Oceanside Stakes draws 14 horses and offers plenty of questions
Although the ontrack crowd is designed to be smaller than on a usual opening day at Del Mar, there is no shortage of horses Friday when the track kicks off its 2021 summer meet.
An appealing card includes a deep edition of the Runhappy Oceanside Stakes for turf 3-year-olds. Average field size Friday is a whopping 10.6, not counting also-eligibles. It is a welcome change on a circuit that struggles with field size.
Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens anticipated the break between meets – Los Alamitos ended July 5 – would help Del Mar.
“I cannot emphasize enough how significant a one-week break before Del Mar really is,” Jerkens said. “I don’t think a lot of people get that. Breaks in the calendar, if they’re strategically [positioned], are beneficial for everybody in Southern California.”
The week-and-a-half respite paid off opening day. The challenge is to continue the momentum all summer and, as Jerkens said, “pump out quality cards our bettors find attractive.”
Del Mar is off to a good start. The 10-race Friday card includes eight races with double-digit field size, none deeper than the 14-runner Oceanside. The $100,000 turf mile drew the maximum number of runners, and all the top choices face challenges.
Sprint stakes winner Whatmakessammyrun has never won a route, graded-placed Dream Shake has never raced on turf, and stakes-placed Crew Dragon is still eligible to the first allowance condition. On the other hand, they might be the best horses in the Oceanside field.
The eclectic lineup also includes sharp sprinter Harbored Memories; stakes winners Fighting Force and None Above the Law; stakes-placed Hockey Dad, Jungle Cry, and Petruchio; along with Brutto, Flashiest, Ingest, Mucho Del Oro, and No Foolery Here.
A pair of decisive sprint wins by Whatmakessammyrun, including the Desert Code Stakes at Santa Anita, will make the Mark Glatt trainee one of the favorites under Flavien Prat. But even before Whatmakessammyrun drew post 13, Glatt recognized the challenge of an additional turn.
“When you analyze his form, clearly his best races have been sprinting,” Glatt said. “I don’t know if he’ll be as effective going a mile. He might be in the Oceanside because he’s probably going to be the best horse.”
Glatt is right. Whatmakessammyrun is the best horse on turf, and the turn of foot he unleashed winning turf sprints at Santa Anita suggest one mile is within reach. The Oceanside is the first of the three-race turf route series for Del Mar 3-year-olds, concluding with the Grade 3 La Jolla on Aug. 8 and the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 4. But Whatmakessammyrun could go on the road for his next start while shortening to 6 1/2 furlongs. Glatt said a possible autumn target is the Grade 2, $600,000 Franklin-Simpson Stakes for 3-year-olds on Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs.
Dream Shake scored a runaway victory in a maiden sprint in February at Santa Anita, a 96-Beyer smasher that hinted at spring classics potential. He was not quite ready for longer distances, however, and after Dream Shake ran third in the Grade 2 San Felipe and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, trainer Peter Eurton shortened him to one turn in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs.
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He finished second to Jackie’s Warrior in that May 1 race, then shipped to Belmont Park. Dream Shake finished a flat fourth in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens there June 5.
Eurton did not offer a concrete alibi.
“He was a little bit lethargic, he didn’t have his energy,” Eurton said. “It was a different day, and a different horse.”
Back home in California, Dream Shake has trained forwardly. Why turf in the Oceanside for the son of Twirling Candy?
“One of the big reasons is his dad won the Oceanside and Del Mar Derby,” Eurton said. “He’s got an amazing turn of foot. This race will tell us a lot.”
Joe Bravo takes over from Prat on Dream Shake, whose speed figures on dirt are the highest in the Oceanside field.
Crew Dragon makes his California debut as an upset candidate in his first start for trainer John Sadler. Previously trained by Bill Mott, Crew Dragon was purchased for $310,000 at a spring horses of racing age sale and has worked exceptionally well for his local debut.
In addition to a favorable draw (post 3) compared to Whatmakessammyrun, and proven form on turf unlike Dream Shake, Crew Dragon lands a top rider. Umberto Rispoli finished one behind Prat for the Del Mar meet title last summer (50-49), but no jockey rode the grass course better than Rispoli.
Rispoli won with 30 percent of his turf mounts (35 for 114) last summer, and had 14 more turf wins than Prat.