Del Mar Babies for Wednesday, Aug. 6

Race 7

Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes
6 1/2 furlongs
2-year-old fillies
Purse: $200,000

Key contenders

7) Caval
This daughter of 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Blame couldn’t have been more impressive breaking her maiden at Santa Anita on June 19. Although this will be her first effort over the Del Mar Polytrack, her workouts have been reasonable and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer does tremendous work with these sorts of horses. It’s not unfathomable that she could take a step back from that debut effort and still be good enough to take this graded stakes. Could this be Hollendorfer’s next superstar filly?

FORMULATOR FACT: Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is 4 for 16 (11 ITM, $3.23 ROI) over the past five years with 2-year-old fillies in graded stakes.

6) La Grange
This filly ran huge in her Southern California debut when winning the Cinderella Stakes at Los Alamitos last time out, and it’s nice to see the progression (albeit minor) that she made from start one to start two in her career. Her ability to handle Polytrack is of little concern as she’s done the majority of her training over it and she debuted over the surface at Arlington Park in early June. While her sire, Curlin, hasn’t done well when it comes to producing successful runners on synthetics, this filly appears to have some legit talent and is a major player for the Desormeaux brothers here today.

FORMULATOR FACT: Dam Jennie R. won 7 of 30 starts while accumulating $338,034 in earnings.

2) Sunset Glow
Already a world traveler, this daughter of Exchange Rate comes into Southern California after making her latest start at Royal Ascot. After she broke the course record on grass at Belmont Park, trainer Wesley Ward decided to give her the ultimate “acid test” by sending her across the pond, and she finished a respectable second. She’s been training lights out here at Del Mar recently, so her ability to handle the Polytrack is of little concern. This miss figures to be forwardly placed throughout under Victor Espinoza, and if she takes a step forward here she could be very tough.

FORMULATOR FACT: Trainer Wesley Ward is 3 for 20 over the past five years when shipping into Del Mar.

The strategy

I fear this could be a rather chalky result, so it may be difficult to make any real money here. From an individual race standpoint, I’d take the smallest shot at boxing a trifecta using just these three fillies – but at the end of the day I think this is a race where you’re best suited to just sit back and enjoy. That being said, I actually think this race could be pivotal in the major pick six carryover sequence; I’ll likely use Caval as my lone “A” for the sequence and include the other two fillies as either “B”s or “C”s. Here is the play:

TRIFECTA Box of 2, 6, 7

For information regarding all the runners in this field, be sure to check out Closer Looks in DRF GamePlan.