Large fields likely for DeMille, Durante

DEL MAR, Calif. – So many trainers are eager to run 2-year-olds on the grass at Del Mar that both graded turf stakes for juveniles during the final week of the meet should have bulky fields.

Raucous, winner of the Chelsey Flower at Aqueduct in her last start, is expected to ship in and head the field of fillies in the Grade 3, $100,000 Jimmy Durante at one mile Nov. 25. Flavien Prat has the call on Raucous, who is trained by Christopher Clement.

Others likely for the Durante include Casino Red, Daddy Is a Legend, Deep Breath, Factorofwon, Multiplayer, Polished, Sappho, Secret Spice, Thewayiam, and Yesterday’s News. Both Himmah and One Fast Broad are possible.

Richard Mandella said that Retro, who did not draw into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and was scratched from a subsequent allowance race with a minor illness, would not run after disappointing in a recent workout.

“She wasn’t herself,” he said.

Prat also appears well mounted in the Grade 3, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on Nov. 26, in which he will ride the impressive maiden winner Inscom for trainer Simon Callaghan. Others likely for the one-mile DeMille include Armour Plate, Big Buzz, Brave Helios, Colonel Cash, Cosa Nostra, Count Alexander, Golden Dragon, King Eddie, Kylemore, and Mantracker.

Trainer Eddie Truman is eager to run Armour Plate.

“He’s moving forward,” Truman said Friday morning. “He’s going to run really well.”

Armour Plate was third behind My Boy Jack and Count Alexander in the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita in his last start. My Boy Jack subsequently was seventh of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.