Hovdey: Graham bids for role in Del Mar show

A first exposure to Del Mar’s raucous opening day can be unsettling. The idea of 40,000 people doing something on a Thursday afternoon other than reporting to work is weird. Furthermore, these 40,000 seem to be costumed for a mash-up of Mardi Gras and fashion week in Milan.

They are, by their own admission, professional party-goers and amateur racing fans whose familiarity with the Thoroughbred begins and ends with American Pharoah. But every half-hour or so, they are distracted by real, live action out on the track, and whether they knew it or not, they were treated to some ripping-good, opening-day sport.

For instance, the $116,000 Oceanside Stakes would never cause a ripple on the national consciousness, but it was a thriller on Thursday, coming down to the all-out efforts of the colts Soul Driver and Forest Blue and the talents of Mike Smith and Victor “Espy” Espinoza.

As the sprint-oriented Forest Blue was being nursed on the lead in his first grass-course experience by Espinoza, Smith was getting to know Soul Driver and why he is called “Mr. Lucky” around the Jeff Mullins barn. He’s not. This time, however, Soul Driver got through when it counted and gave Smith enough of a kick to edge Forest Blue by a nose.

Smith, who turns 50 on Aug. 10, is riding like a guy half his age, which he pretty much needs to do to keep up with the younger guns firing on all cylinders out West these days. The Del Mar opener was no different.

Tyler Baze might be 32, but with all the stops and starts he’s had to his career, he might as well be the same 25 as Joe Talamo. They both have their sights set firmly on winning a first Del Mar title.

Talamo kicked off the meet with two wins Thursday, and so did Baze, although Baze was unlucky not to win three when his mount in the opener, the old class horse All Squared Away, got a little excited and broke through the starting gate. He got a great cheer from the crowd, but energy had been expended. Reloaded, All Squared Away and Baze finished third, beaten only a length.

Drayden Van Dyke will not turn 21 until Sept. 10, three days after the Del Mar meet ends. He made an impact there last summer as an apprentice, and off the evidence of opening day this year, he is ready to make a mark again – two winners on the grass, both at double-digit odds, and one of them at the expense of his summer roommate, who happens to be Smith.

As a place for a newcomer to break in, Del Mar can be a challenge. It’s tough enough to withstand the abundant temptations of sand, sea, and sunshine, never mind trying to win races in the face of such established stars as Rafael Bejarano, Kent Desormeaux, and Martin Pedroza. Some very good jockeys have descended upon the seaside course only to leave after Labor Day with little more than a good tan and a healthy appreciation of summer rental rates.

James Graham is not the least bit intimidated. Then again, Graham does not seem to be the kind of fellow who can be intimidated at all. As a kid in Dublin, he grew up tough enough that at some point there were interested adults who thought he had the stuff to be a jockey. And they were right.

“I didn’t grow up with horses, but there were always lots of loose ponies around the area,” Graham said after showering away the grit of his first Del Mar program. “To see a horse standing in the middle of the road was nothing unusual.”

After learning the ropes at an Irish jockey school, Graham eventually migrated to the U.S. and won his first official race at River Downs in July 2003. He had just turned 24, but spotting his generation a few years did not seem to matter. Graham passed the 2,000-win mark this season – most of those accumulated at top Midwestern tracks – and does not appear to be slowing down.

But he is changing direction. As the 2014 champ of the Arlington Park meet, Graham normally would have been gainfully employed in Chicago at this time of year. Then Arlington’s purse money was drastically cut, and Graham was motivated to make a move.

“I needed to take a step,” Graham said. “I couldn’t go to New York because it would take too much time to break in. Here it’s about the same, although there’s a couple of guys you don’t know if they’re going to ride another five years or not.”

Represented by Smith’s agent, Brad Pegram, Graham had a dance card for Del Mar’s opening weekend decorated with the names of choice local stables, including those of Jerry Hollendorfer, Doug O’Neill, Peter Miller, and John Sadler. For them, he’ll ride anything, as befits a professional carving out a new territory.

“I don’t mind work, that’s for sure,” Graham said. “In fact, the morning part of the job isn’t work for me at all. I love it.”

Graham was winless in four opening-day mounts, but given what happened in the ninth, he was lucky to be walking home. His filly, Never Ends, stumbled badly at the start of the six-furlong maiden event and had her jockey momentarily airborne.

“If it wasn’t for her, I’d have been underneath her,” Graham said. “She picked her body up and kept me from going down, so as far as that goes, it was a good day. I didn’t do any good, but I felt good. And I’ll be out tomorrow morning at 5:30.”