Hovdey: Proctor tries a little change of scenery

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

For a whole week Del Mar was the center of the North American racing world. A crowd of 40,000 on opening day. A tropical storm of biblical proportions over the weekend. Inspiring performances on turf from Prize Exhibit and Gabriel Charles. And two – count ‘em, two – works from American Pharoah, including a glorious piece of business Wednesday that still had his disciples buzzing a day later.

“The track’s been deep,” said Bob Baffert, gazing out at the new Del Mar main track Friday morning from the backstretch guinea stand. “The only horse who doesn’t mind is American Pharoah. But he exists in a whole different …”

Baffert lets a lot of sentences hang, which is no big deal. There are always people around to help finish the job.

“… world,” said one.

“… stratosphere,” said another.

“… dimension,” added still another.

“… price range,” chimed in one more, effectively ending the game.

But even the Triple Crown champ stayed in the barn Friday, in obvious deference to the fact that Del Mar was pushed to the back burner by the opening of Saratoga, the Most Important Thoroughbred Meeting in the World, even in the face of Del Mar’s quarter-million-dollar pick six carryover. Everybody loves Saratoga.

“Bobby Frankel, whenever I’d see him at Saratoga, was a totally different guy from out here,” Baffert said. “Laughing, telling stories, he acted like he was actually having a good time, like he was glad to see me.”

In fact, it’s all about a change of scenery and with it a change of pace. The same spirit pervades Del Mar after six months in Los Angeles. Free at last, free at last, if only for seven weeks or so. The humdrum rhythms of dealing with Thoroughbreds can wear on even the most patient of souls. Thoroughbreds thrive on a basic routine, but their human handlers can go slowly nuts.

Tom Proctor figured out a way to break up the monotony. With the backing of Glen Hill Farm president Craig Bernick, the trainer set up shop in a private, 40-stall stable at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland last May. Just like that, the world of casino-fed purses in the region opened like a flower to the Proctor horses, with the added bonus that they were now doing their training in a little piece of racehorse paradise, with more options than ever.

“I worked a horse on the grass over at the steeplechase course today,” Proctor said Friday. “It was a kick. I was the only one there, sitting up in those stands they have, right next to the rides they’re setting up for the fair. Too bad it wasn’t open, or I would have stopped for a corn dog and a funnel cake on the way back to the barn.”

Proctor spends a lot of time crisscrossing the country between his Fair Hill base camp, Glen Hill Farm in Florida, and his California outpost, but this weekend his concentration will be focused firmly on Saratoga, where he will be running a filly in the $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday.

The Oaks is one of those prestigious New York events that has been a victim of many makeovers. Each generation seems to have its own version of the race, which was first run in 1917.

The CCA Oaks won by Hall of Famers Princess Doreen (1924), Top Flight (1932), and Black Helen (1935) was 1 3/8 miles at the old Belmont Park. The Oaks won by champions Lamb Chop (1963), Dark Mirage (1968), and Shuvee (1969) was 1 1/4 miles, although Lamb Chop’s took place at Aqueduct while new Belmont was being built.

The CCA Oaks won by Ruffian (1975), Davona Dale (1979), Mom’s Command (1985), and Goodbye Halo (1988) was stretched to 1 1/2 miles, but then it was whittled back to 10 furlongs by the time Ashado won it in 2004. Since 2010, it has been run at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga, which makes the CCA Oaks look like any other 8 1/2- or nine-furlong filly race, except for the fact that it is run at Saratoga.

None of this matters a whit to Include Betty, Proctor’s runner on Sunday for Brereton Jones and Timothy Thornton. Then again, nothing much bothers Include Betty at all.

“She’s very unassuming, doesn’t put you under any pressure,” Proctor said. “All she does is get it on at the end of her races.”

No kidding. Earlier this year, the daughter of Include swooped past everybody to win the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park, then repeated that with an even more impressive flourish at Belmont Park in the Mother Goose. In between, she got in nine kinds of trouble in the Kentucky Oaks and caught a slow pace while finishing second in the Black-Eyed Susan.

The only big-name Eastern filly missing from Sunday’s field is Lovely Maria. Include Betty will be up against Curalina, I’m a Chatterbox, Keen Pauline, and Wonder Gal.

“You’d have to think if she wins on Sunday she’s the best 3-year-old filly, or at least one of them,” he said. “I just hope there’s some pace in there for her to run at. But really, anything she does is just a kick in the pants.”