and it may just be that she has finally found a group she can beat.

HORSES: 2, 5

RACE 9

Saturday’s finale features a group of hard-hitting, blue-collar sort of $25,000 claimers. The argument could be made that this is a “spread” race, but I’m more interested in keying in on one horse, NEWFOUND GOLD (4). While Newfound Gold does climb the class ladder for new trainer Javier Sierra, there’s something to be said about a horse who has won six of his last seven races – and the race he didn’t win he ran a solid second. Newfound Gold possesses the proper running style for this track’s current profile, and it should also be noted that he’s 3 for 3 over this Del Mar dirt (wins by a combined 14 1/4 lengths). He’ll be my single to wrap things up Saturday afternoon.

HORSES: 4

PICK THREE: 3, 7 / 2, 5 / 4