Sorrento tops card with $195,206 pick six carryover
DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2-year-old filly division at Del Mar is so deep this summer that even with the acknowledged leaders awaiting the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante later this month, a strong field has been assembled for the Grade 2, $200,000 Sorrento Stakes on Wednesday, a card highlighted by a $195,206 pick six carryover.
The Sorrento, at 6 1/2 furlongs, is the seventh race on an eight-race card and thus is the penultimate leg of a pick six that begins with race 3. Only seven are entered, but it’s a high-quality field.
Even though Luminance and Tara’s Tango, impressive winners during opening weekend, are sitting this one out, the field includes La Grange and Heart of Paradise, the first two finishers in the Cinderella Stakes last month at Los Alamitos; Caval, an impressive debut winner at Santa Anita; the well-traveled Sunset Glow, second in the Group 3 Albany at Royal Ascot last time out; and Conquest Eclipse, who won first time out at Churchill Downs.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Sunset Glow. Trainer Wesley Ward is 2 for 14 with a $0.77 ROI with 2-year-olds that made their prior start overseas.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Mark Casse, the trainer of Conquest Eclipse, will be trying to win his second stakes race with a 2-year-old in two racing days here. He won the Best Pal on Sunday with the colt Skyway.
As with Skyway, Conquest Eclipse was brought to Del Mar by Casse because he believes she will handle the synthetic Polytrack surface here.
“Most of the horses we brought here, we either bought them out of [the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.] or broke them and trained them in Ocala,” Casse said Monday. “This winter, out of all our fillies, on synthetic, she was No. 1.”
Here’s a look at the leading contenders for the Sorrento, followed by a brief synopsis of the other races in the pick six.
KEY CONTENDERS
Conquest Eclipse (Last Beyer: 68)
◗ She showed sharp speed and beat 10 others at Churchill on June 29. She has worked twice here, 11 days apart. Casse said she fought off a respiratory infection that has affected several of his young horses here.
Caval (Last Beyer: 83)
◗ Though bred to do better with more distance, this daughter of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame was precocious enough to win going five furlongs in her lone start at Santa Anita on June 19.
◗ She only figures to improve at this distance and with experience, and she already boasts the top Beyer Speed Figure in the race. She’s the one to beat.
La Grange (Last 2 Beyers: 78-75)
◗ After a runner-up finish in her debut on Polytrack at Arlington, she came west and captured the Cinderella on dirt at Los Alamitos.
◗ As with Caval, this is another filly who figures to improve with age and distance. She is by Curlin and is out of an Awesome Again mare. Both Curlin and Awesome Again, like Blame, were winners of the BC Classic.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Caval. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is 13 for 32 with a $3.55 ROI over the past two years with 2-year-olds coming off a maiden victory. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Heart of Paradise (Last 2 Beyers: 71-81)
◗ She’s the one to catch. She led from start to finish in her debut at Santa Anita on June 5, then had to settle for second behind La Grange as the heavy favorite in the Cinderella.
Here’s a look at the other legs of the pick six:
◗ Race 3 – Champion Risk looks like a timely claim by Tim Yakteen, based on her sharp victory against maiden claimers here July 18. She obviously likes this track, and this field is not very deep. Myrna Lou’s two best races came when in against fillies and since adding blinkers. Her trainer, Molly Pearson, has an excellent return on investment on synthetic surfaces.
◗ Race 4 – Just about everything trainer Andy Mathis has sent out at this meet has been live, and he looks to have smartly spotted Cayanna, whose recent Beyers tower over this soft group of $8,000 claimers. Class relief could be the tonic for Magic Number, who was wide against better company last time. Acute’s only race here, last year, was a victory.
◗ Race 5 – Golden Guy ran three good races against open company in Northern California and now dips into a race restricted to California-breds. Missing Groom flopped on turf here opening week, but his two prior races likely would be good enough to beat these. Beach Fever was third last time out in a race from which runner-up Wrightwood came back to win Sunday.
◗ Race 6 – This is one of the more competitive races in the sequence, with first-out winners Lucky S. J. and Warrenscrystalized among the top contenders. Moving Desert should fire fresh. She ran well here last summer, including a runner-up effort against males in the Graduation. A fairly decent horse won that race. You may have heard of him: California Chrome.
◗ Race 8 – Full of Spice was second in a similar race in her comeback July 17, with Spirit of Ten right behind her. Bar Car can improve off her debut, in which she broke slowly.