Hovdey: Come on, Sparky, one time for the family

Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence, I would like to address a personal issue in regards to the field for the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.

I understand that the race has previewed some of the most successful young runners in recent history, and that I should view the race with a dispassionate eye toward the future. Among the 1-2-3 finishers over the past two decades have been Nyquist, I’ll Have Another, Lookin At Lucky, Captain Steve, and Dixie Union.

I regret that the race has been reduced from 6 1/2 furlongs to 6, which does nothing to improve the breed, although the distance does serve as a natural progression for 2-year-olds emerging from an abundance of shorter maiden heats. To be sure, the $1.2 million colt Instagrand deserves top billing off his breathtaking debut, while neither Owning or Mason Dixon, both 1 for 1, have yet to place a foot wrong.

I can be forgiven, however, if all my attention descends upon the colt drawn outside in the field of five, a son of Candy Ride who goes by the name of Sparky Ville.

Owned by David Del Secco and trained by Jeff Bonde, Sparky Ville has run twice. He blew the start in his first race and came running to be third, then broke like a pro the second time around and won a maiden race by half a length. Mike Smith rode Sparky Ville in his first race – which means something – but he was otherwise occupied winning the Belmont Stakes with Justify on the day of Sparky’s second appearance. Gary Stevens took over and did just fine.

Sparky Ville is the last living foal of the Storm Cat mare Lorelei K, who never made it to the races for Todd Pletcher and owners Aaron and Marie Jones. As a half-sister to major stakes winners Graeme Hall and Harmony Lodge, she certainly deserved a chance to pass along the family. More to the point, she was named by the Joneses for our daughter, Lorelei Krone.

Lorelei Krone, out of Julie Krone by some goofball turf writer, was born in September of 2005. Lorelei K hit the ground in Kentucky the following spring. As a yearling she was hammered at Keeneland for $1.5 million, which makes sense, since Storm Cat was standing for $500,000 in those heady days and worth every penny.

As a broodmare, Lorelei K had six named foals. Her last came in February of 2017, at her home at Taylor Made Farm, but neither mother nor foal lasted long after that. Lorelei K foundered and was euthanized on March 13, 2017, and her Malibu Moon foal was put down nine days later.

Sorry about that. This is not supposed to be a sad story. Certainly, a colt like Sparky Ville offers the promise of a happy ending.

“The phone started to ring with offers to buy him after his first race,” said Del Secco, owner of Del Secco Diamond Core & Saw in the Northern California town of Hayward.

Del Secco, new to the game, purchased Sparky Ville privately from Marie Jones after the colt failed to make his sales reserve. Del Secco deferred to his son John when it came to entertaining offers, and John said, “Keep him.” So they kept him.

“John is 17,” Del Secco said. “He is passionate about racing, and he’s been working for Jeff Bonde up here at Golden Gate when he’s not in school. He’s determined to go on to the University of Kentucky and study breeding and the business of Thoroughbred racing.”

According to Del Secco, Sparky Ville is named for the family rottweiler, Spartan, because John Del Secco is a coming senior at De la Salle High School in Concord, home of the Fighting Spartans.

“The kids call him Sparky,” Del Secco explained.

This is a good sign. The last noteworthy horse named for a family pooch was Barbaro. Sparky was also the stable name of a horse Julie Krone once rode to victory at Saratoga while urging him on, under instructions from the trainer, with the admonition, “Go Sparky, go!”

“My grandmother once told me she named a horse after my dad’s brother,” Bonde noted. “She said she was never so embarrassed, because it was the slowest horse she ever bought.”

Okay, so they all can’t be Dr. Fager. But our family will be forgiven if we follow the career of Sparky Ville with interest. Because – and let’s see if I’ve got this straight:

Sparky Ville, among the contenders in the Best Pal Stakes on Saturday, is a son of Candy Ride and Lorelei K, who was named for Lorelei Krone, the daughter of Julie Krone, who rode Candy Ride to victory in the Pacific Classic, Del Mar’s signature race first won by Best Pal, after inheriting the mount on Candy Ride from an injured Gary Stevens, the jockey of Sparky Ville.

Lorelei Krone would love to be in the house at Del Mar on Saturday to watch her namesake’s little boy. Alas, at post time for the Best Pal, she will be deep into Act I of “Mary Poppins – the Musical” at the Avo Playhouse in nearby Vista with the Carlsbad Community Theatre in one of the lead roles. Her father, who is supposed to be covering the sport, will be in the fourth row on the aisle.

Go Sparky, go.