T.H. Approval scores in Del Mar Handicap

DEL MAR, Calif. - T.H. Approval scored his third graded stakes win of the year in Sunday's $250,000 , leaving trainer Eduardo Inda contemplating a lucrative late-season prize.

Inda said that T.H. Approval would be considered for the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4 or the $4.6 million Japan Cup in Tokyo on Nov. 26.

In the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, T.H. Approval ($4) closed from eighth to win by 1 1-2 lengths over Artiste Royale. Ridden by Alex Solis, T.H. Approval ran 1 3-8 miles on turf in 2:12.34, just missing Crazy Ensign's 2003 course record of 2:12.07.

Solis did not ask T.H. Approval until the half-mile pole and quickly got a response. T.H. Approval was fourth at the eighth pole and took the lead in the final sixteenth.

Owned by Tadahiro Hotehama, T.H. Approval, 5, has won 7 of 25 starts and $813,708. He won the San Juan Capistrano and Sunset handicaps earlier this year.

Super Strut finished third in the field of 10.

Symphony Sid, who finished fifth, was disqualified and placed seventh for causing interference shortly after the start. Symphony Sid was ridden by Martin Garcia, who has amassed five suspensions for careless riding at this meeting.