Eurton hoping to clear the bases with a triple this weekend

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Peter Eurton during morning training hours usually is wearing something related to his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers. A hat. A sweatshirt. Sometimes both. Like the Dodgers, Eurton is having a good summer. And like the Dodgers, who are seeking their first World Series since 1988, it could be even better.

Eurton has won four races and one stakes race this meet at Del Mar, and is unlucky not to have more, owing to the narrow loss Giant Expectations suffered against Catalina Cruiser in the Pat O’Brien last Saturday. Eurton also finished second in the Pacific Classic and third in the San Diego with Draft Pick.

Like Dodger slugger Cody Bellinger, Eurton will be swinging for the fences this weekend as the meet comes to an end. He will send out the 2-year-old filly Powerfulattraction in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and the turf filly Ahimsa in the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes, both Saturday, then will run Storm the Court in the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on closing day Monday.

Powerfulattraction most recently was second in the Grade 2 Sorrento behind Amalfi Sunrise, who is missing the Debutante owing to a hind-end injury. Powerfulattraction is 1 for 2, having won first time out at Los Alamitos.

“She’s not a morning glory,” Eurton said. “It’s nice when they surprise you when you don’t really expect it.

Ahimsa provided Eurton with his lone stakes win of the meet, when she captured the Osunitas on July 19. She was third in the Grade 1 Gamely prior to that behind Vasilika, one of her expected rivals Saturday.

“She usually fires when she has a good work right before a race, and her work the other day was very good,” Eurton said.

Storm the Court won his first start Aug. 10, turning back heavily favored Garth going 5 1/2 furlongs while scoring at 12-1. As a son of Court Vision, Storm the Court should benefit from the extra distance of the seven-furlong Futurity.

“The way he fought off those horses was quite encouraging,” Eurton said. “I don’t think I had him tight as a drum.”

Eurton, 62, has been a mainstay on this circuit for three decades now, following his stepfather, Steve Ippolito, into the training game after a brief career as a jockey. His biggest victory came in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Champagne Room, who provided Eurton with his lone Eclipse Award winner.

He’s had numerous other top horses this past decade, beginning with Weemissfrankie – named in memory of longtime patron and family friend Frank Alesia – who won the 2011 Del Mar Debutante and Oak Leaf and finished third in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Eurton won the 2014 Blue Grass Stakes with Dance With Fate. Last year, he won the Ohio Derby with Core Beliefs, who came back this year to win the New Orleans Handicap. Giant Expectations won the Pat O’Brien and San Antonio in 2017 and also is still going strong. And the barn mainstay has been the popular 8-year-old gelding Ashleyluvssugar, whom Eurton has guided to 10 wins in 35 starts – including five victories in Grade 2 stakes – and earnings of more than $1.4 million. He is owned by Eurton’s longtime clients Joe Ciaglia, Mike Mellen, and Sharon Alesia, Frank’s widow.

Newer clients like Gary Broad, who owns Core Beliefs and Draft Pick, and Ryan Exline, who is in a partnership that owns, among others, Giant Expectations, Storm the Court, and Powerfulattraction, have provided Eurton with additional stakes-class runners in recent years.

“Our goal was to find good, honest people,” Exline said of why he likes doing business with Eurton. “He’s a really good communicator. Pete always does the right thing by the horses. Giant Expectations has had a great career, with a couple of setbacks, little issues that Pete always has been on top of.”

Eurton and his wife, Lisa, have one child, Britney, the popular broadcaster who works for NBC and TVG and who shares her father’s passion for the Dodgers. Eurton laughed when asked when the family dynamic changed from Britney being known as his daughter to he being known as Britney’s father.

“Within the last year and half,” he said. “She did such a great job at Royal Ascot with Nick Luck. We’re super proud of her. She’s my biggest fan. You’re getting me teary-eyed.”

There will be a few more tears of joy if Eurton can knock off one of these big stakes this weekend. Or if the Dodgers win the World Series. Or, as he’d probably prefer, both.