Double Touch carries Blacker's hopes in Del Mar Mile

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Dan Blacker arrived at Del Mar in mid-July in search of his first career stakes win.

When the season reached the halfway point last weekend, Blacker had two stakes wins – on opposite sides of the state.

Double Touch was the upset winner of the Wickerr Stakes at 29-1 at Del Mar on July 22. Last Saturday, Ritzy A.P. won the Joseph Grace Handicap at Santa Rosa as the 4-5 favorite.

Blacker will be after his first win in a graded stakes when Double Touch starts in a crowded field in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf.

A 4-year-old British-bred gelding by Dutch Art, Double Touch has won 4 of 13 starts and earned $138,902, all for the partnership of Radley Equine, Roadrunner Racing, Rick Gold, Scott McDonald, and Ken Smole. Double Touch was imported from England in the winter of 2016-17 and has won three of eight starts in this country.

The Wickerr Stakes was Double Touch’s fifth stakes appearance. His best finish in prior stakes was a sixth in the Siren Lure Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in June.

Blacker, 36, will be the first to admit Double Touch will need a fortunate trip in the $200,000 Del Mar Mile.

“He needs everything to go his way,” Blacker said. “He needs a solid pace, a good ride and he needs to be on his game. He can be up and down.”

The Del Mar Mile is the last of four graded stakes at Del Mar next weekend and could develop into one of the best betting races of the 36-day summer meeting, which continues through Sept. 3.

The other candidates are Big Score, Bombard, Bowies Hero, Catapult, Fly to Mars, Grecian Fire, Hunt, Next Shares, Om, Sharp Samurai, True Valour, and What a View.

Catapult won the Grade 2 Eddie Red Stakes on July 22 by a neck over Sharp Samurai.

All of those probable starters are stakes winners except for Next Shares, who has been beaten a half-length in two Grade 1 races this year at Santa Anita – the Kilroe Mile in March and the Shoemaker Mile in May.