Rusty Slipper seeks firm turf in Red Carpet
DEL MAR, Calif. – At a time of year when firm ground is hard to find in the Northeast and Kentucky, the allure of California becomes even stronger, and that is the main reason trainer Graham Motion decided to send Rusty Slipper to Del Mar for the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap on Saturday.
“She does not handle any ground with any give in it,” Motion said Thursday from his base at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. “She does not handle soft ground.”
Motion originally had thought of sending Rusty Slipper to Churchill Downs, but concern over the ground there made him follow Horace Greeley’s advice and go west. Rusty Slipper was at Santa Anita for an extended campaign last fall and winter, earning a Grade 1 placing in the Rodeo Drive, while her best race this year came in the One Dreamer at Kentucky Downs, and she was a close fourth most recently in the Grade 3 Athenia at Belmont, all on firm ground.
Silvestre de Sousa, the champion jockey in England this year, will make his first Del Mar appearance Saturday with two mounts for Motion, including Rusty Slipper.
There are 12 entered in the Red Carpet, but with the rails out 18 feet for the 1 3/8-mile grass race, a maximum of 11 can run. Rusty Slipper has post 11. Soresca is on the also-eligible list.
The race came up strong for the level and includes Elektrum, who won the Grade 2 John C. Mabee on this course in August; Personal Diary, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in 2014; and Three Hearts, who scored a 29-1 upset in last year’s Red Carpet.
Key contenders
Rusty Slipper (Last 3 Beyers: 93-91-79)
* She also was nominated to the Grade 1 Matriarch at one mile next weekend, but Motion said he thought that race would be too difficult and said going 1 3/8 miles Saturday after racing at 1 1/16 miles in three of her last four starts was “probably a benefit compared to cutting her back to a mile.”
Elektrum (Last 3 Beyers: 91-93-92)
* After failing to get into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, she remained in California for the Grade 2 Goldikova here three weeks ago, but she managed to finish only fourth as the even-money favorite.
* She is winless in three starts beyond 1 1/4 miles.
Personal Diary (Last 3 Beyers: 81-86-90)
* She is winless since the 2014 Del Mar Oaks but is reunited with Corey Nakatani, who rode her to that victory.
Three Hearts (Last 3 Beyers: 85-81-91)
* Her last race was a prep for this, according to trainer Neil Drysdale, so she figures to move forward.
* Joe Talamo will ride Saturday for the first time as a married man after his Friday night wedding to Elizabeth Ellis.