Hunt caps big year with Seabiscuit Handicap victory

DEL MAR, Calif. – When Phil D’Amato took the saddle off Hunt after he finished last in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 4, he noticed that the race had taken nothing out of the horse, but it wasn’t until a workout on Nov. 19 that he decided Hunt was ready for one more race before a winter vacation.

D’Amato correctly read the signs Hunt was giving off, and on Sunday at Del Mar, Hunt won his third stakes race here this year by holding off He Will to take the Grade 2, $200,345 Seabiscuit Handicap, the first of three graded stakes run on the closing-day card.

Hunt ($8.80), under regular rider Flavien Prat, was in an ideal striking position heading into the lane, surged past D’Amato-trained stablemate Pee Wee Reese in upper stretch, but just did last over the fast-finishing He Will to prevail by a nose in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for older runners.

Pee Wee Reese, the 3-2 favorite, was another length back in third, then came Om, Win the Space, and Mr. Roary in the field of six. Flamboyant, Irish Surf, and Tequila Joe all were scratched after running in other stakes races here earlier in the race week.

Hunt was timed in 1:41.03 for 1 1/16 miles on firm turf. He was clearly more comfortable against this class of horses, and at this distance, than in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“Unsaddling him after the Breeders’ Cup, he wasn’t breathing hard at all,” D’Amato said. “I knew I had thrown too much at him, the competition and the distance, and it’s like he saved himself.”

And then last Sunday, Prat gave D’Amato an encouraging report after a five-furlong work over the turf course here in 1:01.80, followed by an energetic gallop-out.

“That was a big indication that he had one left in him,” D’Amato said.

Hunt, 5, is an Irish-bred gelding by Dark Angel. He has now won eight times in 26 starts and is 3 for 8 at Del Mar. This past summer, he won the Eddie Read and Del Mar Handicap, both Grade 2 races like the Seabiscuit.

Hunt earned $120,000 on Sunday to move his career earnings to $668,764, with $422,345 of that coming this year. He is owned by Michael House.

D’Amato said Hunt will be “freshened up” and would return “later on in the Santa Anita meeting,” which begins Dec. 26 and goes until the middle of 2018.