Mandella, happy to hang out at Del Mar, starts three maidens

DEL MAR, Calif. – Some trainers bring their entire barn to Del Mar for the fall meet; most only ship in. Richard Mandella brought half his barn, “just enough for a good excuse to stay,” he said.

Mandella, whose main residence is not far from Santa Anita in Pasadena, has a home near here in Cardiff by the Sea. But, as his fellow Hall of Famer Woody Stephens used to say, Mandella is here for the reason, not the season.

Mandella will send out three runners on Saturday’s nine-race card, all maidens, including a pair of 2-year-old fillies who are in split divisions of a one-mile grass race.

Tapwater, a Tapit filly who goes in race 9, looks to have the best chance of the Mandella trio. She was a distant second to the highly regarded Mother Mother in her lone start going six furlongs on dirt during the summer meet here July 22. This will be her second start.

“She ran well first time out,” Mandella said as he watched his horses train Thursday morning. “She’s a frail thing. She needed to grow up a little bit. She should like a mile on grass.”

In the first division of that maiden race, which goes as race 5, Mandella will send out first-time starter Truffalino, a daughter of male turf champ English Channel out of a Kitten’s Joy mare.

“She’s just trained so-so on dirt, but she’s bred for turf,” Mandella said.

He’ll also start the comebacking Spanish Bay in race 1, a five-furlong maiden race for older runners. Spanish Bay, a son of Tapit who has not raced in 13 months, has been gelded since his last start.

Those three are among the horses who will keep Mandella occupied until some of his stable stars, like Anonymity, the third-place finisher last Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, return to action.

Mandella said Anonymity, currently at Santa Anita, is “getting a little breather” before embarking on her 2019 campaign. He said he thought she was a winner at midstretch last week.

“She got a little intimidated in traffic. It got tight in there, but she kept coming,” Mandella said.

Mandella said he would look to stretch out Anonymity around two turns next year.

“I think going further, she might be better,” he said.

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