Bolo skipping Eddie Read, targeting Del Mar Mile

DEL MAR, Calif. – Bolo, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 27, will not start in Sunday’s Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar and will be pointed for the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 18.

Trainer Carla Gaines said on Wednesday that she would like to limit Bolo’s races in late summer and early fall in advance of the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. Bolo earned a berth in the BC Mile with his win in the Shoemaker Mile.

Gaines has two races in mind for Bolo in coming months – the $200,000 Del Mar Mile and the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita in early October.

“We’ve discussed it and come up with this plan,” she said.

Owned by Golden Pegasus Racing Inc., Bolo has won 6 of 19 starts and earned $976,870.

Maxim Rate in San Clemente

Maxim Rate, the winner of the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes at Santa Anita in May, will be trainer Simon Callaghan’s lone starter in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar.

Maxim Rate faded to fifth as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on June 1. Callaghan said Maxim Rate emerged from the race with a skin disease that has been successfully treated.

“I don’t think she was 100 percent,” he said. “I think you have to draw a line through the last race.”

Callaghan recently lost one 3-year-old stakes filly and gained another. Hostess, the winner of the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes in her American debut in April, has been retired because of a knee injury and is scheduled to be sent to Britain to be bred. Owned by John Warren, Hostess was second in the Honeymoon Stakes.

Callaghan has a new prospect for the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 17 with Hidden Message, the winner of the Coral Distaff at a mile at Sandown Park near London on July 6. Formerly trained by William Haggas, Hidden Message has won 2 of 5 starts. She was fourth in the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly, France, on June 2 and recently arrived in California.

The $200,000 San Clemente Stakes is expected to draw a large field led by Lady Prancealot, the winner of the Honeymoon Stakes. Other expected starters are Apache Princess, Devils Dance, Harmless, Keeper Ofthe Stars, Mucho Unusual, Over Emphasize, Seranitsa, and Stillwater Cove.

The Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on Saturday has a projected field of six led by Catalina Cruiser, who won the race in 2018. Other candidates are Core Beliefs, Dr. Dorr, Draft Pick, Higher Power, and Mongolian Groom.