Del Mar Oaks contenders coming off vastly different performances
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Two main contenders drew side by side in similar outside posts for Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Oaks, but there was no similarity in the trips they encountered last out.
One trip was perfect, the other was impossible.
Good-trip Kensington Lane and bad-trip Raiding Party will break from posts 9 and 10 in the Del Mar Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile turf race on the Pacific Classic undercard. To gauge their chances Saturday requires evaluation of their recent starts.
Kensington Lane got loose on an easy lead in her U.S. debut July 4 at Saratoga and posted a 23-1 upset in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks. Conditions were ideal, and Kensington Lane was good enough to take advantage.
Raiding Party was less fortunate. She got caught in no-man’s-land July 18 at Del Mar as the 8-5 favorite in the Grade 2 San Clemente. Four wide on the far turn, five wide into the stretch, Raiding Party never had a chance. She finished a better-than-looked third.
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Kensington Lane and Raiding Party are among 10 3-year-old fillies entered in the Del Mar Oaks, race 9. Phil D’Amato is the new trainer for Kensington Lane. D’Amato also starts Inbox, the San Clemente runner-up, and Peanutbutterbombe, the San Clemente fourth after an imperfect trip.
Victorious Dream looms an upset candidate while moving up in class after winning an entry-level allowance. It’s the same pattern her trainer, Michael McCarthy, employed last year. Velocity won an entry-level allowance, then upset the Del Mar Oaks.
This year’s field also includes stakes winner Tam Tam; European stakes winner Green Carrera; and stakes-placed Lookin At Diamond. Define and Wild Like the West are outsiders.
Kensington Lane was trained by Donnacha O’Brien when she won the Belmont Oaks under Joel Rosario. The filly was subsequently transferred to trainer Phil D’Amato in California.
“She’s done everything the right way, she’s training like a pro,” D’Amato said. “Just have to guide her in the right direction and she’ll do the rest. Joel told me he thought he had an extra gear [in the Belmont Oaks]. He just kind of guided her around there and wrapped up late, so he thinks if need be, there’s more there.”
A murky pace scenario in the Oaks benefits Kensington Lane, who figures to be forwardly placed in a race light on pace. This is the fourth consecutive year D’Amato will have multiple Oaks starters.
Inbox rallied to second in the one-mile San Clemente. “The added ground, mile and an eighth, [benefits] her,” D’Amato said. “A mile and an eighth, mile and a quarter, that’s going to be what she really wants to do.”
Hector Berrios takes over on Inbox as Rosario opted for Kensington Lane.
Peanutbutterbombe did not have smooth sailing in the San Clemente. She broke awkwardly, got keen while hard-held, was shuffled out of position on the far turn, then rallied wide and finished willingly for fourth.
“I hated her trip. She got compromised really bad,” D’Amato said. “She’s the sleeper of the bunch. She’s come back and trained exceptionally well.”
Antonio Fresu rides Peanutbutterbombe again Saturday.
Raiding Party had a worse trip in the San Clemente. She broke from post 1, but lost position into the far turn and was forced excessively wide. She was at least six wide into the stretch.
“We didn’t get the right trip,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “Anything that could’ve went wrong, went wrong. She finished up good. Hopefully we get a better trip, and more distance Saturday should suit.”
Ben Curtis is back on Raiding Party, whose Churchill Downs allowance win two back also came with a wide trip. Walsh’s second Oaks entrant is last-out maiden winner Define.
An upset candidate is Victorious Dream, a maiden winner in May at Santa Anita and allowance winner two months later at Del Mar. The break between starts was planned.
“That was sort of by design, giving her a little freshener before Del Mar,” McCarthy said. “She’s come back and trained well.
“I think this filly is very nice. I do think she’s Grade-1 caliber, yes.”
Juan Hernandez rides Victorious Dream, whose allowance race jockey Umberto Rispoli will ride Green Carrera.
Three of seven in Europe, Green Carrera shipped to the U.S. a week and a half ago, and arrived last weekend at trainer Leonard Powell’s stable at Del Mar. Green Carrera’s trainer is Joseph O’Brien, but the filly will stay in the U.S. with Powell following the Del Mar Oaks.
Powell also entered Lookin At Diamond, a wide-trip third in the Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita on June 6. She subsequently got sick and was scratched from the San Clemente. She enters the Oaks off an 11-week layoff.
Tam Tam won the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs last out. Wild Like the West finished ninth in the San Clemente.