Shippers likely to end home team streak in San Clemente
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An 11-year win streak by the home team in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap is likely to end at Del Mar on Saturday, when three well-qualified visitors race a mile on turf in the 3-year-old filly stakes.
Kentucky shipper Ground Support, third last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, carries 123-pound top weight. Florida shipper Spirit Doll is the only two-time stakes winner in the San Clemente. Then there is program favorite Raiding Party, the most likely winner, up in class off a ridiculous allowance win in Kentucky.
Raiding Party, an Irish-bred trained by Brendan Walsh, accomplished the improbable in her third start, and second off an extended layoff. Breaking from post 10 in a turf mile at Churchill Downs, she was fanned five wide the first turn, circled the field four wide on the far turn, and ran away by more than two lengths. It’s easy to see why Walsh is excited about Raiding Party.
“We’ve been looking forward to her all winter. We’ve got high hopes for her,” Walsh said this week. “Hopefully it starts on Saturday.”
It already started. Raiding Party did what few turf horses do, lose ground on both turns and come away.
“She did overcome plenty, and her race before that was very good too,” Walsh said, referring to a runner-up comeback in an allowance that was her first start since a debut victory seven months earlier.
Walsh acknowledged Raiding Party faces a class test Saturday, breaking from the rail under jockey Ben Curtis, who has never ridden at Del Mar.
“It’s a step up, but I think she’s very talented. She should fit in there pretty good,” Walsh said.
Raiding Party is the 3-1 favorite in the San Clemente, a race won by favorites six of the last seven years.
This year’s locals all raced at Santa Anita last out. They include Lookin At Diamond, wide-trip third in a $100,000 stakes; Marjoram, Grade 3 sprint winner two back on the hill; Light Won Up, a sprinter expected to contest the pace; and allowance winner Peanutbutterbombe.
The $200,000 San Clemente is the local prep to the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile turf race on Aug. 22. The Oaks is expected to attract recent Grade 1 Belmont Oaks winner Kensington Lane, and Europe-based Green Carrera, runner-up Wednesday in a stakes race at Killarney Racecourse in Ireland.
Ground Support and Raiding Party shipped to Del Mar on Tuesday. Ground Support won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo last fall at Aqueduct, and finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. She had been off eight months when she returned June 22 in a stakes at Churchill Downs. She pressed the slow pace and finished fifth. Not good, not bad.
“It was okay,” trainer Kelsey Danner said. “She was a little eager early, the whole race was a funny-like pace scenario, and [the ground] was kind of soft that day because we had a lot of rain.”
Ground Support will be ridden Saturday by her regular jockey Adam Beschizza.
Danner said Ground Support was under consideration for the San Clemente even before her fifth-place comeback. Improvement is likely second start back.
The local contingent includes Lookin At Diamond, third with a wide trip last out at Santa Anita in the Honeymoon Stakes. It was only her third start, following a decisive maiden win. Trainer Leonard Powell was kind not to criticize jockey Victor Espinoza’s ride in the Honeymoon.
“I really liked her race, not a very good trip,” Powell said. “To his defense, the jockey, she doesn’t really run the turns. He kind of got flat-footed on the turn, but that’s a bit her.”
Lookin At Diamond, who was not aggressively ridden into the stretch, rallied to third. Umberto Rispoli is her new rider Saturday.
Marjoram won the Grade 3 Senorita, a turf sprint, two starts back at Santa Anita. Her next start was on dirt in the Grade 3 Summertime Oaks. She lost by 14 3/4 lengths.
“Bad move on my part, trying her on the dirt,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “There was nowhere else to run. She got some dirt in her face, and didn’t really enjoy it.”
Juan Hernandez rides Marjoram. Her first three starts, two wins and a better-than-looked fifth, were sprints. She is bred to run long.
Spirit Doll, trained in Florida by Saffie Joseph, is a two-time turf-mile stakes winner at Gulfstream Park. Rasheed Hughes will be riding at Del Mar for the first time Saturday.
Although a shipper has not won the San Clemente since 2014, it was once a regular occurrence. The ship-in winners include Little Treasure, 2002; Sweet Win, 2004; Storm Mesa, 2008; Wishing Gate, 2013; and Istanford, 2014. The 2016 winner was California-based Mokat, whose previous start was in Kentucky.
Others in the San Clemente field are Wild Like the West, Peanutbutterbombe, Inbox, Somerset West, and Cortina d’Amprezzo. The San Clemente is race 9; the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap featuring Journalism is race 8.
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