O'Neill has good start on summer training title

DEL MAR, Calif. – Doug O’Neill set the foundation for a serious bid for the Del Mar summer meeting training title with four wins on Wednesday’s opening program.

O’Neill nearly equaled his own Del Mar record of five wins in a single day, set in 2015. Five other trainers have had four-win days at Del Mar.

O’Neill, who turned 50 in May, has won four training titles at summer meetings here, most recently in 2010. He won 31 races that year, and may need that many this season to claim the title.

“If we have a few more days like that, we’ll look good,” he said. “The horses ran to form. It was a great day.”

Last summer, Richard Baltas and Phil D’Amato tied for the title with 18 wins.

O’Neill has runners in two of Saturday’s 10 races, both for juveniles. He runs Mason Dixon and The Creep in a $150,000 claimer for maidens at five furlongs, and Magnificent McCool and Truck Salesman in a maiden special weight at five furlongs.

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Magnificent McCool, a Giant’s Causeway colt, was purchased for $625,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction of 2-year-olds in training in April.

“He’s a first Saturday in May kind of horse,” O’Neill said. “He wants more ground.”

Truck Salesman, by Can the Man, was bought for $230,000 at the OBS auction of 2-year-olds in training in March. Saturday’s ninth race is one Truck Salesman can win, O’Neill said.

“Truck is more precocious and he should be faster out of the gate,” O’Neill said.

On Wednesday, O’Neill won the first 2-year-old race of the meeting, a maiden race for California-bred fillies, with Dichotomy. Dichotomy is owned by breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam.

O’Neill said Dichotomy is a candidate for the $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes for Cal-bred 2-year-old filles on Aug. 29, but is unlikely to race against Lippy, another Cal-bred filly owned by the Reddams. Lippy won the Juan Gonzalez Stakes at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting on June 30.

“We’d like to keep them apart,” O’Neill said.