DEL MAR, Calif. - Tamara, scratched from Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by veterinarians, will be considered for the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 30 pending an examination, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.

Tamara was the 7-2 second choice on the morning line for the Filly and Mare Sprint. Tamara, a winner of 3 of 5 starts, has never raced on turf.

“I’ve got to work on the turf and think about that,” Mandella said of the $300,000 Matriarch.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Despite getting an extra hour’s sleep the night before, trainer Jose D’Angelo still sounded a bit drained from the emotions of the previous afternoon when he returned to his barn early Sunday morning to check on his two Breeders’ Cup winners, Bentornato and Shisospicy.

“It was such an amazing day, so exciting, but there was also so much pressure that goes along with it just getting these horses here,” D’Angelo said. “We were supposed to go out to a party last night to celebrate. Instead, we were so tired, we just stayed in and ate dinner at the hotel.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Last December, when he attended the Global Symposium on Racing in Arizona, trainer Todd Pletcher remembers telling fellow Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert that he was light on 3-year-olds for the 2025 spring classics.

Pletcher proved prophetic as he missed his first Kentucky Derby in 21 years and ran longshots in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

“Definitely, the cupboard was pretty bare this time last year,” Pletcher said.

 DEL MAR, Calif. – Mystik Dan, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, was scratched out of Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Sweet Azteca and Tamara, the top two morning-line choices in Saturday’s $1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint were all scratched out of their respective races by regulatory veterinarians Saturday morning. 

Atsila was also scratched by the vets out of the Filly and Mare Turf.

Total commingled betting on the five Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday at Del Mar in Southern California was down 10.8 percent, according to charts of the races.

The betting total for the five races was dragged down by a 30 percent drop in betting on the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which had a six-horse field this year, compared to 10 horses last year. Betting on the Juvenile dropped nearly $2.42 million, from $8.04 million last year to $5.62 million this year.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Precise, the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Blackout Time, the third choice in Friday’s $2 million Juvenile, have been scratched from their respective races, according to their connections.

Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Precise, told Matt Chapman of At the Races, that Precise coughed 10 times.

Kenny McPeek, the trainer of Blackout Time, said he was perplexed about why the vets scratched Blackout Time from the Juvenile.

DEL MAR, Ca. – Christophe Soumillon wasn’t feeling sick, was, in fact, asymptomatic when a COVID-19 test administered on Nov. 4, 2020, at Keeneland came back positive the following day. Soumillon, the only one of 55 jockeys set to ride at the Breeders’ Cup to test positive, had to miss rides on Tarnawa in the Filly and Mare Turf and on Order of Australia in the Mile. Probably he did feel sick after both horses went out and won.

DEL MAR
Thursday, Oct. 30
Weather: Clear
Temp: 60°
Track: Fast
Turf: Firm

DEL MAR, Calif. – What a difference a week has made at Del Mar when it comes to Breeders’ Cup activity.