Rispoli, Prat battling for riding title on closing weekend
Del Mar plans to run 42 races from Friday through Labor Day in the closing days of the track’s summer meeting. It may take that long to determine a close race for leading rider.
Through Monday, Umberto Rispoli led the standings with 42 wins, one more than Flavien Prat, who won his third summer riding title at Del Mar last year. Rispoli, who relocated from Hong Kong last December, is riding at Del Mar for the first time this summer.
Rispoli had three wins Monday to take the lead, doing so on his 32nd birthday.
No lead seems safe this summer. Rispoli has had three four-win days, while Prat has had one. Prat has won three races six times, one more than Rispoli.
With both riders in demand, and Del Mar often running 11-race programs on weekends since the start of the meeting on July 10, multi-win days are slightly easier for riders who often have choice mounts.
Friday, the track has a nine-race program, followed by 11 races Saturday. There are 11-race programs scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Prat, 28, is chasing another milestone. He begins racing Friday with 12 stakes wins at the meeting, one shy of the record for a summer meeting set by Rafael Bejarano in 2012. There are seven stakes from Friday through Monday. Prat is likely to have mounts in all of them.