Undefeated Medoro makes her return in San Clemente

There will be a lot of firsts Saturday at Del Mar – first day of the season, first weekend opener for a Del Mar summer meet since 1953, and first start in three months for the undefeated filly Medoro. Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 San Clemente will also feature Iscreamuscream, who is undefeated in two sprint starts.

Medoro’s layoff and Iscreamuscream’s distance uncertainty are handicapping considerations in the San Clemente, a turf mile for 3-year-old fillies. But the year 2024 also marks an uneasy first for owners Lee and Susan Searing, whose CRK Stable campaigns the 4 for 4 Medoro.

Lee Searing has raced horses in California for more than five decades, owning stakes winners Our New Recruit, Switch, and upcoming Del Mar runners Express Train and Exaulted. This year for the first time, Searing has relocated more than a dozen horses to Kentucky. Searing cites high training costs, modest purses, and California regulatory challenges as reasons to look elsewhere.

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“I hate to do it. I’ve been racing here 50-some years,” Searing said last week at Santa Anita. “We’ll put a year in with 20 back there [Kentucky]. It’s going to take three years [to relocate the stable]. The costs are about the same, the purses are higher.”

For now, Searing will race in both Kentucky and California, with three top runners nearing Del Mar starts, including John Shirreffs-trained Express Train, who will face Arabian Knight on July 27 in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap. The Peter Eurton-trained Exaulted runs Sunday in the Wickerr Stakes and stablemate Medoro goes Saturday in the San Clemente.

To be clear, Searing will not abandon California. But costs are steep, exacerbated this winter by weather. “January through May cost me so much money when they closed the racetrack,” Searing said, referring to repeated Santa Anita rain interruptions. “Next year’s got to be better. Tapeta’s got to help. We’ll bring some 2-year-olds in next year, and see how next year goes.”

This year’s Searing 2-year-olds are in Kentucky with Eurton as trainer, and California with Shirreffs. Among the top local prospects are Baeza, a $1.2 million yearling by McKinzie produced by Puca, dam of Kentucky Derby winner Mage and Belmont winner Dornoch.

While Searing starts over this year with a split stable, the filly Medoro starts over Saturday in the San Clemente. The 124-pound highweight, Medoro is making her first start since winning the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes in April at Santa Anita. Eurton sensed she needed a break.

“She showed me a lot of anxiety in that mile and an eighth,” Eurton said. “You can’t just keep running. It seemed like it was time for a break. [The San Clemente] looked like a good spot to see if we could put more on her résumé, and then obviously the Oaks at the end of the meet.”

The Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 17 is a goal for the entire San Clemente field. Medoro’s main rivals are three trained by Phil D’Amato – lightly raced Iscreamuscream, Grade 3 winner Zona Verde, and stakes-placed Loterie. Others include Sea Dancer, Sakura Blossom, Rascality, Invincible Molly, Antifona, Omaha Girl, Flattery, and Alluring. Medoro is the 8-5 morning-line favorite by the new Del Mar oddsmaker, renowned handicapper and horse owner Jeff Siegel. Favorites have won the San Clemente four of the last five years.

Antonio Fresu rides Medoro, who Eurton said has “trained very well. If she’s not fit now, there’s not much I can do.” Medoro runs well fresh, having won her debut in a Del Mar turf sprint in December, and the China Doll Stakes in March at Santa Anita returning from a layoff.

Iscreamuscream won her debut at six furlongs on the turf, then scored a runaway allowance win last month at Santa Anita going the same distance. Despite being short on seasoning and having never gone two turns, her trainer seems confident his filly is up for the challenges.

“She’s a big, scopey filly that’s bred to get two turns,” D’Amato said. Sired by Twirling Candy, Iscreamuscream was produced by a Grade 3 route-winning Cozzene mare. Hector Berrios rides Iscreamuscream.

Zona Verde, a Grade 3 winner at Del Mar as a 2-year-old, will make her first start since April. “We gave her a little time off to freshen up for this meet,” D’Amato said. Zona Verde, who finished behind Medoro twice this season at Santa Anita, is 2 for 2 on the Del Mar turf. Juan Hernandez rides Zona Verde. Kazushi Kimura rides late-running longshot Loterie.

The San Clemente is race 10 on an opening day card that includes the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds.

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