Del Mar Vulnerable Favorites, Live Longshots, and Spot Plays: August 16
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SPOT PLAYS AND LIVE LONGSHOTS
Del Mar Race 1, (7:00 ET) - LIVE LONGSHOT
Lovmeister (#2, 8-1) failed to fire in his first start of the meet but was second previously in a well rated effort; never in this cheap and has back class; better than his 1 for 18 record suggests and capable of lighting up the board in the opener. - Byron King
BALLARD RULER (#7, 3-1) had a troubled start but finished with good energy on the main track here July 31, his first start in over 8 months. He can improve off that run, flashed considerable promise last year, has worked well since and while it's first time turf he's by strong grass sire Tribal Rule. - Michael Hammersly
PASSIONATE DIVA (#1, 7-2) First Lasix, the rail, the addition of Gomez, and the benefit of her first U.S. start earlier in the Dmr meet are among the reasons to give this Ky-bred filly a chance to do considerably better than that bid-and-fade effort. O'Neill trainee switches over to the synth and clearly would do well to put something in reserve through the early stages, and we'll put Go-Go in charge of that, which is worthy of some confidence. - Marty McGee
A ton of speed in this Calbred N1X route benefits stretch-runner gelding SIZZLIN' JOE (#5), who switches to Garrett Gomez third start back from a layoff. He is worth a bet if he stays above 4-1 morning line. - Brad Free
BOBO's (#1, 12-1) two previous Cal-bred starts produced a maiden win and a fourth of eight in a $300K stakes. Appears to have worked well for first start since return to SoCal. Has speed, but has won from just off pace, too. - Marcus Hersh
VULNERABLE FAVORITES
YODEL UP A STORM (#9, 5-2) Hronis and Sadler invariably take more than their share of action, especially in a situation like this, where the trainer shows solid numbers in the relevant categories. This filly has been away a couple of months since being haltered off her near-miss for the since-suspended Gaines, and the a.m. drills at HollyPark in the interim look just OK. Several others in here look capable of upsetting her, including firsters from Miyadi, P.Miller, and O’Neill, so let's take a shot at beating this one. – Marty McGee
