A more mature Mackinnon poised to run big in Oceanside Stakes
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If he merely picks up where he left off, Mackinnon might be okay running a mile on turf in the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes on Friday at Del Mar.
Mackinnon is way better than okay. The favorite in the opening-day Oceanside, he makes his first start in five months, and things have changed including his looks and the high expectations that accompany a third-place finish in one of the most productive Grade 1 races of 2021.
Doug O’Neill trains Mackinnon, who won two stakes before his third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Six out of that race have subsequently won stakes for 3-year-olds this season, three of them graded. Mackinnon, who lost races on dirt and synthetic after the Breeders’ Cup, returns to preferred footing Friday as the class of the field with a presence to match.
“He looks like a more filled-out, mature version of his already impressive self,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s doing really well, great energy, super competitive when I put him in company and good energy on his gallop-outs. He’s put in some really good pieces of exercise that say he should be pretty close to being ready.”
If so, Mackinnon’s rivals in the race-8 Oceanside are in trouble. The turf mile for 3-year-olds is restricted to non-winners of a stakes this year worth $50,000 to the winner, and none of the 13 others match Mackinnon’s résumé. Not even Balnikhov, whose tough-trip runner-up finish two starts back in a Grade 2 makes him the likely second betting choice.
An eclectic field entered the Oceanside. Castle Leoch won a Belmont Park allowance over a next-out winner; Anmer Hall goes long off two sprints as a potential pacesetter; St Anthony and Royal ’n Rando won stakes at Golden Gate; Heaven Street has won a stakes at Tampa Bay Downs; Sydney Street makes his U.S. debut from an impossible post – 14 of 14. Others in the field include Boise, Brit’s Wit, Barsabas, Dandy Warhol, Nero Tulip and As a Matter of Fact.
The race centers on Mackinnon, runner-up in the El Camino Real Derby on synthetic at Golden Gate Fields in February. That was when O’Neill and owners Erik Johnson, Sol Kumin, and Dave Kenney decided Mackinnon deserved a vacation.
“He had a long campaign; he wasn’t injured or anything,” O’Neill said. “We just figured freshen him up and have a great summer, fall, and winter. That was kind of the plan and, knock on wood, it’s coming together well.”
Juan Hernandez rides Mackinnon, whose three Del Mar turf starts produced two wins and his third in the Breeders’ Cup. Umberto Rispoli will ride Balnikhov, fourth at odds-on last out. Phil D’Amato blames himself.
Balnikhov previously finished second in the Grade 2 American Turf on May 7 at Churchill Downs, a race he probably would have won but for a slow start and wide trip. Favored next out in a non-graded race at Santa Anita, Balnikhov fizzled.
“I probably asked him for too much,” D’Amato said. “He ran a huge race [in Kentucky], I rushed him back a little too quick, and I just think he bounced. Good horses will fool you because they always train well.”
D’Amato removes blinkers Friday to get Balnikhov to relax. “He’s done nothing but give me big breezes since that last race,” he said.
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Based on a pair of runner-up stakes finishes prior to his last start, Balnikhov enters the Oceanside as the second most likely winner.
After the top pair, the Oceanside is a scramble. Sydney Street makes his U.S. debut for trainer John Sadler. He was purchased privately following a pair of winter victories in England. But jockey Florent Geroux, riding his first full season at Del Mar, faces a tall order working out a trip from the outside post.
Sadler tried to run Sydney Street the final week of the Santa Anita meet, which ended on June 19, but the race did not fill.
“He’s super ready,” Sadler said.
The Oceanside is the first of three summer turf stakes at Del Mar for 3-year-olds. The Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap will be run Aug. 7, the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby is on Sept. 3.