Del Mar: Yellow Ribbon tops holiday card

DEL MAR, Calif. - City to City and All Star Heart, separated by a nose in the John Mabee Stakes on Aug. 12, will have a rematch on Monday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for older female turf runners going 1 1/16 miles.

The Yellow Ribbon, long the name of the championship female grass race at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting, is now the name of what was the Palomar Handicap. With Oak Tree no longer running a fall meet at Santa Anita, it has bequeathed the name of the race to Del Mar.

Also slated for the Yellow Ribbon are Broken Dreams, Byrony, Camelia Rose, Go Forth North, and Vivo Per Lei.

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Tom Proctor, who trains Broken Dreams and Vivo Per Lei, has a terrific chance in one of the supporting features on Monday, the Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf, in which he will send out Wishing Gate, an impressive winner against maidens on turf in her last start.

Wishing Gate worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 on Monday.

Others expected for the Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf are Dance Team, Jesse’s Giacomo, and Upbeat Mood, and whomever Miller decides not to run in the Debutante.

The $150,000 I’m Smokin Stakes, for California-bred 2-year-olds at six furlongs, also is Monday, and could include the top three finishers from the Aug. 1 Graduation Stakes – Strong Wind, Just Call Me Al, and Lovemeister – as well as Ballard Ruler and The Humancomplaint.