Del Mar: O'Neill sets record with five-winner day

DEL MAR, Calif. -- Trainer Doug O’Neill set a Del Mar and personal record on Wednesday, winning five races on a single card.

O’Neill, 47, had six runners on the eight-race program. He won the first race with Hye I’m Jack ($28.80), the third with Jimmy Bouncer ($8.60), the fourth with Tumbleweedprincess ($8), the fifth with Land Over Sea ($3.40) and the seventh with Lookin for Money ($10.80).

O’Neill’s only loss on Wednesday was with Housemaker, who finished second to Lookin for Money.

O’Neill, who has won four training titles at Del Mar summer meetings, has won seven races at the current meeting. Through Wednesday, he was first in the standings with one more win than Peter Miller and Jerry Hollendorfer.

“It’s hard to win one race down here, let alone what happened today,” he said. “They all got great trips. It’s been a perfect day.”

O’Neill said that after Hye I’m Jack won, he thought he could have a multi-win day.

“We felt pretty good,” O’Neill said. “I thought our weakest race was the first race. At that point, we thought it could be a three- or four-win day.”

O’Neill surpasses a mark shared by five trainers – Red McDaniel, who won four races on two occasions in 1954, Farrell Jones (1963), Ron McAnally (1989), Jack Van Berg (1995), and John Sadler (2009).

Prior to Wednesday, O'Neill's personal best was four wins on seven occasions from 2004 through last September. In that span, he won four races at a single track on three occasions, and four races on a day at two tracks four times.

On March 3, 2007, O’Neill won four races at Santa Anita, including the Santa Anita Handicap with Lava Man and the Robert Lewis Stakes with Great Hunter.