El Encinal gets U.S. debut in Del Mar Handicap prior to Breeders' Cup

Last December, El Encinal recorded a 14-1 upset in South America’s most prestigious race, the Group 1 Carlos Pellegrini Internacional in San Ysidro, Argentina.

The win changed the trajectory of El Encinal’s career.

With the victory, El Encinal earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2, and resulted in the 4-year-old colt being relocated to the United States earlier this year.

A 4-year-old colt, El Encinal will have his first start in this country in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

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The winner of the Del Mar Handicap receives a berth to the BC Turf. For El Encinal, the race provides a vital chance to acclimate to American racing against a field much easier than the international group expected for the BC Turf.

El Encinal, who is owned by Juan Carlos Echeverz’s Stud Dona Pancha and trained by Francisco Garcia, has had a steady series of workouts on turf at Del Mar since late July, often with jockey Armando Ayuso aboard.

“He likes this track,” Garcia said.

Garcia has studied El Encinal’s replays and expects the colt to race from off the pace.

“He’s not a fast horse [that goes] to the lead,” he said. “I think he’ll run very good.”

The Del Mar Handicap, part of an 11-race program that begins at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, has a projected field of seven or eight, including Balladeer, Balnikhov, Dicey Mo Chara, Gold Phoenix, Master Piece, Rockemperor, and possibly There Goes Harvard.

There Goes Harvard was entered Tuesday in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on dirt. Track officials and stewards have instructed trainer Michael McCarthy and owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber to select a race for There Goes Harvard by scratch time on Thursday morning.

Garcia, 56, took control of trainer Mike Puype’s stable earlier this summer after Puype was suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit on allegations of possession of two banned medications. The case has not been adjudicated.

Garcia has had one win from 15 runners since he became the 36-horse stable’s official trainer. El Encinal will be his first stakes runner.

A winner of 3 of 9 starts, El Encinal needed six races to beat maidens before quickly being tried against tougher competition. El Encinal won his stakes debut in a Group 3 at about 1 1/8 miles last September, and finished sixth by 2 3/4 lengths in the Group 1 Gran Premio Jockey Club in October. In the Carlos Pellegrini in his first start at 1 1/2 miles, El Encinal won by a head.

El Encinal will be the first Pellegrini winner to race in the United States since Hi Happy. After winning the 2015 Pellegrini, Hi Happy had 13 starts for trainers Felipe Souza in California and Todd Pletcher’s East Coast stable, winning twice from late 2016 to late 2018.

Hi Happy’s most prominent win was the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park in 2018. Hi Happy was ninth in the BC Turf at Churchill Downs that year.

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