Conquest Enforcer goes to D'Amato

DEL MAR, Calif. – The multiple stakes winner Conquest Enforcer is joining trainer Phil D’Amato’s barn at Santa Anita after being purchased at auction earlier this week for $785,000 in Kentucky.

Conquest Enforcer, 3, a colt by Into Mischief, won four times in seven starts for trainer Mark Casse, with all wins in stakes races, three at Woodbine and one at Belmont. He was sold as part of the Conquest Stables dispersal at Keeneland November.

◗ He Will, who scored his second straight win when defeating open-company allowance runners on the turf last Saturday at Del Mar, has the California Cup Classic on turf in January as his target.

“We’ll point to that race and see how we get there,” said Dan Ward, the assistant trainer locally for He Will’s owner and trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer.

He Will pulled clear late for a 2 1/4-length victory in the second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

◗ The multiple-graded-stakes-winning sprinter Distinctiv Passion, idle since January, is nearing a return after working six furlongs in 1:14.80 earlier this week at Santa Anita.

“One more three-quarters to go,” said Jeff Bonde, who trains Distinctiv Passion. “We had to give him time to let his feet grow out. We were having trouble keeping his walls together, so we just decided to start over and let his feet grow out.”

Distinctiv Passion, 6, owns wins at Santa Anita in the Midnight Lute and Los Angeles, both Grade 3 stakes. He has won eight times in 21 starts.

◗ Jockeys Martin Pedroza and Flavien Prat will be absent from Del Mar on Saturday in order to ride the Delta Downs Jackpot card in Louisiana.