Irideo ($65) rallies to upset Wickerr Stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. – Hector Berrios has largely ridden in Florida in recent times, but he’s moving to California and made quite the impression in his first stakes mount of the meet on Sunday at Del Mar.

Berrios, aboard longshot Irideo in the $103,000 Wickerr Stakes for older grass runners, gave the 31-1 longshot a flawless, ground-saving ride to rally from 10th in the 11-horse field and post a $65 surprise.

Irideo had to come around only one horse the entire journey, that being tiring pacesetter Kentucky Pharoah. Berrios and Irideo were able to split Kentucky Pharoah and Bran inside the furlong pole and safely held off 9-5 favorite Gregorian Chant to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

Bran was a head farther back in third, three-quarters of a length in front of Kentucky Pharoah. I’mgonnabesomebody was fifth, then came, in order, Storm the Court, Tesoro, Me and Mr. C, Sword Zorro, Navy Armed Guard, and Indian Peak.

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The race changed dramatically Sunday morning when trainer Michael McCarthy elected to withdraw morning-line favorite Smooth Like Strait owing to a wide draw. Majestic Eagle also was scratched from the original field of 13.

Irideo, 6, was a Group 1 winner in his native Argentina, where he won four times in six starts. He was sent to trainer Marcelo Polanco last year, but Polanco said it took Irideo a long time to acclimate to the Northern Hemisphere, delaying his United States debut until this past April 16 at Santa Anita.

“It took him a long time to acclimate,” Polanco said. “He’s tough to train.”

Irideo finished last of seven in a pair of second-level allowance races at Santa Anita, but in his third start, June 12, he finished a close second in a downhill turf sprint.

“After his last race, he woke up,” Polanco said.

The Wickerr, restricted to non-winners of a stakes race at a mile or over since last September, was the ideal spot for Irideo to step back into stakes company, and his assignment became easier when the high-class Smooth Like Strait was withdrawn.

The pace of the race was moderate – a half in 48.05 seconds, three-quarters in 1:12.51 – but the firm Del Mar turf course is one over which horses with a strong turn of foot can accelerate in an instant, and Irideo benefitted. Though only in front of one horse with a quarter-mile to go, Berrios did the right thing and saved ground, hoping a seam would develop. It did, Irideo quickened when needed, and he flew through the final quarter-mile in a shade over 22 seconds to complete one mile on the firm course in 1:35.50.

Berrios is represented by the former jockey Jose Santos, a Hall of Famer, who accompanied his rider to California to get him set up. Expect more business, quickly, off this ride, especially at a meet like this where grass racing is paramount.

Irideo, a homebred for the powerhouse Pozo de Luna, is a gelding by the Storm Cat stallion Easing Along out of Infiltrada, by Footstepsinthesand. He has now won five times in 10 starts, and his $60,000 first prize on Sunday was more than he had earned in his previous nine starts combined.