Stay Hot comes into Del Mar Derby off strong comeback score
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ARCADIA, Calif. – These are tough times for a particular summer stakes tradition at Del Mar. The three-race turf series for 3-year-olds took a hit this season on quality and quantity.
The Oceanside Stakes maintained field-size appeal with 11 runners, but the next two struggled. The downgraded La Jolla Handicap had just five runners. The Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sunday has only seven entrants, far below the recent Del Mar Derby field-size average of nearly 11.
Perhaps it is merely a one-year blip. More likely, it is a sign of the times. The Del Mar Derby purse of $300,000 cannot compete with the $3.1 million purse offered for the same 3-year-old turf division Saturday in the Grade 3 Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs.
Not that it matters to the connections of the Del Mar Derby principals. Stakes winners Stay Hot, Formidable Man, and Curlin’s Kaos are leading contenders in the Del Mar Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race without California’s top 3-year-old turf horse. Endlessly is currently sidelined.
The Derby field includes stakes-placed Guy Named Joe and Atitlan, allowance winner Gold Foot, and maiden winner Sketchy. The horse to beat is Stay Hot, a four-time stakes winner who scored a 1 1/2-length win in the La Jolla.
“He was coming off a freshening and feeling pretty good,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “Hopefully, I have him the same way this week. He’s trained very good. No excuse whatsoever.”
Stay Hot had been off three months when he won the 1 1/16-mile La Jolla. He rated kindly behind a modest pace before he kicked clear. An additional half-furlong in the Del Mar Derby should not be an issue.
“I was more concerned about the mile and a sixteenth last time than a mile and an eighth,” Eurton said. “The way he settled last time was [impressive], and I don’t think they were going that fast.”
They weren’t. Stay Hot and jockey Antonio Fresu were positioned last of five, no more than four lengths off the lead. The ridgling ran away late for his fifth win from nine starts. Thirteen of the 24 Del Mar Derby winners this century exited the La Jolla, another reason to support Stay Hot.
Formidable Man won the opening-day Oceanside Stakes and skipped the La Jolla. Michael McCarthy trains Formidable Man, who has won 3 of 8. Umberto Rispoli is his rider.
Curlin’s Kaos stretches out and returns to turf after dominating the Real Good Deal Stakes, a dirt sprint. Curlin’s Kaos has won running on turf and exits a stakes that has recently been productive in terms of Del Mar Derby winners.
None Above the Law in 2021, and Slow Down Andy in 2022, ran in the Real Good Deal prior to winning the Del Mar Derby. Antonio Garcia trains Curlin’s Kaos, whose rider is Diego Herrera. Curlin’s Kaos is the likely pacesetter.
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