Del Mar: D’Amato unhappy with Obviously’s impost

DEL MAR, Calif. – Obviously will be seeking his third victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Mile in the last four years on Sunday, but trainer Phil D’Amato was not happy with the weights for the grass race, which finds Obviously toting top weight of 124 pounds even though he hasn’t run since November and hasn’t won a race since June 2014.

By comparison, Talco – who won the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on June 13 – gets in at 121, as does Bal a Bali, who won the Grade 3 American before finishing fifth in the Shoemaker Mile.

“I think the racing office threw logic out the door,” D’Amato said Tuesday morning. “It’s an eight-month layoff for us, and he’s got to spot a horse who won a Grade 1 two months ago three pounds.”

Obviously has not run since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. He won the Del Mar Mile in 2012 and 2013 – when trained by D’Amato’s mentor, the late Mike Mitchell – but was fourth last year after breaking well behind the field and then rushing up.