Del Mar notes: Station House set for debut

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DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Richard Mandella has high hopes for Station House, a colt by Rock Hard Ten who is set to make his debut in Wednesday’s third race, a one-mile grass test for 2-year-olds that kicks off a pick six that has a carryover of $238,499.

“He’s worked like a really good horse,” said Mandella, who had pointed to this race since spotting it in the condition book. Mandella said, though, that he believes Station House can act on Polytrack, too.

“He’s worked really well on the main track,” Mandella said Monday.

Station House was bred and is owned by the Diamond A Racing Corp. of Gerald Ford. He was offered at auction as a yearling, but was bought back.

“He didn’t bring enough,” Mandella said.

Station House’s opponents include Taelyns Prince, a gelding by English Channel who was second in his debut sprinting on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park, and Sunny Kat, a colt by Kitten’s Joy who finished just three-quarters of a length behind Taelyn’s Prince in that July 7 race.

Proctor finally gets his San Clemente win

Tom Proctor enjoyed the victory by his trainee Wishing Gate in the San Clemente Handicap on Sunday, but said he should have won the race in 1990, when Lonely Girl, like Wishing Gate a Glen Hill Farm homebred, won a division of the San Clemente.

“I was training Lonely Girl, but she was taken away from me before the San Clemente and given to my dad,” Proctor said, referring to Willard Proctor. “So, can I count that one?”

Proctor said Wishing Gate would come back in the championship race of the meet for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 17.

“Just blow a little air up in her,” Proctor said. “She’s pretty skinny.”

Wishing Gate is a daughter of Indian Charlie.

Glen Hill is operated by founder Leonard Lavin and his grandson, Craig Bernick.

◗ Comma to the Top, preparing for Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes, worked four furlongs Monday at Hollywood Park in 47.80 seconds for Miller. The six-furlong Crosby, which offers a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is shaping up as a terrific race, with Fast Bullet, Goldencents, Jimmy Creed, Majestic City, and Points Offthebench also slated to run.