Gold Phoenix pulls off third straight Del Mar Handicap victory

DEL MAR, Calif. – For the second time at Del Mar this summer, Gold Phoenix was on the inside in early stretch of a Grade 2 stakes.

In the $252,000 Eddie Read Stakes on July 28, Gold Phoenix lacked running room and finished seventh. In Saturday’s $300,500 Del Mar Handicap, Gold Phoenix had racing room and reached the front in time to win by a neck under jockey Kyle Frey.

The win gave Gold Phoenix an unprecedented third consecutive win in the Del Mar Handicap, which was first run in the track’s opening year of 1937 and has been run under its current conditions at 1 3/8 miles on turf since 1986.

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Gold Phoenix, who races for the partnership of Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify, earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2 with the victory.

Gold Phoenix was 10th in the 2022 BC Turf at Keeneland and fourth in the 2023 running last November at Santa Anita. On Saturday, Gold Phoenix was the first of three graded stakes wins on turf for D’Amato.

Sent off favored, Gold Phoenix was never far from the front, in pursuit of a slow pace set by Dicey Mo Chara – 25.77 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 51.13 for a half-mile.

Frey kept Gold Phoenix on the inside turning into the stretch and noticed that Dicey Mo Chara drifted out slightly under jockey Hector Berrios.

“I could see Hector’s horse was getting out a tad, but nothing too drastic,” he said. “The rail did come through.”

Staying on the inside was not the original strategy.

“The plan was to go around horses,” Frey said. “As long as something opens up, he will go through there.”

Gold Phoenix ($6.80) was timed in 2:17.05 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

Dicey Mo Chara, third in the 2022 Del Mar Handicap, finished second, a head in front of a fast-closing Balnikhov. A winner of 4 of 25 starts, Dicey Mo Chara (3-1) set the pace for the first time in more than a year.

“It was a good run,” trainer Leonard Powell said. “He lugged out a bit at the end and allowed the winner to come through. Otherwise, we could have been the winner.

“We had everything our way in the first part of the race.”

Balnikhov was followed in the order of finish by Rockemperor, Master Piece, and El Encinal.

Balladeer was scratched in favor of a start at Kentucky Downs in coming days, trainer George Papaprodromou said earlier on Saturday. There Goes Harvard was scratched to start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar later on Saturday.

Balnikhov is co-owned by Little Red Feather Racing and trained by D’Amato.

Gold Phoenix, a 6-year-old Irish-bred gelding by Lope de Vega stallion Belardo, gave D’Amato his eighth win in the Del Mar Handicap, all since 2014.

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