Hovdey: The present and future shine at Del Mar

It is a function of the fantasy sports culture and its enabling social media that everyone knows what’s right or wrong with everyone else’s business. So it goes with the ups and downs of the racing industry. There seems to be as many stories written about attendance, handle, concession prices, parimutuel takeout, and executive suite shuffles than there are about the horses and people that make the merry-go-round.

If it’s okay I will let others dwell on the numbers emanating from the just-concluded Del Mar meet. Apparently there were fewer clicks of the turnstiles this summer compared to last, and the fans who showed up for a day at the races found themselves torn between a betting menu that looks like Stephen Hawking’s to-do list and margaritas that cost more than a 10-horse backwheel.

Of the 40 days, though, there were four worth remembering, featuring four races that made the rest of the season worth the effort:

 July 26, seventh race, a six-furlong maiden event for 2-year-old fillies worth $71,000. Songbird, making her debut and breaking from the rail, won by 6 1/2 lengths.

 Aug. 1, eighth race, the $300,750 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at a mile and one-sixteenth for fillies and mares. Beholder, held at 30 cents on the dollar, won by seven lengths.

 Aug. 22, ninth race, the $1,001,250 Pacific Classic at a mile and a quarter, anything 3 and up welcome to try. It was Beholder again, this time facing nine males and winning by 8 1/4 lengths.

 Sept. 5, ninth race, the $301,250 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs for 2-year-old fillies. Sorrento Stakes winner Pretty N Cool looked tough, but she was no match for Songbird, who padded most of her 5 1/2-length winning margin in the final sixteenth of a mile.

It was, without a doubt, the summer of Songbird and Beholder.

By now they are preparing a corner of the Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs for the plaque that someday will bear the name of Beholder. Her one-two punch at Del Mar was only the lastest in a career of memorable moments, unfortunately punctuated by freak injury and poorly timed illness that has kept her from the national superstar status of a colt like American Pharoah.

This could be remedied at Keeneland on Oct. 31 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic – if everyone keeps fingers crossed real tight – and it can’t come too soon. Richard Mandella, who does everything but take Beholder home at night, was clearly thinking of the dream showdown in the wake of American Pharoah’s parade before the Del Mar crowd last Sunday afternoon.

“I was halfway tempted to throw a saddle on her and lead her over there, just to see how he’d react,” a mischievous Mandella offered later that day. “That would have given the crowd something to see.”

In fact, Beholder was done up and getting ready to ship to Santa Anita at the time, while over at the Jerry Hollendorfer barn Songbird was recovered from her Debutante score the day before and heading for points north as well.

“It’s Jerry’s thinking that if she runs next in the Chandelier at Santa Anita, even though that’s three weeks after the Debutante it will be five weeks from there to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Rick Porter, Songbird’s owner. “I think he prefers that schedule.”

Songbird has been romancing the clockers and the Hollendorfer crew all summer long. She is large and graceful, and bears the stamp quality that her sire, Medaglia d’Oro, placed upon daughters like Marketing Mix, Coffee Clique, Gabby’s Golden Gal, Plum Pretty, and Rachel Alexandra.

“I was a little nervous when Jerry said he wanted to run her in a Grade 1 race right after her maiden win,” Porter said. “But he told me he thought she was the best filly on the backside. And that was good enough for me.”

The presence of Porter’s Fox Hill Farm colors in California is one of those hopeful signs everyone out West likes to see. Better known for his East Coast racing, especially with trainer Larry Jones and 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, Porter has horses now with Hollendorfer and Mandella.

Porter got to know Hollendorfer when the trainer campaigned champion Blind Luck coast to coast. There were several memorable Blind Luck-Havre de Grace encounters, most dramatically in the 2010 Alabama Stakes when Hollendorfer’s filly beat Porter’s filly by a neck.

“I talked to some people about Jerry, and they told me he didn’t spend too many waking hours when he wasn’t thinking about horses,” Porter said. “I like that. I knew going to California would make it tough to watch my horses, and I have yet to see Songbird run. But it’s been worth it.”

In addition to Songbird, Hollendorfer has a half dozen other 2-year-olds for Porter as well as the stakes-winning 3-year-old Kentuckian, who is getting a break on a Kentucky farm. Unlike most of the horses in his large stable, Hollendorfer does not own a piece of the Fox Hill runners he trains.

“I know,” Porter said with a laugh. “But he said it was okay – just keep sending me horses like Songbird.”