Evo Campo, Responsibleforlove defend home turf in Red Carpet

DEL MAR, Calif. – Support the locals, or bet on the shippers? It will be a recurring theme the final week of Del Mar’s autumn season, starting Thursday.

The Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap, a marathon for fillies and mares, is the first of eight closing-week stakes filled with shippers, including four in the Red Carpet. Luckily for locals Evo Campo and Responsibleforlove, the Red Carpet might be easier than it looks.

Lottie, an East Coast stakes-placed marathon specialist, is an iffy starter in the Red Carpet. Her trainer, Graham Motion, was not thrilled with her outside post in the 1 3/8-mile turf race, which starts on top of the far turn. He also entered her for Friday in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup.

“Post 14 is pretty brutal,” Motion said. “We almost thought about not coming.”

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Lottie did ship Sunday to California, and a decision is pending whether to face fillies and mares in the Red Carpet on Thursday or colts and geldings in the 1 1/2-mile Hollywood Turf Cup on Friday.

Another out-of-town contender entered in the Red Carpet will stay home. Although trainer Chad Brown will ship four runners to Del Mar from New York, graded-placed Galileo’s Song was not on the Monday flight, having raced just 19 days ago on Nov. 4.

Brown-trained Off Limits and Rubilinda run in the Grade 1 Matriarch on Sunday, 2-year-old filly Data Dependent goes in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante on Saturday, and 2-year-old colt Analyze It could be favored in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on Sunday.

That leaves 13 possible starters in the Red Carpet, which would be simpler to analyze if highweight Evo Campo was in form. But after winning a Grade 3 turf marathon in April, she was off for six months. Her comeback was a disaster – fourth, beaten more than 17 lengths, in an allowance on the Tapeta at Golden Gate.

“It wasn’t what I was hoping for,” trainer Paddy Gallagher said. “I ran her on synthetic. It was the only place to run her, and she broke through the gate before the start.”

Evo Campo has had an abbreviated campaign because of bruised feet. She has raced only three times this year, and Gallagher admits the mare is difficult to evaluate.

“She’s a bit hard to gauge because she’s never a great work horse,” Gallagher said. “She seems happy and well.”

Evo Campo won both her previous turf marathons, in April 2017 and June 2016. If she fires second start back, she can win under Rafael Bejarano.

If not, Responsibleforlove is a logical alternative. Trained by Neil Drysdale, she won a turf marathon stakes at Del Mar in summer and finished a close third last out in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita. Joe Talamo rides.

La Mantas Gris ships from Kentucky for trainer Rusty Arnold. Though she is eligible to a second-level allowance, the class challenge is not insurmountable. Three Hearts had similar form when she won the Red Carpet in 2014.

Victress arrives from Hastings. She finished last in her only previous start in Southern California. The others in the Red Carpet are Laseen, Dynamic Mizzes K, Kiss Me Now, Do the Dance, Earring, Birdie Gold, Domestic Vintage, and How Unusual.

The Red Carpet is race 6 on an eight-race Thanksgiving Day card that starts early. First post is 11 a.m. Pacific.