Del Mar: Smith aboard favorite in match race vs. Sutherland

DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Mike Smith will ride 3-5 favorite Joker Face in a one-mile match race against his former fiancée, Chantal Sutherland, on Sunday.

Dubbed the Battle of the Exes, the $31,000 race will be run as the third or fourth on Sunday’s program.

The match race features two maiden claimers who will be making their first starts of the meeting.

Joker Face, who drew the rail, is winless in four starts and was beaten a neck as the 4-5 favorite in a $30,000 claiming race for maidens race over 7 1/2 furlongs on July 8, his most recent start for trainer Peter Eurton. The match race will be the first time that Smith has ridden Joker Face.

Sutherland rides Parable, who is winless in eight starts. Trained by Carla Gaines, Parable was third in a $40,000 claiming race for maidens over 1 1/16 miles on May 21, his most recent race. Parable has been working steadily at Santa Anita and Del Mar in recent weeks.

Sutherland rode Parable to a fifth-place finish in a maiden special weight race over a mile on turf at Santa Anita in March.

Smith and Sutherland dated for nearly six years, until last summer when the relationship ended.

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