King: Daddy Is a Legend's last race says it all

There is a time for speed-figure handicapping and for class handicapping. But that time is not in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.

Those methods of analysis take a backseat to trip handicapping in the Jimmy Durante, based on the eye-catching last-race performance by Daddy Is a Legend in winning a maiden race at Keeneland.

If you missed her victory there Oct. 27, watch the replay. I suspect you will come away impressed.

A bit restless in the gate, she was unsettled at the break and started a couple lengths behind the pack. Rather than panic, jockey Joe Bravo allowed her to settle, and she raced comfortably without incident passing the grandstand and through the first turn.

Then the dynamics of the race changed. The leaders, who had set a lively opening quarter-mile in 23.16 seconds, slowed dramatically leaving the first turn and into the backstretch, and the next two quarters were run in over 26 seconds apiece.

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Daddy Is a Legend was 11 1/2 lengths off the pace after a quarter-mile, but advanced wide under a hold to pull within 4 1/2 lengths of the leaders after a half-mile, and then to within 1 1/2 lengths after three quarters. Then Bravo cut her loose, and in a matter of strides she was accelerating away from the pack, opening a 5 1/2-length lead by the eighth pole before he allowed her to cruise home down the final furlong to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

Now trainer George Weaver takes her to California for a Grade 3 race, an indication of his high regard for her. And that is understandable. Besides her flashy maiden victory at Keeneland, she ran second in a maiden race at Belmont a start earlier, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by Rushing Fall – yes, that Rushing Fall, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

She is favorably drawn Saturday in post 2 in the one-mile Jimmy Durante, likely providing her with the opportunity to save ground, which is usually vital in turf races, though she was obviously so much the best at Keeneland that she didn’t need to. And if she breaks with the field she can likely establish position and become a stakes winner.

Native Diver

A couple hours earlier on Saturday’s Del Mar card, another horse that grabbed my attention with a powerful last-race effort goes in the Grade 3 Native Diver. Top of the Game didn’t break poorly or run wide like Daddy Is a Legend, but he exhibited an exciting turn of foot on his way to routing the opposition.

Racing in the Comma to the Top Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 28, he was asked to spurt through a hole on the inside in a mile dirt race, a move that seemed possibly premature. Yet he came home 4 1/4 lengths in front over Hoppertunity and Irish Freedom. It was an ungraded race, but it drew graded-quality horses.

He can repeat Saturday in the Native Diver if he’s able to avoid a bounce off a career-best effort in the Comma to the Top. He is already a winner at the race’s 1 1/8-mile distance, and he has a tactical speed edge over his primary foe, Mubtaahij, who is most effective when allowed to settle and rally from the middle or rear of the pack.

Top of the Game, a winner of his last four dirt races, all since shedding blinkers, also appears to have been training well in recent weeks over the Del Mar main track.

Berkeley Handicap

Also of interest Saturday is the Berkeley Handicap from Golden Gate, which drew a deep field and a mixture of dirt, synthetic, and turf runners to compete over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.

I want a horse that is proven over the Tapeta surface in a race like this, and for me that horse is Force. He is perfect in two starts there, drawing away late in his two victories.

I’m hopeful that horseplayers will see some losses to Seattle Serenade in his PPs and allow his odds to go off at a palatable price. But those defeats mean little, having come on dirt, a surface on which Force isn’t nearly as effective.

The presence of some Southern California invaders, most notably turf horse Editore and dirt horse Hard Aces, should also attract the betting public’s attention, potentially allowing Force to start at odds around 4-1.