DEL MAR, Calif. – Seeking the Soul was installed as the lukewarm 3-1 favorite after posts were drawn Tuesday night at a local restaurant for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic, the biggest race of the meet at Del Mar.
The Pacific Classic drew a field of 10 older horses. It is a 1 1/4-mile race, the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup Classic, for which it offers a fees-paid berth to the victor via the Win and You’re In program.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – One could argue that no trainer has been hotter here this summer than Mike DePaulo, who has won 16 races since July 1. Through last Sunday, he was tied for fourth in the standings with 22 triumphs at the meet.
DePaulo supplemented Rising Star to Saturday’s $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. DePaulo won the 1 1/2-mile turf route for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds with Pender Harbour in 2011.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano bounds through the stable area every morning as if he’s an apprentice rider just starting out, rather than an established veteran whose résumé includes five Breeders’ Cup wins, six summer riding titles here at Del Mar, and who two months ago won his 4,000th race.
He’ll work as few as three and as many as seven horses in a morning, every morning, Mondays and Tuesdays included. His drive is born of wanting to return to the perch he occupied earlier this decade, when he was winningest rider on this circuit.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bolo and Bowies Hero are expected to head the field on Sunday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Mile, for which they were assigned co-high weight of 124 pounds for the turf race for 3-year-olds and up.
Bolo has not raced since winning the Shoemaker Mile in May. Bowies Hero won the Eddie Read here last month.
Others expected for the Del Mar Mile include Bombard, Grecian Fire, Ohio, Prince Earl, What a View, and possibly Catapult.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler said that Inspiressa, impressive winner of a 2-year-old maiden race for fillies on Sunday, will be considered for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31.
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Doing so would require her coming back 20 days following her debut, but she breezed home under Victor Espinoza while receiving a Beyer Speed Figure of 82.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Game Winner is ready for the Travers. He worked a sharp six furlongs at Del Mar on Tuesday morning in 1:12 under Joe Talamo, after which his trainer, Bob Baffert, said, "He's doing the best he's done all year long."
"But he's needs to be doing his best," Baffert added. "He's gonna have to lay it down."
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DEL MAR, Calif. –Through the first four weeks of the meet, not a single horse has suffered a catastrophic injury in a race, as Del Mar has changed the narrative in Southern California following a tumultuous season at Santa Anita that had all eyes on safety heading into the meeting here.
“We’re still holding our breath,” Joe Harper, the track’s chief executive, said late on the card on Sunday. Harper cited extensive safety protocols, including additional veterinary oversight, as reasons for the run of good fortune.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Schrodinger, scratched from the Best Pal as the morning-line favorite on Saturday, seems to be rebounding from his brief high temperature and should be on course for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day Sept. 2, according to trainer Simon Callaghan.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Summer Sunday returned to the work tab on Saturday for the first time since capturing her third consecutive victory in the Grade 2 Royal North Stakes on turf on July 21. She breezed five furlongs on the Tapeta in 1:01.00, and trainer Stu Simon said Summer Sunday would likely return to the synthetic for her next two starts.
DEL MAR, Calif. – It will be nearly impossible for trainer Phil D’Amato to win the training title at the current Del Mar summer meeting. A rough first two weeks, in which his stable had one win from 27 runners, makes that goal nearly impossible before the meeting ends Sept. 2.
Through Sunday, D’Amato was tied for seventh in the standings with six wins, 10 fewer than leader Doug O’Neill. Until Sunday, when O’Neill had two runner-up finishes, D’Amato and O’Neill were tied for the most seconds at the meet with nine.
