In break from norm, this year's Hirsch has no clear favorite
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DEL MAR, Calif – An unstable distaff division seeks clarity Saturday at Del Mar, although few of the nine fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes are particularly reliable.
Seismic Beauty? She won the Hirsch last year but has not been the same since. Majestic Oops? A former $12,500 claiming filly, her recent starts at Oaklawn Park include a Grade 2 win on a sloppy track followed by a third-place finish last out in a Grade 2 at Churchill Downs.
Chasten is a well-bred Midwest stakes winner unproven against top company, while late-runner Om N Joy needed a pace meltdown to win a Grade 2 at Santa Anita last out. Simply Joking is a Grade 3 winner with speed. Eunomia, Hey Jessie, Bank Shot, and A Thousand Miles also are entered. It’s a competitive field, absent East- and Midwest-based division leaders Nitrogen and Splendora.
The Hirsch, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is historically predictable. Favorites are 8 for 11 since Del Mar reinstalled dirt and 17 for 26 since 2000. The trend is shaky this year. Hirsch favorites usually are even money or less. That won’t happen Saturday, no matter who is favored.
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Seismic Beauty is expected to set the pace in the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch, but it is uncertain if she can finish the job. Last year, Seismic Beauty scorched the Hirsch with a 110 Beyer Speed Figure, and it took a toll. She subsequently finished 11th as the Breeders’ Cup Distaff favorite, and she was third by nearly 10 lengths in her recent comeback at Santa Anita. The blazing pace gave Seismic Beauty an alibi.
“What I thought might go wrong went wrong,” trainer Bob Baffert said, referring to the Grade 2 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita. “They left there, those two fillies hooked up, it was terrible. She wasn’t ready for that.”
Seismic Beauty pressed Simply Joking though a half-mile in 45.37 seconds and six furlongs in 1:09.30. Seismic Beauty was empty into the lane.
“It was just a disastrous trip,” Baffert said. “She was coming off a long, long layoff. Now, she’s much tighter.”
Juan Hernandez rides Seismic Beauty. The question: Is she the same as last year or does she want to be broodmare? It’s a coin flip.
Simply Joking also was compromised by pace in the Santa Margarita.
“I was a little disappointed about our tactics. They didn’t seem to be what we had drawn up pre-race,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “I did not think we had to do all the dirty work. All things considered, she ran very well.”
Simply Joking finished second, six lengths in front of Seismic Beauty. Emisael Jaramillo rides Simply Joking.
Simply Joking’s chance to win the Hirsch hinges on avoiding another duel. If she hooks up with Seismic Beauty, Om N Joy could run them down again. She benefited from an ideal pace setup to win the Santa Margarita.
“They gift-wrapped it, put a bow on top, and handed it to me,” said Om N Joy’s trainer, Aggie Ordonez. “That being said, they can’t take it away, and it looks like there’s some speed in there [Saturday].”
Om N Joy has changed as her 4-year-old campaign has unfolded.
“She’s put on weight since that race, in a big way, and grown,” Ordonez said. “I’ve always said the filly will improve as she gets older. I still stand by that.”
Om N Joy’s rider is Kent Desormeaux, who works her regularly, including a 46.20-second best-of-the-morning drill July 19.
“I don’t typically work horses that fast, but anybody who sees a horse work that fast gets a little bit happy about it, like it’s an indicator of just how well they’re doing,” Ordonez said.
Om N Joy subsequently slowed down to 51.20 seconds last weekend and enters the Hirsch in peak form. A win by Om N Joy would be the first Grade 1 for Ordonez.
Majestic Oops campaigned from February to May at Oaklawn Park and Churchill Downs. She won the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes three starts back, followed by a pair of thirds in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom and Grade 2 Shawnee at Churchill. Shawnee one-two finishers Splendora and Immersive subsequently won Grade 2s. Majestic Oops transferred to California trainer Phil D’Amato when previous trainer Dan Ward took a Midwest position with Baffert.
D’Amato said Majestic Oops is a “very straightforward, good-training filly. Dan Ward did a super job campaigning her in the last couple years, I got a really sound horse that’s easy to train. She’s gotten some good drills in here. She seems to handle the track well.”
Joel Rosario has worked Majestic Oops and rides her Saturday.
The 4-year-old Chasten is the best-bred filly in the field. Sired by Into Mischief, she is a sibling to 2023 champion older mare Idiomatic, also trained by Brad Cox.
Cox said Chasten has “a lot of scope and length to her, just like her sister. I think they’re meant to be horses that develop with age, which she has. [Idiomatic] didn’t win her first graded stake until she was 4, so they’ve taken similar paths.”
In her most recent start June 13, Chasten won the Obeah Stakes at Delaware by more than six lengths.
“She’s had plenty of time since that race,” Cox said. “We’re hopeful she makes the ship in good order and she’s ready to roll on Saturday. What we’ve seen from her in the last few weeks in the morning gave us the confidence to bring her out.”
Florent Geroux rides Chasten. Cox and Geroux teamed up to win the Hirsch with shipper Shedaresthedevil in 2021.
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